Factory Rear e-locker wont disengage (1 Viewer)

[CPACruiser]

I did a search and found plenty of "locker won't engage," but unfortunately that not my issue, but maybe it's a similar diagnosis?

I was out snow wheeling last night and had the rear locked a few times and it worked flawlessly....until it was time to go home and it wouldn't disengage. I tried figure 8s, I tried reverse...i tried removing fuses, i tried negative battery terminal removal...

Even when selecting 4hi it doesn't turn off!!

I'm assuming I need to pull the actuator and possibly see if it's all gunked up inside on the gear/pins? Manually push the locking mechanism to off? Then check for function?

Thanks, it was a chirpy 1.5 hour ride home...

 

[I Lean]

You're on the right track.
If your actuator checks out fine, you might have twisted the splines on your passenger side axle shaft, which can prevent the locker collar moving. If that's the case for you, then at least it's locked right now so you can remove the shaft, and thus the third member.

 

[bicycleagent003]

You're on the right track.
If your actuator checks out fine, you might have twisted the splines on your passenger side axle shaft, which can prevent the locker collar moving. If that's the case for you, then at least it's locked right now so you can remove the shaft, and thus the third member.

I'm in the same boat as OP, same exact issue. I did a tough obstacle while out wheeling today (which required some reverse and uphill/downhill), and now my rear locker won't disengage. (My lockers have worked fine for years, and I use them a lot.)
I took off the forward facing cover, which I believe is the actuator itself (not the motor). Nothing in there looks terrible, just some old grease and the contacts and wires look okay.
By remove the shaft, do you mean go ahead and pull the PS axle shaft itself? And then do what? I'm not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[I Lean]

I'd you can hear your actuator trying to move, then yes I'd remove the axle shaft next. (leave the locker in the "locked" position) If your splines are twisted, preventing the locker collar from moving to unlock it, it should still allow you to remove the shaft. (and then replace it)

The worst-case scenario is breaking the shaft outboard the locking collar, which will prevent you from removing the broken part, and also prevent you from pulling the third member. (I've had to cut a "window" into the back of a housing to get parts out in that scenario)

 

[CPACruiser]

I'm in the same boat as OP, same exact issue. I did a tough obstacle while out wheeling today (which required some reverse and uphill/downhill), and now my rear locker won't disengage. (My lockers have worked fine for years, and I use them a lot.)
I took off the forward facing cover, which I believe is the actuator itself (not the motor). Nothing in there looks terrible, just some old grease and the contacts and wires look okay.
By remove the shaft, do you mean go ahead and pull the PS axle shaft itself? And then do what? I'm not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks

I'd you can hear your actuator trying to move, then yes I'd remove the axle shaft next. (leave the locker in the "locked" position) If your splines are twisted, preventing the locker collar from moving to unlock it, it should still allow you to remove the shaft. (and then replace it)

The worst-case scenario is breaking the shaft outboard the locking collar, which will prevent you from removing the broken part, and also prevent you from pulling the third member. (I've had to cut a "window" into the back of a housing to get parts out in that scenario)

I dont hear my actuator motor moving at all when I hit the switch. The relay behind the pass side kick plate clicks once so I'm assuming it there's to much resistance in the motor to open the actuator? I took off the 3 - 12mm bolts to take off the sensor and I can physically move the rod towards the pass side but it's still loaded and goes back to locked position when I release.

 

[CPACruiser]

This sucks

 

[bicycleagent003]

So, I'm not hearing any clicks in the passenger kick panel on my rig, and I can't hear my actuator trying to work. I actually disconnected the wiring to the rear locker initially, while still on the trail today, in hopes that might disengage the locker. (Obviously, that didn't work.)
Tomorrow, I'll jack up the rear end and try to get that PS axle shaft out. I have a feeling I twisted it. I was putting some gnarly force on it today.
Thanks, guys.
@CPAOvrlnd, let's try to solve these together. I'll keep posting up here about how my process is going.

 

[CPACruiser]

So, I'm not hearing any clicks in the passenger kick panel on my rig, and I can't hear my actuator trying to work. I actually disconnected the wiring to the rear locker initially, while still on the trail today, in hopes that might disengage the locker. (Obviously, that didn't work.)
Tomorrow, I'll jack up the rear end and try to get that PS axle shaft out. I have a feeling I twisted it. I was putting some gnarly force on it today.
Thanks, guys.
@CPAOvrlnd, let's try to solve these together. I'll keep posting up here about how my process is going.

I ordered a whole new actuator just incase there's something critically wrong with mine, seeing as it's my daily driver I need to get this rear unlocked asap before I create more issues, hoping to have time to do the swap this Thursday once the part arrives from CruiserTeq

 

[z531519]

you can pry off the plate that access the 10mm that holds the actuator rod to the locking arm mechanism. You should be able to lock/unloock easily with your fingers (will have to rotate the tires to get the splines to line up and release binding). If you can move freely, then good you didn't twist anything. Which means that the actuator simply needs some r&r. or replace with a new one, but you can at least drive it for the time being.

 

[subzali]

You should be able to pull the cover off and pull the gears out from inside the actuator. Then pull the switch out and use a screwdriver to slide the shaft back to disengage the locker. Would be better than driving around with it locked.

 

[CPACruiser]

You should be able to pull the cover off and pull the gears out from inside the actuator. Then pull the switch out and use a screwdriver to slide the shaft back to disengage the locker. Would be better than driving around with it locked.

I can move the actuator out but it springs back into locked mode if released

 

[Rwhat]

Then

I can move the actuator out but it springs back into locked mode if released

sounds like the motor won’t release the collar. Motor is stuck in locked position.

