subbed - really want to get a set from aus
Cable lockers (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter smkymntn
- Start date
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Are they available new from aus?
Thanks so much! I found where the best place in the hull for the shift handles are - similar to your placement, but horizontal for my rig (because of the 5-speed transmission also taking up more space).
I have complete FJ80 axles (9.5" diffs) under my 62 - but the shape of the front diff housing is different than the rear; thus the 9.5" kit that chilkat makes doesn't fit the front 9.5" diff. Apparently (according to Chilkat) the kit he makes/sells for the 8" will also fit a 9.5" front diff - and is in fact what you need to use his kits on FJ80 front axles. Once I get the correct parts, and install everything - I will post pictures and a write up too.
z
There is no front 9.5" diff option for an 80, only an 8". You may have a locked 80 series rear full floater like i do, but if your front diff is 9.5" as well, you've got the stock 60 axle with a locker from the rear of an 80, so you're gonna need two 9.5" kits. There shouldn't be any reason the front housing doesn't accept the chilkat actuator.
No that common in aus at all I have a import 24 volt with the lockers and that's what I mainly see them on in fact I rarely see if at all our aussie 12 volt versions have the lockers. Maybe some other aussie forum members might shed some light on that info and also parts are not easy to get hold and wreckers charge a premium price for these....
Mark
TLC Norway
woodwelder
if anyone need some specific pictures of a oem cable locker install, i can take pictures on request of what you need.
I have an HJ61, 88'
I retrofitted the cable lockers in my previous 60, and only clearance issue was at the back, where the pivot of the acuator arm extended towards the shock mounted on the oem sua location. i had to extend the lower shock mount forward an inch or two.
I have an HJ61, 88'
I retrofitted the cable lockers in my previous 60, and only clearance issue was at the back, where the pivot of the acuator arm extended towards the shock mounted on the oem sua location. i had to extend the lower shock mount forward an inch or two.
you are correct - I was slightly mistaken about the diffs I have (came straight from underneath a wrecked FJz80, but had the locking option) so the rear is 9.5" but the front is 8". Alex from Chilkat is sending me the correct kit for the front - so I'm essentially running one of each one of his kits to have mechanical actuation Front and Rear!
Very eager to see how installation goes and how you set up the actuators.
If I recall correctly, the "tab" TLC Norway is referring is attached to the front actuator rod concealed behind the plastic box mounted in the cab. When the front lever is pulled, the tab "catches" the rear rod and both lockers are engaged. This could be modified to allow the front locker to be engaged independently.
I did eventually modify the linkage for LHD and get the lockers installed... Here's the post from '09 in my build thread.
TLC Norway
woodwelder
That's correct, VTCruiser!
Some updates:
The whole rear kit (9.5" diff) installed and works great.
The actuator part of the front kit (8" diff) installed and works great (circular lever with the swapped-in gear) to lock/unlock the mechanism inside the diff, however the cable mount bracket doesn't fit on the top of the high-pinion 8" (used in FJ80s with lockers) diff housing because of a large ridge that is there (which I understand doesn't exist on other 8" Toyota diffs, only the high-pinon one used in FJ80 fronts). It is possible to add another piece to the bracket, and cut out space for the ridge and to provide room for the cable to clear the ridge too - which that is what I'm currently working on. I made this additional bracket piece yesterday to raise Chilkat's bracket by about 2", but it's not quite high enough for the cable to mount and point towards the actuator - I need to raise another inch or two so I need a bigger piece of metal to make the larger, additional bracket. Hopefully will have everything finished by this coming weekend...!
Here is a picture of the hand-lever installation I decided on. In my opinion, this positioning is the best looking and performing - but in reality it was the only area where the whole bulkheads would fit keeping the levers easily reachable, the cables un-obtrusive to passengers and so the cables could actually reach the port in the hull to go underneath (without me having to drill a new hole in the hull). I attached both bulkheads together by replacing the fulcrums for the separate levers with a common one (which was just a 3.5" screw) and the end of that went through and is bolted to the front of my tuffy box. Another 3.5" screw holds both bulkeads together at the other end, and is itself attached to a right-angle bracket I made to anchor to the side of the tuffy box. The cupholders are attached to the front bulkhead with a single nut/bolt.
The lever in the front operates the rear locker and the lever in the rear operates the front locker - why? because that makes the most logical sense. KIDDING!
I will post more pictures once everything is in place and working 100% correctly...!
Finally Done!
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS SETUP. It's badass. Granted, it took a little extra work to correctly mount the cable at the front diff (and the way that I ended up doing it may or may not be helpful to others, since I imagine not many folks have 80-series locking axles with their factory suspension mounts all cut off, and then mounted underneath leaf springs on a 60-series rig...) but I'm sure another mounting system could be figured out.
Here are pictures of the where/how the cables act on the differentials themselves as well as where/how my hand-lever controls are mounted:
Rear. The cable pushes lever towards the left about 2", and that acts on the shaft which actuates the lock-collar inside the diff. In this picture, the lever is vertical and the differential is unlocked. The installation here was very easy since the chilkat cable bracket fits directly on the top of 9.5" differential.
