Disassembling the 3rd member.  Rule number one: Mark everything.   The thing that makes the EZ so, well, easy is the fact that you reuse the carrier and in the case of the Toyota 8" rear you reuse the stock side gears and the T that the spider gears ride on as well.  For most do it yourselfers it's not as tough as a Locker that replaces the carrier. It differs from a locker that replaces the carrier, such as a Detriot Locker, in that you don't have to re-mesh the gears as you would if the ring gear is remounted on a new locker.  But in order to do it right you'll need to put it all back together exactly the way it came appart.  So mark everything, left - right, inner, outer.  One thing in particular is the location of the end caps where the axle slides into the carrier.  They thread into the third member and the U-clamps and hold the carrier in place.  They are lined up just right from factory and you want them put back right were they are.  We counted the visible threads and marked with arrows where they go back.  A small hook-like catch called the adjuster lock is bolted down to hold the end cap from spinning around.  We made sure that hook was place back into the exact same hole with the same number of threads visible.

Installation

Relatively straight forward and on the easy side.  The instructions that came with the locker were simple, to the point and assumed you knew enough about what you were doing to fill in the blanks; which makes sense.  If you do not understand the directions, you probably shouldn't be attempting to disassemble the rear.

Handling characteristics on paved roads

It handles different than an open rear and takes some getting used to.  I've had to learn to be easy on the gas while turning.  A little too much power and the locker engages.  The result is the inner tire breaks free and I go though tires quicker.   But a little chirp now and then is quite fun.  On the straight, it's fine.   In a slight curve during a shift or change in acceleration I feel the truck pull to the left or right depending on acceleration or de-acceleration and the direction of the curve.  Another alteration in my driving habits has been drifting though a turn.   Pre-EZ Locker I would sometimes coast through a turn and apply gas after the turn.   Sometimes doing this after installing the EZ Locker I get some wicked backlash or bucking of the vehicle as the locker engages and disengages due to the torque of the backlash itself.  I corrected this occurrence by disengaging the clutch before entering the turn then re-engaging after coming out of the turn.  This usually doesn't happen if  I'm accelerating moderately or de-accelerating moderately.   It usually only happen when drifting through a turn at an engine idle speed in whatever gear.  This probably will not happen in an automatic.  I have manual trans.   After a period of driving every day I am quite used to it's behavior and my driving habits have adjust to the point where it's second nature to understand what it will do.

Performance Offroad

The Detroit EZ Locker performs very well offroad.  In the following month after installing the locker I took it offroad and even though I still got stuck in some thick mud (bad tires), I must say that I climbed some hills that I formerly could not climb even with the very worn tires.  Almost every situation I encountered it did its job well. In situations where a tire was off the ground I was able to get power to the tire that was still firmly planted on the ground while creeping over obstacles without any sudden engagement.   I feel that it was the least amount of money I could spend on the truck that would reap the largest return on performance.   Not a bad investment.

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