 

[bicycleagent003]

Same issue here, different poster.
If I have the forward facing cover off the actuator, and I'm looking at a worm drive shaft at the top, and one at the bottom, how do I turn those (and which one) to manually disengage the locker?
Thanks.

 

[z531519]

sounds like its gunked up and the cold weather was enough to get it real sticky. Mine was frozen solid when i bought my "triple-locked" so you're ahead of were i was.

i mean you can unlock by undoing that 10mm on that collar/rod like i mentioned, OR open up the actuator gears, move the rod to unlocked and put things back in until you get your new actuator. This way it won't accidentally engage to lock when driving around. Best of luck

 

[CPACruiser]

sounds like its gunked up and the cold weather was enough to get it real sticky. Mine was frozen solid when i bought my "triple-locked" so you're ahead of were i was.

i mean you can unlock by undoing that 10mm on that collar/rod like i mentioned, OR open up the actuator gears, move the rod to unlocked and put things back in until you get your new actuator. This way it won't accidentally engage to lock when driving around. Best of luck

Ok I'll give that a shot today after work thanks man

 

[subzali]

Same issue here, different poster.
If I have the forward facing cover off the actuator, and I'm looking at a worm drive shaft at the top, and one at the bottom, how do I turn those (and which one) to manually disengage the locker?
Thanks.

The worm gear on top is part of the motor shaft. You want to leave that one alone for now.

The shaft at the bottom has grooves in it and is the one you need to pull outboard (left as you're facing it) to disengage the locker. The big circular gear and its shaft should be able to be pulled right out of the housing and then you can move the bottom shaft to disengage the locker. It will unclock the wait springs so when you go to put it back together you will have to re-clock everything, but it's not terribly hard. At this point it may be easiest just to pull the whole actuator assembly off and follow the instructions here on MUD for disassembling it and rebuilding it.

rear e-locker actuator rebuild pics

Finally got around to doing this after putting it off for near two years. Like many, I had experienced the "sticky" actuator, tried "exercising" them, got it to work most times, sometimes just lived without it, etc. Last month it actually got stuck in the locked position with about 200 highway...

forum.ih8mud.com

locker actuator rebuild

I was asked to see what I might be able to do with a set of non working actuators. So I though I'd start a thread in hopes of helping others. Now these are really in a bad way and the outcome might not be what I'm hoping for but at least some of what I post might be useful. Being from New...

forum.ih8mud.com

@CPAOvrlnd You will need to figure out why the motor is stuck in the locked position. Maybe some magnets came off or something while you had it engaged. So you should probably pull it off and put a block-off over it for a few days while you tear it apart and see what's up.

 

[bicycleagent003]

I just got under my truck and easily slid the lower worm gear driven shaft in the outboard direction by about 3/4". Stoked. I'm hoping that means I've successfully unlocked it. I'm going to go test drive it right now to see if I'm right.
I wish I had tried that before I had it towed home yesterday. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[CPACruiser]

I just got under my truck and easily slid the lower worm gear driven shaft in the outboard direction by about 3/4". Stoked. I'm hoping that means I've successfully unlocked it. I'm going to go test drive it right now to see if I'm right.
I wish I had tried that before I had it towed home yesterday. Oh well, live and learn.

Can you post a picture of what you moved?

 

[bicycleagent003]

These pics will show how to manually disengage the rear locker by removing the actuator cover and manually sliding the engagement pin (I made up that term) by hand. From what other posters have said, if your half axle shaft is damaged or there is binding in the pumpkin somewhere, this may not be easy for your as it was for me, or may not work at all. I don't claim to know much about this part of the truck, so forgive me if my terminology is lacking.

For orientation sake, I took these pics while laying on the ground in front of my rear PS wheel, and I'm facing the front PS half of the rear outer axle. I also disconnected the two wiring plugs which go into the locker prior to doing this.

The first photo is the locker engaged. You can see that the worm driven shaft in the bottom of the photo does not have any of the non-threaded portion to the right visible. That means the shaft has been moved in the inboard direction, locking the diff.

The second photo shows the same shaft with about 1/2" of non-threaded portion of the lower shaft visible. I simply used a screwdriver to gently push the threaded portion of the shaft in the outboard direction (toward the PS wheel, away from the pumpkin). Very little force was needed, but slightly more than I could generate with just using my thumbnail.

I hope this is helpful to others.

 

[CPACruiser]

These pics will show how to manually disengage the rear locker by removing the actuator cover and manually sliding the engagement pin (I made up that term) by hand. From what other posters have said, if your half axle shaft is damaged or there is binding in the pumpkin somewhere, this may not be easy for your as it was for me, or may not work at all. I don't claim to know much about this part of the truck, so forgive me if my terminology is lacking.

For orientation sake, I took these pics while laying on the ground in front of my rear PS wheel, and I'm facing the front PS half of the rear outer axle. I also disconnected the two wiring plugs which go into the locker prior to doing this.

View attachment 2579552

The first photo is the locker engaged. You can see that the worm driven shaft in the bottom of the photo does not have any of the non-threaded portion to the right visible. That means the shaft has been moved in the inboard direction, locking the diff.

View attachment 2579561

The second photo shows the same shaft with about 1/2" of non-threaded portion of the lower shaft visible. I simply used a screwdriver to gently push the threaded portion of the shaft in the outboard direction (toward the PS wheel, away from the pumpkin). Very little force was needed, but slightly more than I could generate with just using my thumbnail.

I hope this is helpful to others.

Definitely helps thanks man