Front. The cable pushes/pulls downward/upward on the circular-lever, which rotates a gear inside of the diff housing that actuates the shift collar in the 8" high-pinion front diff. This installation was more complicated, because the cable-mount bracket that chilkat uses does not fit on the high-pinion 8" (the actuator does fit, just not the cable-mount bracket) because there is that large ridge in the top of the housing. The ridge also blocks the path of the cable from being left/right and necessitates it being up/down. I fabricated an additional bracket that both cleared the ridge and provided area to rotate the chilkat cable-mount bracket about 45d so the cable pointed at the circular lever at the right angle.
Hand-levers mounted. I found this horizontal position was pretty much the only one that fit within the spaces I had while also pointing the cables toward the port that they exit the hull though (which is a factory port, usually just covered, basically in the dead-center of the FJ62, underneath the back-end of the center console, roughly even with where the front seat belts attach to the floor). It was also fortunate because logically the lever that controls the front differential is mounted in front of the lever the controls the rear, and because the cables could be easily routed underneath the passenger seat, without any obtrusion into leg area. Both bulkheads are bolted together using 2x 3.5" bolts (one of which also serves as/replaced the fulcrum points for both levers) which also are used to securely mount the bulkheads to the center console.
looks good but you're gonna want to paint the bare metal pieces on both diffs.
Update...PLEASE READ!
While I still love and highly recommend the Chilkat Designs cable kit for the front high-pinion 80-series locking axle, DO NOT USE it in the rear!
In short, cables (like ropes) are great at pulling but suck at pushing.
The kits are designed so that PUSHING the cable locks the axle and PULLING unlocks (if that were inverted the problem in the rear would be avoided, but this would mean the cable would need to come towards the differential from the wheel side...which would mean routing a cable near a wheel, which is a bad idea for obvious reasons).
In the front, things work great because the cable pushes a 'round lever' outside the diff (see above picture) which rotates a round gear which then acts on a flat gear (both inside diff) that moves the collar which engages and disengages the locker. The forces inside the differential which want to move that collar backwards when locked are not sufficient to move the flat gear + round gear + round lever.
However, the locker in a rear 80-series axle works in a fundamentally different way. The interior collar which locks/unlocks the diff is pushed/pulled by a lever...and so when locked there are forces constantly pushing back on this collar - which is pushing back on the lever, which is pushing back on the cable. And again...similar to ropes, cables are not well-suited to push things (or resist being pushed).
After installing my setup years ago, I started noticing that the rear cable and how it links to the lever needed to be adjusted on a regular basis. The rear locker kept having a tendency to unlock itself, which at the time I didn't think through and figure out why (I just thought I hadn't set it up quite properly to begin with). I would just lift the axle, disconnect the cable, lock the axle and then reconnect the cable at when it was fully extended. I started having to build little extension pieces to hang off the lever which I would connect the cable end to. After a couple years, I started realizing the rear locker would only be locked when under no load, but as soon as there became load, it would unlock itself.
Fast forward to when that differential blew up (long story, unrelated problem) and I inspected the internals...and realized that the collar, which is supposed to have beveled edges to grab and hold its counterpart in the carrier and lock the axle, was completely rounded...which is why forces inside the differential could easily cause the collar to slip backwards into unlocked position.
I now have an Eaton e-locker in the rear (AND LOVEEEE IT) and a factory 80-series locker in the front converted to cable actuation via Chilkat's kit.
While I still love and highly recommend the Chilkat Designs cable kit for the front high-pinion 80-series locking axle, DO NOT USE it in the rear!
In short, cables (like ropes) are great at pulling but suck at pushing.
The kits are designed so that PUSHING the cable locks the axle and PULLING unlocks (if that were inverted the problem in the rear would be avoided, but this would mean the cable would need to come towards the differential from the wheel side...which would mean routing a cable near a wheel, which is a bad idea for obvious reasons).
In the front, things work great because the cable pushes a 'round lever' outside the diff (see above picture) which rotates a round gear which then acts on a flat gear (both inside diff) that moves the collar which engages and disengages the locker. The forces inside the differential which want to move that collar backwards when locked are not sufficient to move the flat gear + round gear + round lever.
However, the locker in a rear 80-series axle works in a fundamentally different way. The interior collar which locks/unlocks the diff is pushed/pulled by a lever...and so when locked there are forces constantly pushing back on this collar - which is pushing back on the lever, which is pushing back on the cable. And again...similar to ropes, cables are not well-suited to push things (or resist being pushed).
After installing my setup years ago, I started noticing that the rear cable and how it links to the lever needed to be adjusted on a regular basis. The rear locker kept having a tendency to unlock itself, which at the time I didn't think through and figure out why (I just thought I hadn't set it up quite properly to begin with). I would just lift the axle, disconnect the cable, lock the axle and then reconnect the cable at when it was fully extended. I started having to build little extension pieces to hang off the lever which I would connect the cable end to. After a couple years, I started realizing the rear locker would only be locked when under no load, but as soon as there became load, it would unlock itself.
Fast forward to when that differential blew up (long story, unrelated problem) and I inspected the internals...and realized that the collar, which is supposed to have beveled edges to grab and hold its counterpart in the carrier and lock the axle, was completely rounded...which is why forces inside the differential could easily cause the collar to slip backwards into unlocked position.
I now have an Eaton e-locker in the rear (AND LOVEEEE IT) and a factory 80-series locker in the front converted to cable actuation via Chilkat's kit.
