No life (a.k.a. DattoMaster) 
Joined: 2003/6/27 14:53
From Southern Tablelands N.S.W. Australia
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Click locker? It's a Detroit Locker. That's a brand name, not a nickname. One is a real diferential, & the other is just a right angle reduction drive.
The Detroit Locker is a device that replaces the original diferential center. It will drive both wheels with a mechanical dog clutch arrangement when both wheels are traveling at the same speed [straight ahead]
When cornering, the faster [outside] wheel actually freewheels & the drive mechanism on the axle overides the one in the diff. As it moves ahead far enough, the teeth momentarily drop into the dogs, then ride on up & out again. This is what causes the clicking sound. During normal cornering, you actually have only one wheel drive.
If the driven wheel [tyre] should slip, or spin, the diff catches up with the freewheeling one, within one segment of the dog clutch, & both axles are locked in a positive drive. It will engage with a clunk, but this is normal. Because tyres are normally never the exact same size, due to tyre pressure & wear, & even straight roads have some meandering, it is also normal to be driving along & still hear the occasional "click". It puts one off at first, but you soon become accustomed to it & it simply tells you that it is working as it should.
There are some driving techniques that need to be employed to get the best from them, but they will provide a POSITIVE LOCKED drive whenever you have wheel slippage. In the hands of the average bozo, they can be death on wheels, but for the man who understands them, they can do the deed just right. All the advantages of a locked diff, but not the dissadvantages.
[edit] PDS. I worked on the assumption that the skipping tyre made a chirping, or scrubbing sound. Clicking sounds are normally linked to a mechanical action of some sort. Yes, i knew that CIG {Commonwealth Industrial Gasses] became BOC [British Oxygen Co.] & that MIG [Metal, Inert Gas] was a welding technology, but it would seem that few know about the genuine Detroit Locker. While welding rods are cheap, & Lockers are not, the Locker is still far & away the better solution to the problem in all but actual competition use. They were widely used in many serious drag racers since the 60's
Posted on: 2004/6/15 13:42
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