I was never going to reply to this thread because the "locker debate" is a never ending flame thread waiting to happen. But, P76, you're so off base its funny as hell.
P76, listen and learn. WHEN THERE IS POWER TO THE PINION, A DETROIT LOCKER IS LOCKED. It's pretty simple, actually. "Bumps in the road" do not unlock the Detroit. The Detroit does not "lock and unlock causing shock as you drive down the road". That is about the most retarded crap I've ever heard.
Your "shock overload" claim is common. That what you get when you run stock axles with a Detroit. "Shock Overload" is not caused from daily driving. It happens when you loose an axle under power. As the axle recoils from the breakage, it causes shock overload. Normal ratcheting from a Detroit is not going to break your axles.
The whole "ripped airline" theory is about bogus, too. Sure, it could happen. You could rip a hole in your oil pan, too. Does that mean you need a 1/4" thick steel oil pan? Ripped air-lines are not very common. Poor installs ARE very common.
I'd be 100% more worried about blowing out an O-ring than ripping the air lines on the ARB locker.
TT's are fine, but far from great. I ran a TT for years, and can honestly say that I'll never run one again. As I've said many times before, the TT is 100% better than stock, but it's no ARB. The TT never really fully locks, but for a majority of the people, that's ok. But I still think the only reason people buy the TT is because they cannot afford the ARB. You never hear someone say "Damn, I really with I had the TT instead of this ARB"....
Don't think for a minute that you should not upgrade your axles if you plain to run the TT. The TT is hard on stock axles/CV's. I broke no less than 6 CV/axles with the TT in the front. 4 of the CV's I broke were the treated 2522's.
The biggest myth about the Detroit and TT is the statement
jupiter made; bad driving habits. You will never ever know the Detroit in in the back of a Rover. Period. You will, however, know there is a TT in the front. But this is a good thing. The TT really improves the handling of the Rover - it stiffens everything up. Only draw-back is, with a TT installed, the truck will want to follow the hump in the road. Meaning, depending on the road, your truck may pull slightly left for a while, and then slightly right for a while. It's no big deal at all, but it is a side effect of the TT.
I've ran the DT/Stock, DT/TT, DT/ARB, and now ARB/ARB. The ARB/ARB is nice if you play a lot in the rocks - it helps the turning aspect of things. But I think the best overall combo was the DT/ARB.
The TT can be had everywhere.
Here is one for $362.00. I think you'll be hard-pressed to beat that price. Install and set-up is easy if you have the tools. Hell, I did one wearing a white shirt at a dinner party once in 20-minutes. Easy.
The KAM diff is sexy, though. But talk about $$$! It's by far the best option, but for a lot of people, it's just overkill. The current carriers on the market are stronger than the current HD axles. No sense in going to a much stronger diff 'just because', IMO. If this was a comp truck, sure. For a hobby truck, don't waste the $.
EDIT:
Just saw that the link I posted was for the 10-spline. Still, I can't imagine that the 24-spline is too much more money.
