Tribute to Tony Roberts, Aussie inventor of the ARB Air Locker

Tony Roberts, the original inventor of the ARB Air Locker, has died at his home in Victoria aged 70.

As lovers of the outdoors, Roberts and his wife Patricia were early off-road pioneers, taking their Toyota FJ55 LandCruiser to remote areas of the Victorian High Country in the 1970s – but quickly discovered four-wheel drive alone wasn’t enough to keep them out of trouble.

The problem was the car’s open differentials allowed the wheels with no traction to spin.

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As a pilot instructor and aviation engineer, Roberts set to work designing a mechanism to lock the differential using vacuum from the engine, before settling on an evolution of the idea using compressed air. By the mid-1980s, Roberts had designed and patented the Roberts Diff Lock – a strong device that locks the differential with compressed air, allowing both wheels to turn together and greatly improving traction off road.

A company making roof racks and bull bars around the same time, named ARB after its founder Anthony Ronald Brown, purchased the rights to the Roberts Diff Lock in 1987 and renamed it the ARB Air Locker.

ARB launched a new logo adopting the red and black from the Roberts' Diff Lock, and began selling the product in Australia and the US alongside its new in-house 12V air compressor – helping to cement the company as a global leader in off-road accessories.

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Roberts’ love of aviation continued, running a successful pilot school from Moorabbin airport for a number of years, before moving with his family to a farm near Colac where he continued engineering and gunsmithing until his sudden death.

His passion for the outdoors, engineering, and aviation were passed onto his children, and his invention has helped countless drivers get further into the wilderness – and back – over the past three decades.

While he’ll be best remembered by the community for creating the ARB Air Locker, it’s his laugh, handshake, and sharp wit that will be best remembered by his family and friends.

He is survived by his wife, three children, and five grandchildren.