Difflock failure survey

[Gordo]

Hi, I''m not trying to start a difflock design war! We all know all lockers have they're merits and drawbacks.

I am purely curious to get an idea how many and the type of loss of difflocker function events (ie not necessarily terminal) you are *personally* aware of.

Please include events that indirectly caused the event (eg diff cover damaged, oil lost, difflock ceased functioning)

This will help owners and potential owners of lockers become aware of the most common ailments affecting one of the most popular offroad accessory upgrades performed and maybe plan ahead for trail-side repairs.

Please don't bother mentioning givens such as the lockers were used in comps or that more popular brands will have a greater number of failures, etc

This topic will also be posted on Ausjeepoffroad so please submit to only one board to aid accuracy.

Once results are compiled I'll post the results for everyone's info.

My experience :

airlockers :
1 mechanical (grenaded),
3 electrical (1 fuse, 1 air comp wiring, 1 switch)

Detroit SofLocker (2) :
Still alive

thanks

[Goodsy]

Air locker.

The 4 cap screws the hold the 2 housing pieces together failed. 2 sheared 2 stripped the threads. Diff lock was fitted to the front of an 80 and was originally on a hilux. 7 years service and no reason for failure.

Fixed locker buy drilling out 4 holes and retapping to 3/8 (a bit more than that involved). On the plus it worked fine yesterday.

Mates locker helped him fix it.

[Bodge]

Goodsy - PM with the details of your fix - I think I have the same problem and was told it was a write off....

[hophoar]

Broken lockrite, seems cross shaft had snapped and shear pins broke the housings. When stripped down pin holes were flogged out and sides of housing where cross shaft goes through was worn down. Its been in for @ 3 years and @ 150k

[Zookymatt]

Lockright: snapped shear pins on 4 different occasions, normally as a result of a CV joint breaking

Detroit: No breakage

Welded: No breakage

Regards,
Matt.

[bj on roids]

I snapped a pinion and this damaged the outer carrier of the airlocker. with no pinion i lost drive also


Very happy with airlockers though. good stong product. The electrical system and compressors are average and the switches are poor. but the diff centre itself is AWESOME!

[Gordo]

So far so good...13 failures for all sorts of designs and reasons.

The spreadsheet's coming along nicely.

Keep it up.

PS BJ - What have u got against goats ?? :p They're VERY nice...

[Bitsamissin]

ARB rear locker installed 18 months ago.

-leaking O ring seal after 3 months (replaced under warranty)

-ARB compressor, blown fuse and numerous air leaks (fixed these myself)

-Detroit front locker installed 2 months ago- no probs so far.

[greg]

Air Lockers Front and Rear (Front installed about 3 months after rear).

1. Oil (only a few drops) came up air line and caused solinoid to "stay open" which meant that the compressor would always run (even when car was turned off). Took it to ARB and they pumped some air down the lines - problem solved.

2. Air Pressure in the compressor pushed out the Rubber seal in the compressor. Couldn't pump up tyres. Took it to ARB, they replaced it on the spot.

ARB have done all fixes for free, on the spot for me. Very happy with everything else about the lockers.

No issues with the diffs, just the compressor and air lines.

[bj on roids]

Exactly as I was saying the Airlocker itself is a stout and reliable unit, whereas the peripherals attached to it are somewhat cheap and unreliable.

[Bitsamissin]

Yes BJ and the stupid sized fittings they use.....................
Friggin 5mm airline no-one uses that and those stupid bulkhead compression fittings. We have found an adaptor that converts the compression fitting thread to a female BSP thread (after removing the external compression fitting cap). Then you can screw in a quick connect Festo type airline fitting to take a 3/16" airline. Much better IMHO then you can carry a more common size Festo airline and fittings as spares
We use heaps of this sized Festo stuff at work

[Hoonz]

airlockers
the aircompressor shat its self after 6 months took ARB in townsville 5 weeks to get it fixed ... not impressed with them

[ozy1]

i bought the car in Jan, The compressor and airlocker have been in there since 1992. THe locker functions fine, but i do have to say the the comps getting way long in the tooth, i have a new ARB comp what will be getting installed this weekend so well see how she goes after that hey.

Shawn

[A1]

Had no probs with my airlokka that i had in da zook although i it did twist sum axles nicely ......................

