Manual or Automatic lockers?
 

I'm a newbie to the 4x4 world and I was looking into installing a locker on my 9th Gen. This truck is my daily driver and I don't have loads of disposable income. I heard auto's eat up tires on pavement, is there truth to that? What brands do you recommend? Help!

auto lockers won't just eat up tires, but they will cause tire wear at an accelerated rate compared to open difs. IE. open dif tires lasts 80k, auto lockers last 50-60k just examples not gospel.

if it's your daily driver, save your money until you can get a selectable, that way you're open all the time, and locked when you need to be. and if going with selectable, ARB is the #1 name, but you also need a compressor and the wiring/air lines to activate it.

if this were a weekend warrior, I'd say go auto.

If you have the cash selectable would be nice to have at least in the front. Budget minded go auto lockers.

Well I'd rather wait and save than buy and regret it. Is it better to lock the front or rear?

Well if your just gonna lock one side I would put it on the rear diff, but if you put it on the front and rear that's even better obviously. But rear only would suffice

Lock the rear first.

what are your plans for using the lockers?
some mud holes with big tires?
fast fire roads, occasional puddle, wash out, etc?
rocks, off camber situations, and slow slow moving trails?
sand, high speed, dunes, etc?
having the locker as a fail safe, heading out to the hunt camp, "may" get stuck but want the locker just in case it get's ugly?

for most everything I would put an ARB in the rear. only time I would think it would be better in the front is the last scenario... where you drive in 2wd, and only use the locker to get you out of, or through a sticky situation. You'd have the weight over the front tires, where as the rears may be light and would just spin anyway if buried in mud.

clif note;
ARB in the rear