Tractor Sizing How important is rear diff lock on CUT?

[LD1]

No worries fellas. When you climb out of your tractor simulators I'll buy ya a beer.

Not sure I've ever had any real experience where traction is equal. One tire always seems to spin before the other. This equal traction sounds more in theory than real life. If ya got the engine turning only 1 wheel, that's 1wd in my book. But you can debate all u want.

More people on this thread seem to know the value of a locker from experience.

Flame on.

No simulator. Not sure what the h3ll that means. I am speaking from my experience. Never said traction was equal either. But near equal. If it is near equal and takes a ton of torque to make one tire spin, that means the other tire is receiving a ton of torque also.

I am not denying the usefulness of a locker in certain situations. I am stating MY opinions and MY preferences. The locker does me little good. My split brakes are more useful.

 

[DavesTractor]

On my LS gear drive tractor, I have gotten stuck crossing ditches at an angle a couple of times due to getting one front and one rear off the ground at the same time. Hit the Diff lock and it pulled right out, other wise I would have had to shove myself out with the FEL which would have torn up the ground a bit.
That is a somewhat funny situation though, sitting with a ditch under the tractor and two wheels off the ground and just spinning away.

Exactly. Smallish tractors do not have much axle articulation, and it is easy to do as you have described above. You can sit in one place spinning when going over a small ditch if you hit it just wrong.

On our Deutz-Fahr tractors, we have front and back lockers....if that doesn't get you out, you shouldn't have been there in the first place.

 

[onelostdogg]

Wow! I Took physics in college too! Got my answer way Long ago. Not buying anything without rear differential lock. Thanks everybody.

 

[GManBart]

No simulator. Not sure what the h3ll that means. I am speaking from my experience. Never said traction was equal either. But near equal. If it is near equal and takes a ton of torque to make one tire spin, that means the other tire is receiving a ton of torque also.

I am not denying the usefulness of a locker in certain situations. I am stating MY opinions and MY preferences. The locker does me little good. My split brakes are more useful.

He means much of this is theory...i.e. like a simulator. Why? Because you're making up fictional conditions like "near equal" traction which isn't something you can know, and is only going to be true sometimes. That turns it into a theoretical argument....a simulation.

Yes, dragging a split brake will often get the job done, but it won't always get the job done, and simply isn't as effective at putting power to the ground as a locked differential. A diff lock won't help when you're turning, so split brakes are still a handy option.

When I've needed to use my diff lock, it was usually because traction wasn't anywhere near equal. It was also a heck of a lot easier to just step on the diff lock and not have to stop, disconnect the brake pedals, and then drag a brake while trying to get unstuck.

I'm not sure why folks are arguing over this....having both is best. Having just one or the other will always leave situations where you don't have the best tool for the job...even if you can still suffer by without it.

 

[GManBart]

Guess some folks have never had just one wheel on a section of ice, or in a muddy spot, or on something else slick, or be up in the air, while the other was planted firmly on a decent surface...

 

[k0ua]

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..having both is best. Having just one or the other will always leave situations where you don't have the best tool for the job...even if you can still suffer by without it.

I could agree with that, Both IS best. But if I had to give one up, I would give up the diffy lock, and retain the split brakes. One reason is they can be used to slew the tractor sideways a bit and sometimes that will get you to better drier ground. But if using a hydrostatic drive tractor with the go pedal and split brakes on the same side, I think most people are going to go for the locker pedal. But on my tractor the split brakes are on the left, and the hydrostatic pedals are on the right, best of both worlds. IMO. of course as always YMMV.

 

[LD1]

I am not saying a d-loc isn't nice to have. In "my" real world of experience, I find that it doesn't do any good more often than it helps. Meaning traction is similar enough, that the little help it provides still isn't enough to do the job.

If I cannot drag the log, most of the time the locker don't help. If I am buried in the muck, most of the time the locker don't help. If I am trying to push a pile of dirt back in the trench and can't, most of the time the locker don't help.

Most of the time meaning probably 80%.

Not having a locker would not be a deal breaker for me as It don't help me as much as some of you claim.

Not having split brakes would be a deal breaker though.

That's all I'm saying. I ain't claiming there is no benefit of a locker. I just don't see the huge benefits that some of you tout

 

[ZR900MAN]

I tell you what you non-lock knuckleheads....lets take two identical tractors....hook them each to an equal size disk and put them side by side in a long field with slippery conditions....one tractor uses the posi and one does not....I put all my money on the posi tractor winning that by a lot....if you can't see that then you have not spent much time on a real tractor doing any real world work

 

[TJP89]

I am not saying a d-loc isn't nice to have. In "my" real world of experience, I find that it doesn't do any good more often than it helps. Meaning traction is similar enough, that the little help it provides still isn't enough to do the job.

If I cannot drag the log, most of the time the locker don't help. If I am buried in the muck, most of the time the locker don't help. If I am trying to push a pile of dirt back in the trench and can't, most of the time the locker don't help.

Most of the time meaning probably 80%.

Not having a locker would not be a deal breaker for me as It don't help me as much as some of you claim.

Not having split brakes would be a deal breaker though.

That's all I'm saying. I ain't claiming there is no benefit of a locker. I just don't see the huge benefits that some of you tout

Split brakes ain't gonna help there 80% of the time either.

I find the diff lock useful. I don't need it most of the time, sometimes it doesn't work and I've got to find a different way. But I've been convinced of the necessity for having one to use if I need it. This winter there was 8 to 10 in of snow down one morning, and I had to get to work. On the CK at 6am in the dark and 0 degree weather. Coming down the back 2-track in LO, 4WD in reverse with rear blade. I have this nasty little uphill with a curve on it, and the tractor just started sliding and slipping all over. I put the diff lock on, and made it through. Without the diff lock I would have been stuck, with it I made it. Any tractor I ever buy will have a differential lock.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I tell you what you non-lock knuckleheads....lets take two identical tractors....hook them each to an equal size disk and put them side by side in a long field with slippery conditions....one tractor uses the posi and one does not....I put all my money on the posi tractor winning that by a lot....if you can't see that then you have not spent much time on a real tractor doing any real world work

I'll go you one better: Hitch those two tractors tail-to-tail and see which one makes it to their end of the field first. I bet it's the one using the locker...