Outskirts Overland Podcast

Air vs. Electronic Lockers: A Deep Dive for Overlanding Enthusiasts

• Charlie Racinowski

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Dive deep into the world of off-road performance upgrades as we explore the crucial differences between air lockers and electronic lockers. Far from just a technical breakdown, this episode unpacks the real-world considerations that drive decision-making for serious overlanders and weekend warriors alike.

I share my personal journey installing ARB air lockers in my Toyota SR5, explaining why pneumatic systems won out over electronic alternatives for my specific build. You'll discover how engagement mechanisms differ—magnetic solenoids versus air pressure—and why this matters on the trail. We explore the freedom of being able to engage lockers in any drive mode versus the limitations of factory systems that only function in 4-low.

Beyond the technical aspects, we tackle the financial reality of these upgrades. At around $7,000 for lockers and gears, aftermarket modifications represent a significant investment that might make factory-equipped vehicles like Jeep Rubicons or Colorado ZR2s more appealing despite their higher sticker price. The conversation extends to reliability considerations, brand recommendations, and the trade-offs between factory warranties and customization freedom.

Whether you're building an overlanding rig, enhancing your weekend wheeler, or simply curious about differential technology, this episode delivers practical insights without the technical overwhelm. Join our overlanding community conversation and share your own experiences—what modifications have you made that were worth every penny?

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the World of Warcraft, episode 1 the Warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft, warcraft. Hey guys, welcome to outskirts. Overlay and this is charlie. Today is my dad's birthday, so I'm not gonna I don't know what national day it is in my life it's dad, dad's birthday. So that's what's going on. So if you guys, you know, comment below or whatever, say happy birthday to my dad, and it's raining here in Missouri right now. But today I'm going to talk about and I don't know how much this is a curiosity of anybody, but I'm getting. If you guys listen, I'm beating a dead horse here, but as content is, some of you guys hop around, so I'm getting. If you guys listen, I'm beating a dead horse here, but as content is, some of you guys hop around, so I'm getting air lockers put on my truck front right now, literally as we speak, and it's getting re-geared.

Speaker 1:

And my friends, my friend group, said, you know, some of them thought air lockers were real good. Some of them thought e-lockers were the better way to go. They thought there was something to that and they were like what's the? What even like? Obviously, the difference is one is air and one is electric. But they were like what makes them different? So, and they were like you should talk about that, so I'll cover it. So, air lockers versus e-lockers e-lockers typically going to be your stock locker, okay. So on your Toyota, your Jeep Rubicon, your Land Cruisers, those are all going to be electronic lockers. They're gonna have a switch. The way they work is magnets lock the diff. Okay, it's electronically. It's got a solenoid, you press a switch. Okay, and it's going to excuse me, and it's going to lock that locker.

Speaker 1:

You can get, you can buy Vehicles Factory. There's many Vehicles Factory that have front lockers Jeep Rubicon, ranger, raptor, canyon. What is it? Canyon? Is it the AT4, colorado CR2, at4, colorado CR2. They all have front and rear lockers. All of them. The Toyotas, the Trail Hunter, the TRD Off-Road, the 4Runner TRD Off-Road those have only rear lockers and they're E-lockers too.

Speaker 1:

Now they all said well then, why are you getting air lockers? Well, I don't. There is no solution for me to get an E-locker in the front. My truck is an SR5, so it's open right now. So air lockers work and I already have a arp twin compressor and the harness for which to put lockers in.

Speaker 1:

So that that's why I'm getting air lockers now air lockers versus being magnets and they take a minute. You know it's got a, the magnets got to line up. It pushes that over to lock the diff so that both wheels spin at the same time. So, versus that, when it's an air locker it's pressured. So you turn the compressor on okay, pressors on then you press the front locker, that lets that, lets the compressor know you want air going through that, that line to that locker, and it clenches it.

Speaker 1:

Air lockers are almost immediate. So they have a much faster engagement, which led to everybody. They're like, oh, that's better. And I'm like, I mean, it's, it's, it's kind of the same, like, like, I'm not going to. I don't plan to be in a scenario where locker engagements going to be like that big of a deal. I'm not like rock crawling. So the, the faster engagement is whatever, but what you got to take into account is with the uh, what you have to take into account is with the, with the air lockers, you've now got more lines, more seals. You have a compressor. There's way more parts involved than a solenoid, a switch and the mechanism in the differential. So it's potential that a line gets a hole, a seal gets dry, rotted. There's just more stuff to make sure you're on top of with an air locker than an e-locker. It's just wires and you can insulate those and keep those pretty safe. Tuck them up. They're pretty flexible.

