Owned and operated by Off-road enthusiasts, Torq-Masters Industries was founded in 2003 and has since become a leading manufacturer of precision automatic locking differentials. Their first product to market was the original Aussie Locker™, tried and true, the Aussie Locker™ has a sterling reputation in the full-size 4x4 Off-Road market. In 2016 the TORQ Locker™ premium line was introduced to the full-size 4x4 market, commonly known as the Big Brother to the Aussie Locker™.
We don't have a Jeep JL video of a front and rear locker, but we could shoot one. We don't have a rear locker available for the JL rear axle, but we do have them for older Jeeps.
@ioanbugheanu6836 the locker sends torque to both wheel, no matter the traction level. When coasting and turning the locker can ratchet to allow for wheel speed differentiation.
It depends. A front locker in a 4wd vehicle is not engaged in 2wd. A rear locker in a AWD vehicle like the Subaru is engaged all the time but it doesn't have 100% torque to the rear differential. A rear locker in a 2WD or 4WD vehicle is always engaged. This style of locker allows for wheel speed differentiation and it does this by ratcheting.
I have a jeep JK is it nosier since it’s an older model? My jeep came with a lunchbox locker installed already when I bought the jeep unaware of the brand installed but it clicks super loud when doing basic turns Thinking of getting a torq locker instead and see if it makes a difference
Many things external to the locker can cause the locker to be louder in one vehicle vs another vehicle. That's why we shot this video in a stock jeep. After we lifted this jeep and changed wheel offset the clicking in 2wd went away completely.
My Land Cruiser Prado 98 diesel has the H=High speed box (70% power in the rear, 30% in the front) HL= High speed Lock Differential (50% rear, 50% forward) LL= Low speed Lock Differential (for extreme conditions), is it possible to install TORQ Locker??
Depending on the condition of the vehicle and any corrosion, install on a Subaru should take about 2 to 3 hours. Any 4x4 shop should be able to install the locker.
I have a 2011 tacoma i wanted to put this in. But one company selling your locker said if installing in a 4.0l 05-15 i would have to change my carrier to a 2.7l carrier from a 3rd gen? Shouldnt it work in all carriers for 05-up?
Have you checked out our Subaru Wilderness Install video? We break down every step for the install, it's pretty easy with normal tools. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sVIpCBFyMdQ.html
I was looking to add this to my 06 WRX. Instead of a LSD. I understand it's noisy, but not really worried about that. My biggest concern is street driveability. This car is a daily
Most of the 06 WRX's have a viscous limited slip rear differential - our lockers won't work with that case. You would need to swap in a used 5 Bolt style R-160 with matching gear ratio to run our locker. Our lockers are designed for on and off road use, most of our customers install in daily drivers.
Have been driving around a few weeks now with one in the rear in my Impreza. Went from open to spool to this. Works fantastic! Car is almost the same on pavement as a regular diff. The locker can't be heard. Only a few times I have felt/heard it "clunk" but nothing... nothing compared to my old Lock Right in my Jimny. That thing was horrible on pavement. Unpredictable. With this the car does not push/understeer as a spool. Spool made the car go from understeer to oversteer in blink of an eye. Off road. It just works. Like the spool. Theoretically it should not be as good because of the slight delay but so far I haven't noticed. Maybe I need to do some more rocks? The bad thing buying of one these is... that now I want one for the front too! It that possible? TorqMastersIndustries ?
It's a lot of work to put a TORQ Locker in the front of a Subaru, and we don't recommend it for on-road driving if you are only AWD - too much wear and tear on the front CV's. Customers have done it however.
I know this is marketed towards the oof road people, but will this behave well in a 2017 WRX with manual trans and with stock open rear diff? Or do I need something tuned for a street car? Like will it play nice with the DSC/VSD or whatever its called that these cars come with that uses the rear brakes to control the open diff behavior?