Compressor was fine now fitted to the mav has slight leak (didnt use any sealant wen fittin pressure sensor) as it has to be removed soon anyway

As for my latest pair there sweet they look real nice sittin beside my 37"s trans gears and snorkel in my house :arrow:

[Area54]

F & R ARB's in Maverick wagon, had them in about three years.

only faults in that time were:
1. Slight oil film on inside of bonnet where bulkhead fittings exhaust pressure (rectified by shop that installed them)

2. poor quality fuse holder (inline glass) for compressor - shop that fitted system supplied a new blade fuse holder and fixed it myself.

3. air seal on compressor tank failed on disassembly - not really a fault of the product - these seals are pretty cheap anyway I think. I just sealed it back up with gasket sealant.

I'm quite meticulous about my maintenance, so the reliability has probably been in my favour anyway. I've never owned any other type of locker so I have no experience with them, only opinions (which I'll keep to myself)

[Punchy]

detroit locker in the rear of the 80 and true track in the front(same as torzan)...broken everything else around them...lockers are still fine ! Appart from the nerky little driving side effects...there fine

[BundyRumandCoke]

Detriot Locker in Daihatsu Rocky. Imported from USA and would not unlock from new. Replaced under warrenty. Replacement has been in place for about 7 years with no problems whatsoever. Front now has Detriot Locker fitted last July. No problems so far, apart from usual handling quirks. Ya learn to live with these.

[83 lux]

i love my air locker no problems yet

TOUCH WOOD

[NICK]

i have broken 2 detroits, the pins in both times.


NICK

[POS]

Lokka Lockright, sheared the 4 pins off after about 5 months of driving, it was already showing very bad wear signs aswell!

The rear is welded and never had a problem!

[MKPatrolGuy]

Only problem with my air locker has been a broken air line when it rubbed on the body where it went through the floor.

[LEXX]

true track front and ARB rear. Only had one problem with the rear was when the air line was touching on the exhaust and melted a hole in it, other than that no probs so far. Both have been installed for approx 4 months.

[RaginRover]

Lokka Lockright, sheared the 4 pins off after about 5 months of driving, it was already showing very bad wear signs aswell!

The rear is welded and never had a problem!

So what are you gonna do ? Are you wanting your computer back ??

[Shorty40]

I have ARBs front and rear. I think that they are about the oldest ones around (not sure of their exact age )

Only drama I have had is suspect wiring (mine, not ARBs ) A good river crossing or the like and they seem to work fine again

The switches are "custom" jobs. The "H" is for the horn !! This allows me to toggle the front locker on and off using the horn - lets me keep both hands on the wheel

[hypo]

welded rear.... no probs
arb front .... no probs
new arb for rear ... probs .... it still in the box and not the car

[Guy]

Rear Detroit .. broken pings and springs in the Zook

[JavaJeep]

Dana 25 10 spline - Lockright - no problem, a pig to drive in heavy mud with no power steering

Dana 44 19 spline rear - Detroit 'No Spin' locker, comes in with a bang sometimes when it was new 18 mths ago but no probs.

Pretty hard to break them with 90 hp [optimistic]

[duncan]

Just broke my first CV on a 92 GQ wagon drivers side runing 35 centapeeds running a 4x4 systems loka broke 2 of the small pins and bent and fractored the other 2 showing some signs of wear on the sides were the cross shaft goes through had mates running air lockers all had failers with the air or electrical side of things one had a air leak on the diff lock presured his diff up and spewed oil out of the swivel hubs

[FireTruck]

I can also back up the tales of woe with ARB wiring and compressors... on my f/r ARB's...

1. Solenoid died = no compressor = no lockers
2. Inline glass fuse blew (for compressor) = no compressor = no lockers
3. Intermittant compressor drop out = no lockers

Replaced the in line fuse with a blade fuse holder - no idea why they don't do this in the first place.

Anyway, enough failures to switch to Detroits f/r... haven't had the detroits in for long yet, so hard to comment apart from saying 'no failures yet'.

[OVERKILL ENG]

In the old ZOOK
ARB front Fuse holder as with others numerous CV no Locker probs.

Lincoln rear one broken axle.

New ZOOK

Lincolns front and rear no probs, Broke one axle which was my fault.