Why I installed a Front Locker in the Dmax

 

The first weekend that National Parks and State forests were opened in NSW again during the Covid-19 restrictions, I took the Dmax out to Zig Zag Railway near Lithgow. I've been out to Zig Zag a fair few times in my old Patrol, but this was the first time I got to test the Dmax out. We would have been on the tracks for no more than 45 minutes before I lost all drive to my front wheels. There was a rocky section which my stock Patrol would do pretty easy but enough of a challenge to be interesting, so I thought this would be a great spot to start the Dmax off. 

After several attempts to climb this section, I wasn't getting anywhere, so I backed it out and went to do the "chicken track" around it, however, stopped halfway up the side trail as the mate I was with had already started climbing the rocky section. I parked my car and jumped out to be a spotter. Because I stopped, I lost all momentum on the muddy side trail, and couldn't move. After several attempts to climb up, a group of onlookers came to offer some assistance and noticed that no matter how much throttle, my front tyres were not getting any drive. We ended up doing a light snatch just to reposition me as I didn't have any front recovery points, nor a winch as of yet, then I was able to back the car out and park it on the side of the track.  

Some of the damaged parts

I drove the Dmax home in 2wd and had my Grandfather (a diesel mechanic) have a look at it. After jacking the car up and removing the front diff, we found that the axle shaft and spider gears had snapped and caused shrapnel in the diff to be flung around. This virtually led to everything in the front diff to be replaced, other than the housing, crown wheel and pinion which we were able to have repaired.  

Looking into the price of parts to replace and repair, the original price with my Grandfather and I doing majority of the work was going to above $4000. We found that by installing a front locker,  we would be able to save ourselves about $1500 by not buying a centre from Isuzu. With this in mind, I decided I was going to buy a Harrop E-Locker to install. I paid my deposit and was told that it would be here in about a week. This was great, we were ready to get the car back on the road in about 2 weeks time. However, due to the delays of Covid, my locker kept getting delayed. After 2 months of delays,  I rang Harrop directly and was told to expect between a further 1-2 months before I received my locker. With having the car off the road for this long already, I couldn't justify waiting that much time with the high possibility for further delays. Because of this, I rang my local ARB dealership to find out the lead time for receiving an air locker. I was told 1 week, so again I was sceptical of this turnaround, so I put a deposit on an Air Locker but kept the one on the E-Locker as well. 

The next day I got a call to say that my locker had arrived. After 2 and a half months, I was finally getting the Dmax out from the carport and back onto the road. However, as always happens, life was not so easy. It turns out that ARB had sent a rear locker rather than a front. It wasn't all bad though, there was a promotion on at the time which allowed me to get a free air compressor, so I ended up saving $700 from what I would have paid for the E-Locker. A week later, the right locker came and it was straight back into it.

The Compressor for the Locker

My Grandfather assembled the locker and the diff at his house, before bringing it up to my place. We spent the entire weekend installing the diff back into the car and running all of the air hoses and electricals. My girlfriend helped us out as well, so the three of us were able to get the car all back together. The hardest part of the whole install, other than trying to lift the diff back into place, was finding a spot to mount the air compressor. Isuzu doesn't give you much room in the engine bay for any additions. The other challenge was finding a place to mount the switches for both the compressor and the locker itself. The switches from ARB are too big to fit into the blanks on the dash. 

My new switch panel

After playing with a few ideas, I ordered a switch panel to replace the compartment in front of the fuse box with the hope that these switches fit into the new blanks. 
So that is the story on why I "chose" to install a front ARB Air Locker in my Dmax. Now the next step is to actually get out on the tracks and use it. 

Has anyone been in the same situation? or does anyone have tips for the best time to use a front locker in an IFS vehicle?