I see a lot of talk around here in regards to lockers, arbs, etc...

What would be recommended for a quick traction upgrade for a street driven vehicle?

I have a stock 96 tracker with automatic transmission, auto locking hubs in the front etc... Given that trail riding is NOT the primary role of the vehicle, what would be a good upgrade for traction?

Just putting a locker or something in the back axle, or is it better to do the front only, since 4x4 only gets engaged offroad? Bear in mind, at some point in the future the vehicle may be driven on snow, just not right now.

I am looking for something relatively simple that would give an advantage on trail riding but not interfere with streetability. I am already running 235 series all terrain tires, and dont feel a need to go for something bigger yet. I guess lifts aren't really needed unless you want to go with bigger tires right?

Rear ARB is the only thing that will not
affect the on road maners of your Trucklet.

However, a rear locker is very streetable, and
with a little conditioning on your part, you will
learn how to drive with it, and love it.

Wild

Am I right in assuming that a locker or other traction upgrade is the single most effective upgrade to be had for offroading, above anything else right?

Followed by  tires, yep

Followed by  tires, yep

x2

next might be "driver"

flexyer suspension... if you set your truck up very well it will go alot of places with no lockers... I roasted a rear U joint out wheelin a while back, had to drive out some prety decent trails in front wheel drive with my open diff, the only reason i made it with only winching once was because my suspension worked very well and kept all fours on the ground.

While that's true you'll always come to some point with no lockers where you have one tire pointing to the sky spinning like mad and nothing is going to get your through except for some healthy vehicle abuse.  Not to mention you have to make your vehicle more flexy through a long process of enhancements and trial and error.  Tires and lockers you can bolt on and install yourself if you're handy enough at it.

I've got a Powertrax NoSlip locker in the rear of my Ranger.  Best $400 I ever spent.  Granted the Ranger is something like 30" longer than a 2 door Tracker but you get used to the road quirks of a locker pretty easily.  I've heard some of the old school lockers can be a bit tedious with their harsher surprise engagements but I've never had that problem with mine.  Every now and then it'll bang or clang when backing up or moving after sitting for a while but for the most part it's pretty transparent.  My wife learned to drive a stick on my Ranger and never even noticed anything funny.  Offroad the traction improvement is amazing.  I went out with some guys this summer and the only truck with more traction than mine was a Bronco II that was locked at both ends.  Another guy had a limited slip in the rear which was about worthless when it came down to the hard stuff and another guy had a Jeep with some sort of traction sensing diff in the transfer case...he just got stuck a lot.

Lockers are great basically.  I'd go for one over tires if I had to.  My Tracker might get one but I'm trying to stay sedate on it as it is supposed to be my DD while the Ranger gets bigger.

I have a lock right locker in my sidekick and it is still fine on the street and I am running 31's. I have found that I needed a locker more when I installed my ome suspension. But now with both its great.

What would be recommended for a quick traction upgrade for a street driven vehicle?

ok i'm going to be the odd guy out here

the first thing i did was a lift and bigget tires. the improvement in traction just from getting bigger tires was enormous. i remember the first year i had my tracker with stock tires. when it snowed i went out to play. i found i could do really cool donuts with the tracker in 4wd & 2wd. the following year i put a 3" lift with 30x10.5 a/t tires on. when it snowed that year i went out to play in the tracker. i could no longer do donuts. i had solid traction from the bigger tires. i could do donuts but i had to really rev the engine, and pop the clutch.

bigger tires is the first choice. to get bigger tires you need a lift.

oh and a lift and bigger tires makes it look cooler instantly 

I already have 235/75R15 All terrain tires on it, and cant see a need for 1 or 2 inch bigger tires, it cant make that much more difference really. I could understand going to a 35 would increase the ground clearance to the dif, but thats not really good for driving on the street either, and you need to do dramatic stuff to get that big a tire to work, ie lifts, fenderwell cutouts etc...

Now don't get me wrong, for serious offroad only vehicles I can see the benefit of such modifications. I am just trying to make it capable in general off road situations, not really to race or mud bog or any of that extreme stuff.

well in that case the best traction upgrade and most streetable would be learing to pick the best lines when 4x4in, ive seen open open stock vehicles with experienced drivers go farther then locked trucks with less experienced drivers, i drove my truck offroad open open for quite some time, learned lots from it, and you would be suprized what difference a 1 - 2 inch bigger tire makes, or even just some MT's instead of AT's

sorry i should have read your post better. well you could always try a limited slip unit, but a locker would be easier to install, and reverse if needed.

i'm saving up for an arb locker.