Speaker 1:

The airlocker is going to have an airline. You got to drill a hole in for the airline in both front and rear diff in my case. So you got to drill a hole in you know where if you've got a e-locker, I mean there's a hole there too for the solenoid, where clips. You know the wires clip in. But so that's I mean. But again, typically factory e-lockers are typically factory E-lockers fail. Air lockers fail.

Speaker 1:

I don't think there's a one better than the other in for overlanding If you're using a locker. I mean you're not worried so much about quick engagement. You know I don't think so. Anyways, I'll have air lockers and that'll be cool and all. But like that's just because that's what I could get. You know, that's what I could get that matched. And being as OCD as I am, an air locker in the front and e-locker in the rear would just like drive me freaking crazy. So that's where I'm at with that. Toyota has nothing factory with a front locker at all Excuse me guys, has nothing at all with a front locker. So that'll be unique. You know anybody like myself that just has it done. So that's the difference between air lockers and e-lockers.

Speaker 1:

There's pros and cons to both. For sure there's something to be said. If you're the person that wants to have a rig, get in it and go and if something breaks you don't want it to be your problem. You know factory e-lockers, factory lockers. You know your most vehicles don't come with a factory compressor and those things to be air lockers and factory. You know, quite frankly, the manufacturers don't do it because it's kind of, it's kind of set it, forget it with an e-locker. It's kind of. You know it's, it's done and it's. But you.

Speaker 1:

But what I'm getting to is, if you're somebody that isn't interested in tinkering warranties associated with factory lockers, if you're somebody that wants front and rear lockers, well then you need to look at a vehicle that has them Jeep Rubicon has them, ranger Raptor has them. Zr2 Colorado, at4x, canyon period that's what has lockers. That's the way it is. Jeeps willies now has rear locker, doesn't have front locker but z locker too. Most stuff on jeep is is electronic sway bar disconnect the whole nine.

Speaker 1:

The one benefit that I will say, one benefit, complete benefit of me having air lockers and this could be a benefit, good or bad. I can engage them whenever I can engage my rear locker in two-wheel drive. I can engage my, you know, in four high or four low. A lot of these factory vehicles. They don't let you put a locker, like turn a locker on until you're in four low.

Speaker 1:

So I will say that that is hugely nice that I could for, for instance, when the weather's crappy and I just want, or even I'm out in a field, like I could just lock the rear into a drive to get it going. I mean I guess, if you want to, I mean that would allow me to like drift it too and that's not my jam. But like I can lock the rear, no matter what, there's no hindrance to locking it. But also the front could get locked when the truck's not even in four-wheel drive and that could be bad news bears. So just because if you press it it's doing it. It's a more manual procedure. It has no fail-safes to you screwing something up. So that's a good thing.

Speaker 1:

So I mean there are things to think about. The e-lockers are something that's available with other vehicles and different applications. It wasn't something I could get in a front and a rear period, the only reason I'm going with air. So they all asked because I do think things out pretty well a lot, and not in a way of being like an elitist or superior, but they're like you just really think stuff out so like, why'd you go with those? And this is just one of those scenarios where it's just that's what there was. I mean you have one option and that's it.

Speaker 1:

So, and lucky for me, I already have an arp tool that could support that and the wiring harness that could support that. You know like luckily. But that's another huge expense. I mean, this is lockers, aren't air lockers. Anyways, they're not cheap. So if you can, if you get a vehicle, if you're somebody that wants lockers, I would almost always recommend, if you're not very mechanical or don't want to be mechanical, don't want to be messing with it, even if you are mechanical buy a vehicle that has a locker or both lockers, even though those vehicles are more expensive.

Speaker 1:

Getting my gears and lockers done is about six grand and I have the wiring harness already and the compressor and the compressor mounted and that's another, I don't know, the arb twin was, I don't know, 600 bucks, the mount was 150, the harness was another hundred. Like I'm looking'm looking at I don't know another thousand bucks, seven grand. So when you're looking at a vehicle and it's 10 grand more for the off-road versus the sport or the Rubicon versus the Willys or whatever, like that checks out, like that checks out Period, you know, I mean now again I'm putting 529 gears in, which is well, way, way, way, way, way bigger than stock. But which is really the reason I'm getting this done at all is because I wanted gears. But when you're in there it's easier to do the lockers too, not easier. It's more cost effective than getting the lockers later.

