NewHilux.net

Hi All,
Thinking about fitting a Harrop ELocker to the front of my 2016 Hilux to compliment the factory rear difflock. Just have some questions for those that have already gone down the ELocker path.

In stock trim the factory rear difflock will only engage when in 4L and it disables ABS, brake assist, VSC, traction control and downhill assist. I'm assuming that Mr Toyota has done this to avoid breaking driveline components such as axles or CV joints. This is leading to some confusion on my part as to how to go about setting up a front ELocker.

Do I just set it up to run independently of the rear factory difflock with it's own dedicated pushbutton fitted in one of the blank spaces at the drivers right knee ?
Do I set it up to engage off the factory rear difflock pushbutton so that I can only have front and rear engaged simultaneously ?
Interested to hear opinions from others that have a front difflock (ARB airlocker or ELocker) fitted to their 2015 onwards Hilux

I'd be very careful how you proceed with the control of the locker. I've been studying the wiring diagrams for the 4wd system. The safest way would be to connect your front locker switch to the rear locker output. There is a connector in the passenger side kick panel which goes to the rear diff. By doing this, you will only ever get power to your front locker switch when the rear is enabled. Because the rear locker is controlled by the 4wd ECU, this can only be enabled when all the moons have aligned and ultimately all traction aids would have been disabled at this point. This could eliminate breaking things and possibly having the ABS, TC and VSC systems freak out. Of course, this means that the rear locker would have to be on for the front to work. I can't see a need to only have the front locker on anyway. Also, you should be able to leave the A.D.D. as is. Hope this helps.

Adam.

Thanks for that Adam.
Do you have further clues as to where the connector to tap into behind the kick panel is ?

Sorry, I made a mistake. You are looking for the 4wd ECU located above the left hand kick panel. You will probably have to remove the glovebox to get at it. You're looking for this connector:

Pins 1 and 5 are what you're after. A quick test with a multimeter should confirm.

It's odd that they've tied the activation of your rear locker into low range only and those other facets. I use lockers in high range plenty of times.

As to your front. Use of front locker is a very different beast to the rear locker, primarily due to the fact you steer with it, and secondly because it's an IFS clam shell diff.

Meaning, there are plenty of times where you can have a rear engaged, but you'd think carefully before using the front or not use the front due to the need to steer.

When a front locker is engaged, steering gets very very heavy and it fights you a lot if you attempt to steer (causing a lot of stress), and generally you're going to use it very sparingly and in a straight line (or at least, minimally). Whereas a locked rear isn't quite the same problem (yes it'll still scuff-spin the inside wheel a bit, but it's not the same issue as active steering).

The second consideration is that being IFS, they're weaker diffs than the rear. Now, a locker can actually help that weakness in so much as you're able to more calmly walk up things, less likely to be erratically spinning a left wheel, and then suddenly a right wheel (causing immense forces on CV's and the diff itself) ... however conversely, if you go giving a fully locked front a whole heap of berries, and trying to do sharp turns on rocks and such where there's not much slip ... you may be at more risk of damaging it.

Bottom line, your selection of front vs rear should be situational dependant, and you must have the ability to choose them separately.

I have a front locker, and i love the thing ... particularly because IFS doesn't put power down quite as well as the solid rear does and thus when it's open it's annoying more often than my rear is when open, but you've got to use it sensibly / situational appropriate.

I would ask your auto sparky to see if he can bypass all the factory horse shit for the rear, and wire it directly to a switch in the cabin, along side a separate switch for the front.

Bypassing the canbus for the rear locker is a nightmare. I bought a buds custom' 'anytime locker' module. Plug n play and the rear locker can be locked at 'anytime'.

Wouldn't it be possible to just buy a harness for a Eaton elocker, disconnect the current wiring near the diff and join the new harness using a new switch etc?

And to not over complicate things do the same with the front?

Canbus doesn't work like that. It will detect a problem, throw a code and log it.

as far as i can see the anytime locker module doesnt do anything to the canbus except place a dummy load across it. That way you can activate the rear diff and the canbus signals generated dont make thier way back to the host controller.

It won't be hard for a qualified fitter or auto sparky to work out how to "mute" the computer getting upset about the locker being disconnected (so as to permit it, both, to be wired off normal switches).

Baffling that Toyota have tried to complicate things. I guess people like their soft buttons and computer animated displays etc.


