Winch or Diff lockers?

Am currently improving my D90s off road capability and was wondering wot people would think was a better thing to spend money on (cos it is a lot of money) a winch or upgrading the diffs to sumthin like ARB or Detroit. And if not them wot? already has MT tires. Any views welcome

Get a Tirfor.
Winches are just bling.
Diff lockers just break half-shafts.
Spend the money you save on fuel to have more fun.

if you were to get a locker get the KAM one as they do HD halfshafts

as for a winch, trew is correct as always tirfors are the way to go if you don't mind alot of physical effort, if not a winch bumper and a hydraulic winch is the best setup

if i do decide to put in diff lockers then front and back?

Front cos that'll be the end that gets stuck 1st. & you'll need the traction to drag yu thru.

agree and disagree,

The best way to improve your offroad ability of you and your 90 is to joing a club and start trialling you will be crap at first but after some time will get better.
I use my winch for recovery at comps for competitors vehicles. I have a salisbury Rear axle with a detroit locker which helps me get to the dodgy bits where recovery will be nessasary.

I winched out 10 trees from my garden, moved and lifted engines, pulled dead motors onto trailers, winched out some foolish disco driver that followed me at the local pay and play and got myself out of some very awkward situations (Stuck) cough cough, driver error.

The last time I used my stuff in anger was when a CCV mota went off in a forest laying out. He tried to drive around the inside of a bomb hole. The bomb hole is actually 28 feet deep in the middle and at least 10 feet of water acording to the landowner (he told us this afterwards while taking lots of pics and laughing his head off) needless to say he failed and slid into the center, got his feet and engine completly under water infact the whole vehicle was pretty much in gloop about 15 feet below the forest in a hole. A nice shiny blinged up TD5 90 tried and tried to tow it out but failed we hooked him up to the rollcage to keep the hybrid upright as it was sliding in furthur on two wheels. I drove behind it after some 5 minute drive through some very tight trees and hillclimbs. Reversed up to a decent tree and hooked the winch up to the hybrid. It come out in less than 5 mins, very impressed with the winch indeed even tho its considered a cheapy. What i'm trying to say is if you are likley to use it often then its worth the money. If you feel you need an extra 100/150 Kilos over the front end for bling then go for it, but we will take the ****, But think to yourself how often will you actually use it?

Jai

Front locker? Really I would always go for the rear first personally. Front you Will need uprated shafts and possibly CV's. P.s dont but HD britpart drive shafts they twang like a piano tuning fork My new salisbury shaft shattered where as the other side, my old, shagged completly worn out original landy salisbury shaft took the abuse and is still going strong. LR temper their shafts well! Jai

jai_landrover said:

Front locker? Really I would always go for the rear first personally. Front you Will need uprated shafts and possibly CV's. P.s dont but HD britpart drive shafts they twang like a piano tuning fork My new salisbury shaft shattered where as the other side, my old, shagged completly worn out original landy salisbury shaft took the abuse and is still going strong. LR temper their shafts well! Jai

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Yeah but every fooker & his dog fits em to the rear. but it's almost always the front end that gets stuck 1st???? If they had a front locker, they wouldn't get stuck as much..

thanks. still not sure tho! not going to rush into anythin. apart from anythin else need to sort engine out first and dont hav cash to do two things at once just thinkin ahead really. Are diff lockers effective in mud? or as all 4 wheels are in do they hav lil effect?

Lol ok then there is some logic behind it!

haha logical thinking there pikey......

08mckerp said:

thanks. still not sure tho! not going to rush into anythin. apart from anythin else need to sort engine out first and dont hav cash to do two things at once just thinkin ahead really. Are diff lockers effective in mud? or as all 4 wheels are in do they hav lil effect?

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my cousin has an ARB diff lock on his rear axle, but the thing that gets him out of the mire more often than not is the 12000lb winch attached to the front, i have to say he doesn't get stuck as often as some people he goes off roading with

08mckerp said:

thanks. still not sure tho! not going to rush into anythin. apart from anythin else need to sort engine out first and dont hav cash to do two things at once just thinkin ahead really. Are diff lockers effective in mud? or as all 4 wheels are in do they hav lil effect?

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A axle diff locker will make sure both wheels turn at the same speed regardless of the ground conditions so when ya in the gloop instead of one wheel remaining still while the other spins it arse off. They'll both be spinning at the same speed. This can help you to get out of the poo But even if it doesn't, at least the mud spray will be the same on both sides of the vehickle.

I have seen alot of dodgy installations tho detroit locker with silly articulation enough to wedge the wheel against rear tub effectivly stopping you that made some interesting noises. Jai

Personally I have seen too many broken ARB's at comps, ripped off pipes and shattered internals. Its not asif they are cheap either. My moneys with Kam and or Detroits. Jai

the kam ones look quite good. Nice to hav the on / off option. Presumably they act like the standard diffs when off. no rush so plenty of time to hav a good think also landrover is a 1989 90, how many splines will the diff be?

10 spline at the diff end (so 10 spline) and 24 at the hub end, CV's could be either the stronger type inners or the later weaker type, unknown till you remove them. Ashcroft do 5 year guaranteed shafts to get the stronger 24 spline diff ends and 24 outers, aswell as 24 spline inners front to stronger type CV inners. They are extremly good only one break to date I believe but they aint that cheap. Jai

@08mckerp. What are you intending to do in your LR? This will have affect what you will end up fitting.

For my money a winch is far more useful piece of kit. As Jai has mentioned can be used for more than just self-recovery.

jai_landrover said:

Personally I have seen too many broken ARB's at comps, ripped off pipes and shattered internals.

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I'll wager that they were either badly setup or badly maintained. Ripped off pipes can be guarded against too.

Either way, a winch or locking diffs will take an LR far further then LR ever imagined and you will encounter a host of other problems to solve.

andyb66 said:

I'll wager that they were either badly setup or badly maintained.

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Actually mis-use as well. Trying to engage them with spinning wheels?

it was at a winch challenge comp one guy did both front and rear and ripped off the pipes suspect bad installation as you said. Another 2 rear diff internals were damaged at the same comp which is why I have kept away. Jai