Speaker 1:

Getting gears now and realizing I want lockers later is real expensive. I mean it's almost the same price again because you have to go through the exact same process. So there's that. So they don't want to know what the difference was. Really it's engagement speed, the way in which it's happening. One's pneumatic air pressure clamps it and and one is magnets. So it's a solenoid, it's a signal and it goes and it clamps. But you'll see, sometimes for you guys that have e-lockers, you're gonna. Sometimes you gotta wiggle the truck a little bit, maybe go backwards a little bit to get it to engage.

Speaker 1:

Some of them are better than others. You know, over time different things happen, but there there's not, in my opinion, for overland there's not a, there's not a better or worse. Um, I just have availability. Now I think if you were looking at brands, my mine are arb lockers and I think that it matters that you get arb or eaten or something along those lines, like something that's quality. My gears are nitro gears that I got. Revolution makes a good gear, yukon makes a good gear, but they're, they're good gears. You know, I'm not I, I think I. That's where things are thought out, like brands, quality warranties. You know history, you know his product history on all kinds of other stuff that matters to me, and oftentimes it doesn't cost enough for the headache of doing it twice, three times, four times, so that that matters to me a good bit.

Speaker 1:

So that's the difference between air lockers and e-lockers. They were all just asking me about it and they're like you should cover it because we text, I mean we don't talk on the phone in a group, so you should cover it Cause I mean they listen. So that's the difference between air lockers and e-lockers. Um, you know, e-lockers are typically a factory. Once you don't, it's not something. Just look at the vehicles. Certain models of vehicles typically the more off-road, high-performance vehicles have them, and they're typically factory. You can add a rear e-locker to a lot of vehicles if you wanted to. I mean, that's an option for many vehicles, it's just not the one I went with. I don't see a negative to either, though I I do.

Speaker 1:

I do tend to think and I don't have experience with this yet because I don't have my truck and I haven't been using it for a while but anytime you do anything aftermarket and you're messing with something that's factory like, you're messing with factory stuff and putting aftermarket stuff on. I don't care what anybody says, it's less reliable. Factory stuff's more reliable, which is why it really matters that you find a good person to install your parts or you're real competent yourself with installing, because factory stuff's typically tried, tested, stamped with approval, but also the, the, the manufacturer is going to stand behind that quality too. So even if it does break, it's not your problem. It's kind of like a rental, you know like, not my problem, not my freaking warranty. And when you start doing aftermarket stuff. That's not the case, so that's just not going to work that way. So that's the difference.

Speaker 1:

Um, before I hop off, today I am so the group united by overland, today I am so. The group United by Overland is a huge group. I think it's like 40 or 50,000 people that I'm a contributor in. I have been talking about posting pictures of yourself so that we can all associate what we all look like versus just our rigs. I posted in that yesterday I'd encourage everybody to go over there and post pictures of you know like what your fake more expos coming up. But I mean, even if more expo isn't something you're going to, any expo again, it's like 50, 60,000 people Not all of us are from the same, you know 200 mile radius. So go ahead and post pictures of yourself and your rig and introduce yourself. That's going to help us all out.

Speaker 1:

I think it makes it a little more personal to you. It's not like such and such with X car. Like it'll be like oh, that's you know. Like, I'll know what your face looks like. You know, I know what color freaking. I'll know what color you have. Like I'll know what stickers are on your truck. I don't even know what color your hair is. So that's something that that, I think, is a great thing. That's that that's going on over there. A couple of us have posted already. I think that's fantastic. Go over there, post some pictures of yourself, whatever you're, whatever you're comfortable with yourself, your family, your rig. Tell us a little bit about yourself. That helps us all get to know each other a little better. Make it make a stronger community. It makes it more personal versus just this like look at my truck, look at my 4Runner, look at my Jeep. You know it makes you a person versus just a vehicle. So go ahead and go over there and do that and I will catch you guys tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

Tomorrow's Friday, isn't it Tomorrow's Friday? That's glorious. That's glorious. That's glorious. Oh man, I'm happy. Tomorrow's Friday. I keep forgetting what day. I know the date because I do this every day, but I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. That's exciting. Sorry, that just hit me right now. That's exciting. All right, guys, I'll catch you tomorrow. Keep leaving reviews, keep texting the podcast, keep I mean message me on facebook, instagram, whatever. I'm enjoying talking to you guys. I'm enjoying the attraction I'm getting with, with the listeners. That's the whole reason I do this. So, uh, if you guys want to know anything about anything I have, or ask my opinion about anything, if you think I might have some knowledge on it right ahead, man, those of you that have done that, you'll find that I'm pretty quick to respond. I don't have turn times like customer service. I'll respond pretty quick to you guys, so I'll catch you guys later. Have a good one. Have a good Thursday. Happy birthday, dan. I'll catch you guys later.