Edit just saw Ryan's comment. Sounds like someone's already found the easiest path to getting a result I'd follow that. The any time module obviously is just doing some trickery to keep the computers happy while providing proper manual control.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

For arguments sake could this mean measuring the impedance of the locker magnet and connecting that size resistor to the canbus wiring?


Cheers
Crit

the resistor would not need to connect to the canbus wiring , it would connect to the 4WD ECU. I downloaded the wiring diagram from the toyota website , if i was allowed to i would post it here. makes more sense when you see it.

Yer I meant basically on the line side of whatever wires run to the diff, so the load looks the same.


Cheers
Crit

yep , according to the wiring diagram its the Red/White wires at the diff housing.

I did this with my KTM 990 adv when I removed the sas/egr crap and I have never had a fault since. Measured resistance of the valve then soldered in a resistor of the same value, I put heat guard tube around it and after lots of tyre shredding its been all good.

$525 for the Buds kit. Think you might get some change.


Cheers
Crit

adamkberger wrote:Sorry, I made a mistake. You are looking for the 4wd ECU located above the left hand kick panel. You will probably have to remove the glovebox to get at it. You're looking for this connector:

Pins 1 and 5 are what you're after. A quick test with a multimeter should confirm.

Had a bit of a play with the 4WD ECU connector adamberger suggested as a starting point.
Pins 1 and 5 are the +ve and -ve to the factory rear difflock coil. When the difflock is activated, the multimeter kicks up to 12V while the lock is engaging (dashlight flashing) and drops to about 6V or 7V once the difflock is engaged (dashlight hard up). It would seem the ECU drops the volts back to 7V once the engaged feedback signal is sent back to the ECU.

I run a front e locker and have from day one of owning the hilux. the performance/traction increase is well worth it. Opposite Lock installed mine, and only by accident once, I found out that the front locker was installed independantly of the rear.....i engaged front locker thinking I had already engaged rear when I hadnt.

wigglet wrote:Hi All,
Thinking about fitting a Harrop ELocker to the front of my 2016 Hilux to compliment the factory rear difflock. Just have some questions for those that have already gone down the ELocker path.

In stock trim the factory rear difflock will only engage when in 4L and it disables ABS, brake assist, VSC, traction control and downhill assist. I'm assuming that Mr Toyota has done this to avoid breaking driveline components such as axles or CV joints. This is leading to some confusion on my part as to how to go about setting up a front ELocker.

Do I just set it up to run independently of the rear factory difflock with it's own dedicated pushbutton fitted in one of the blank spaces at the drivers right knee ?
Do I set it up to engage off the factory rear difflock pushbutton so that I can only have front and rear engaged simultaneously ?
Interested to hear opinions from others that have a front difflock (ARB airlocker or ELocker) fitted to their 2015 onwards Hilux

Hello, new to this forum.

I found this thread from a couple of years ago and would like to see if there's any more recent thoughts on the subject.

I have run a 2003 Hilux for many years and had ARB air-lockers on it, and would never be without lockers again. I have recently bought a 2016 built Hilux Xcab chassis and now want a front locker to go with the factory rear. I think a front locker is at least as important as a rear locker because IFS has less articulation and can break traction on rocks much easier than rears, and the front diff is not as strong as the rear. I blew a front diff on the 2003 on a difficult climb before I had lockers. Never a problem since.

I am inclined to have the front locker engage only when the rear is locked (as adamkberger wrote about in this thread). On the 2003 I used the front locker only when absolutely necessary, but have been happy to run with the rear locked up if the surface allows. The ARB air-locker wiring loom is designed to have the front only as a slave to the rear. I think their argument is that the front diff is not strong enough to run locked without the rear to help.

I would probably prefer to have the rear engaged in 2WD in some situations, but not inclined to override the ECU just yet. That's for another time perhaps.

My local Opp Lock people have only ever wired up a front Elocker completely independent of the rear, and don't recommend anything else. I am keen to hear if there's anyone out there with experience at wiring a front Elocker such that it activates only when the rear is locked.

Thanks for any wisdom and suggestions.

Cheers.

beeteeen wrote:I think their argument is that the front diff is not strong enough to run locked without the rear to help.

I’ve heard that argument before. It’s absolute crap. I had an auto locker in the front and hardly ever used the rear. There’s nothing wrong with wiring them up independently, just depends what you want.