You can certainly install one of our lockers if the fitment matches our offerings. It looks like you have a 5 Bolt style rear differential. We have heard from track racing guys that they don't like the additional backlash the locker adds, but you adjust your driving style to account for this. Traction control is not affected by the locker because there is no wheel slippage sensed by the system.
These lockers cause the front drive shaft to spin at all times when moving even in 2wd. Will this damage the transfer case having the drive shaft spin while not engaged in 4wd?
94 ZJ here... If i put one of these in my front diff (d30), and run in 2wd, will i feel anything at all aside from a little ratcheting noise? In other words, is it "open" until torque is applied through the pinion gear? Ideally, in my head, i'd have open diff up front until i engage 4-high / low on the transfer case, then it'd pretty much be locked... but I'd really prefer to install one of these instead of the alternatives (locking hubs and welded diff or $1k ox locker).
@banzaiib you are correct, the locker will only lock when torque is applied via the drive shaft/transfer case in 4wd hi and low. Likely you won't hear any ratcheting in 2wd, but if you do it will be slight. Dana 30's are our most popular selling model for the reasons you listed.
No problems going down hill at all. Only thing to note is when all of the weight of the vehicle is on the front axle it may be a bit harder to steer when rock crawling.
What octane rating do you use? Meaning, are you still using regular gas, post lift and rear locker? or would it be more advantageous to use 91 octane? Also, is there a build sheet on this OB Wilderness? Liked the video, and subscribed to your channel.
@@corajokinen253 Right. I just figured there was something jotted down on virtual paper, a website of some sorts. Either way, thank you for answering my question. 👍
Octane is going to be dependent on engine design and ECU tuning. The rest of a vehicle's drivetrain shouldn't have any impact on fuel requirements. Octane's main use is for preventing engine knock.
No, you don't have to adjust backlash at all. You don't touch the pinion. That's the beauty of this type of locker, easy to install. We like to say, if you can change the brakes on a car, you have the mechanical ability to install a TORQ Locker.
@@TorqMastersIndustries How does the TORQ locker affect daily drivability? Just Keep it in 2hi? Toyota does recommend putting my Tacoma in 4hi once a month to keep things lubricated. Im just concerned if having the front diff locked while driving will cause any issues. Thanks for the replies
@@joshlopez9913 Normal daily driving in 2WD will feel the same as an open differential, no lock up at all in 2WD. You can use 4WD with a front locker on the road if needed in deep snow. One of your front axle shafts is always turning, that keeps things lubricated. I don't see a need to shift into 4wd once a month, we don't do that with any of our vehicles.
My concern with putting in the Torq-locker on my new Subaru Forester Wilderness is that it will void my warranty as a third-party unapproved enhancement. Any experience,with this.
We can't comment on Subaru's warranty, that's their call, not ours. If there ever was a warranty issue you could remove the locker prior to bringing it in for drive train specific service work.
@@deporbs thanks for the additional info. Our locker will not work with your front diff. Looks like you have the 4Lok front diff. Our locker only works with the ViscoLok front diff.
We always had to put studded tires on our Toyota AWD vehicles, but we just use Michelin Cross Climate tires for year round driving. We get 5-7 feet of snow every winter. We also live 5 miles up in the mountains from town and 25 miles from the city. We have to plow and maintain our private road ourselves. The county road to our road is usually the last one to get plowed, so it can be difficult at times to get into the city. When we bought both of our Subie’s we drove on the factory tires until they wore out. I must admit that we have to put our Subie’s into Xmode just to get up our road and into our garage. I would like to know if the rear lockers cause the tires to wear out more quickly. We have a Lot of “S” curves between our house and town. Subie’s tend to go through tires quicker than any other vehicle we’ve ever owned and it seems like the rear locker’s would eat up tires more quickly because when going around curves the inside tire is spinning faster than the outside tire.
@Doc1855 the TORQ Locker has no noticeable affect on tire wear. With a TORQ Locker your rear wheels will spin at different speeds and prevent scrubbing. You turn left and right so the wear will be even.
