Aussie Locker Fail?

[CharlestonG8R]

Good Morning, Y'all!

@dbenke , @greenseaman , @ErikinSC , and I installed an Aussie Locker yesterday on the 80. Everything seemed to work okay when I left David's house - quiet operation while driving straight and obnoxious tires chirping when I made turns. When I turned off of I-26 in to Summerville, I started hearing clacking from the rear differential. Now, the clacking is constant (sounds like something is wrong) and the obnoxious chirping is not occurring when I make turns (something is wrong). I'm thinking that we'll probably need to get in and take a look to be sure... Maybe the locker teeth have sheared off? Maybe the pins/springs fell out? Maybe we measured wrong and still have too much clearance?

Just curious if anyone else has run in to this issue. The internet is flooded with folks asking if their locker is working properly because they hear clicking when making a turn... That's normal operation.

Thanks, y'all!

 

[mtweller]

Mine rarely gives tire chirp on turns - that's when you should hear the ratcheting. Straight line should be seamless operation (no noise or behavior change). If it's making noise going straight, something is definitely wrong.

R

 

[CharlestonG8R]

Yeah, I am afraid of that... Hopefully it's not broken! I will call Aussie Locker tomorrow.

 

[krzyabncanuck]

Unfortunately i would open it back up and have a look.

 

[elkaholic]

Agree. You should not get any tire chirp on turns unless you get on the power hard, but you should hear ratcheting on tuns and silent on the straightaways.

 

[CharlestonG8R]

Thanks y'all! Yeah, I think disassembly might be in our future. I'll ask David to drive it around for another sanity check since he runs an Aussie in his 60... Driving with the differential clacking around is pretty annoying.

 

[JohnVee]

Driving with the differential clacking around is pretty annoying.

And I'd guess potentially fatal for the part?


...via IH8MUD app

 

[CharlestonG8R]

And I'd guess potentially fatal for the part?


...via IH8MUD app

Alas! That is a possible scenario... Hopefully it is fine, but just in case, I will bring the 100 to Uwharrie on Tuesday.

 

[ErikinSC]

Uh Oh. That's not good. My lift is open if you need to check it sooner rather than later. Just let me know. I feel sick that we might have messed ya up.

 

[CharlestonG8R]

Uh Oh. That's not good. My lift is open if you need to check it sooner rather than later. Just let me know. I feel sick that we might have messed ya up.

Don't worry about it, it could be a defective unit. We did the installation per the instruction manual. I'll probably go ahead and install the old gears while we sort out the locker… And yes, if you don't mind me working with your lift, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks, Erik!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You're hearing clacking when driving in a straight line? Does the sound change if you're on the throttle or not?

 

[CharlestonG8R]

Nope, doesn't change. Sounds like something is hitting the housing with each revolution of the ring gear.

 

[elkaholic]

Nope, doesn't change. Sounds like something is hitting the housing with each revolution of the ring gear.

Almost sounds like the cross pin might have backed out a bit ....

 

[CharlestonG8R]

I sure hope that isn't the case - it would have to have been binding up pretty badly to shear off the retention bolt...

 

[elkaholic]

Agreed. But that is better than some of the alternatives that came to mind when you indicated the frequency was at the carrier speed rather than the pinion speed ....

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Agreed with the above, time to pull that sucker apart.

 

[Trollhole]

Pull it apart. What was the deal with the thrust washers. You put them on both sides? Check the clearances? Has to be in spec on both sides for it to work right. I've had a few I've installed where the stock TW's were not going to work. Had to either sand them down or use thicker ones.

To me it sounds as if you got it too tight and it sheared the pins going around a corner. Which is not good. You don't want that kind of metal floating around in the diff. The drain plug will eventually catch it but until then it's just just making a bigger problem.

 

[CharlestonG8R]

Agreed with everything above. And yep, the engineer at Aussie Locker suspects that the issue was because we installed a thrust washer on one side only (if we'd installed one on both sides, the gap would have been out of spec). I'll take my time with it and sand down the thrust washers (or order new thinner washers). Technically speaking, the gaps were within spec without the thrust washer, but the pins and springs were so loose we thought they'd fall out.