I’m assuming this may affect your stability control system or antilock brakes or traction control especially if the vehicle is equipped with brake actuated limited slip I could be totally wrong just figured I’d ask the question
No, the locker does not affect any of these systems. There is never a rear slipping wheel, so none of these systems engage regarding the rear driveline.
How do these handle on a Subaru Ascent? Does the weight of the Ascent affect the locker's ability or longevity? Also, does it increase any strain on the Ascent's overall AWD and CVT systems? I'm about to have Rallitek install one on our 2023 Subaru Ascent.
How do these handle on a Subaru Ascent? - Great, just like in the video here Does the weight of the Ascent affect the locker's ability or longevity? - no, not one bit Also, does it increase any strain on the Ascent's overall AWD and CVT systems? - no, it helps I'm about to have Rallitek install one on our 2023 Subaru Ascent. - They are a great company to work with and very experienced installers!
@weatherornotsubaru, I can confirm everything @@corajokinen253 says above. I've got 10,000 miles on my locker right now, in my Ascent, and I just beat the utter heck out of it all over Utah, Nevada and Colorado.
The Subaru drivetrain drives 1 front tire and 1 rear tire. If you lift a tire all the torque will go to the tire in the air and you will loose forward momentum - but not with a locker! Same with a slipping tire. Subaru has a traction control system that tries to combat this but it's not as reliable or predictable as a locker.
Same reason most cars come with open differentials. Cost. They're fairly expensive, and will increase the overall price of the vehicle. Full time AWD just means that the system never shuts off. The vehicle is always trying to send power to all four wheels, even when there's plenty of traction to be had. Part time AWD systems primarily drive only the front or rear axle, and only send power to the other axle when low traction situations are encountered.
Cool video! Exactly what I was wondering! One more thing I wanted to know is how does effect the fuel consumption? And tyre wear over time on regular conditions ?
I am at 9,000+ miles on my locker, cross country and off-roading, in a much heavier (than an Outback) Ascent that's very sensitive to anything that impacts fuel economy. I haven't noticed any negative impact at all.
Awesome video! I understand the locker ALWAYS locks when you apply throttle. I'm a bit worried when I drive on an uphill-turn that the locker would be fighting the turn. I have a Torq locker for my Subaru but I have not installed it yet.
The additional traction gained by a locker far outweighs any slight understeer it can add. We haven't had any Subaru customers remove their locker due to understeer. I would go ahead and install it and hit the trails, it's a game changer!
I don't have a Foz or OB - I have an Ascent - so, there is a weight difference (I'm a half ton or more heavier). I can say that the locker is barely noticeable on road after the first few thousand miles I put on it. And as for off-road, very worth it. If you watch my recent vids (August 2023-Sept 2023 publish dates) you will see other Subies spinning and locking opposite rear wheels on terrain where mine locked them together and clawed up things easily. The first thousand miles, the locker was a little louder. Note, I didn't say loud - it wasn't loud. More like a light "click click click click" on turns, like in Torq-Masters' video. Every now and then, in slow maneuvering in a parking lot with tightly turned wheels (eg, backing up and going forward with the wheels sharply turned), it would make one or two characteristic clunks of the old school lockers, but that stopped happening after a few thousand miles as well. If you do silly adventures like I do, I think you'll love it. 🤩 This winter, I will be testing it out in the snow and on ice - I expect, even weighing in at as much as 6,000 pounds (2,721 kg), my Ascent should be well behaved.
I'll take my 1984 Subaru GL wagon I had in Alaska with Armstrong Norsman studded tires and do all that and more. I was rolling subies when these people were in diapers.
The 84 Subaru GL wagon is an amazing wagon. My friends and I were recently judging cars at a Subie Festival and picked A GL wagon as a winner in the off-road build class. But, there's nothing wrong with each of us loving our own model and year Subarus for our own reasons. 😉 I love when others enjoy their Subies as much as I enjoy mine, even if it's not a Subie I'd choose to own. Sharing the #SubieLove. Anyway, wishing you many more years of happy adventures with your GL!!!
