Campfire said:
This happened to my 99lx TWICE. All under warranty. The new front diff bolts right in. I'm hoping this is the last one. Similar circumstances, but in mud.
George
Front Differential Explosion
- Thread starter Campfire
- Start date
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This happened to my 99lx TWICE. All under warranty. The new front diff bolts right in. I'm hoping this is the last one. Similar circumstances, but in mud.
George
Yes, the 2 pinion diff is weaker. Yes, it can fail off-road, so can the 4 pinion in the right scenario. Yes, you can get by without breaking it if you're nice to it. Yes, you can freak out about it. No, freaking out won't help anything. If you're that worried about a failure off-road, replace your 2 pinion diff with a 4 pinion. Or better yet, replace it with an ARB.
There's a lot of guys on here that have been wheelin' their 100's for several years without breaking diffs. Some have broken, and those owners have dealt with it when it happens (or sooner sometimes).
We don't really know what happened to Campfire's 100 before he bought it. The PO may have damaged it before selling it or maybe not, who really knows. The bottom line is the 100 is a solid vehicle with good off-road capability. But it is not bullet-proof.
There's a lot of guys on here that have been wheelin' their 100's for several years without breaking diffs. Some have broken, and those owners have dealt with it when it happens (or sooner sometimes).
We don't really know what happened to Campfire's 100 before he bought it. The PO may have damaged it before selling it or maybe not, who really knows. The bottom line is the 100 is a solid vehicle with good off-road capability. But it is not bullet-proof.
vak01 said:
Thank you SO much for the clarifications!!!! I can now put this thread into it's proper perspective.
Again, thanks for the clarifications.
Again, thanks for the clarifications.
Campfire said:As the "Original writer" let me defend my STUPID actions.
A. I was the solo vehicle. No buddy along and in place with a tow strap or winch.
B. "New to me" vehicle, and had not purchased snow chains yet
C. Had not put the winch on yet.
D. I was still riding on those stock Michelin AT M/S (NOT!)
E. Didn't even have chains with me.
I broke the rules of offroading, did even more stupid things trying to cover my butt, and am now having to pay for them. When I did get stuck, I was on a bridge. Under the 4-6 inches of snow was 1/2 inch of ice. I am suprised that the LC didn't take to the rocking, but after replacing the front diff on Sunday, I went to reinstall the front driveline and found it out of phase. A little more inspection and started finding a few telltale signs of "somebody been here before". If you wanted to hear LC bashing, you should've been in my garage when my Jeep owning buddy showed up. Of course he forgot the three times I've towed him home. I was a mechanic for 16 years. They all break, some more than others. When I get done, I'll know what's in it, and who did the work. And before I get out again in the snow...
Has anyone tied anything else except ARB? There are other lockers, but I don't know if they are available in the USA. ARB locker for a LC100 costs 1000 EUR in Europe (without compressor and other stuff).
Regards
Samo
Regards
Samo
SamoL said:
What else is there for a 100? I haven't been able to find anything but the ARB for an IFS 100.
There should be some other Australian lockers. Perhaps somebody from Australia should answer this...
I also plan to install ARB, as other stuff is too exotic. I hope I'll get rid of my front diff (it's a '98) before it decides to get rid of me
.
Regards
Samo
I also plan to install ARB, as other stuff is too exotic. I hope I'll get rid of my front diff (it's a '98) before it decides to get rid of me
.Regards
Samo
SamoL said:
I know TJM has finally introduced their locker however, at this time, I do not know if the 100 front version is available...they said it WILL be available...but when?
Campfire said:
I saw you picture of the pathy and have to throw in my two cents here. I drove a 91 Pathfinder SE with a 5 speed, factory limited slip, 31" BFG AT tires (stock size), and eventually it had the ARB rear springs and the front torsion bars cranked up slightly (about 1.5" of lift). As much as nobody will like to hear this on this board, stock and mildely modified, the Pathfinder was far better for hard core wheeling than the LC. It had approx a 40 degree approach angle and a 30+ degree departure angle.
The LC with the lockers works better for me in loose stuff and can be modified to be a much better vehicle for extreme off roading (and is a much better expidition vehicle than the Pathfinder).
Finally, keep in mind that where you were you had TWO major disadvantages in the LC over your Pathy. 1) The LC weighs about 1200 pounds more which will make it sink rather than float, and 2) the Pathy has much more agressive tires.
Does the TJM use air to actuate?
What do you think a fair price on a front diff out of a 00 with 64k on it would be?
What do you think a fair price on a front diff out of a 00 with 64k on it would be?
turboale said:
Yes the TJMs are air fed. I think I remember them stating in their marketing bs their lockers were not going to require quite as much air volume so that a CO2 tank would work...but wouldn't bet the house on that one
Hey Guys,
Long time lurker here from Oz.... Have a '00 Model 105 Series with 4.5 Petrol.
Yes TJM does have a locker which is essentially the same as ARB, the differences off the top of my head no idea. Can find out if req'd - other than that you would be lookin at mech lockers...
One thing that I have discovered over time is that a front locker may not fixed the issue of a weak front diff, as I have heard of several hunjy's breaking front diffs with air lockers fitted.....
Seems to really come down to driving style.....
Long time lurker here from Oz.... Have a '00 Model 105 Series with 4.5 Petrol.
Yes TJM does have a locker which is essentially the same as ARB, the differences off the top of my head no idea. Can find out if req'd - other than that you would be lookin at mech lockers...
One thing that I have discovered over time is that a front locker may not fixed the issue of a weak front diff, as I have heard of several hunjy's breaking front diffs with air lockers fitted.....
Seems to really come down to driving style.....
hoser
SILVER Star
ARB lockers require very little air to activate. Powertank even makes a tiny 20oz "jet-pak" if lockers were all you wanted to run on the tank.spressomon said:Yes the TJMs are air fed. I think I remember them stating in their marketing bs their lockers were not going to require quite as much air volume so that a CO2 tank would work...but wouldn't bet the house on that one
http://powertank.com/Merchant2/merc...TOS&Product_Code=JP-20-1000&Category_Code=ARB
hoser said:
Good info. For some reason I was under the impression the ARB lockers required more air volume...
ShottsUZJ100 said:
Thank you for your comments, but ... I wasn't COMPARING my Wagoneer to MY LC ... simply noting that I HAVE traveled off-road and have some level of off-road experience. My Wagoneer served me well for 14 years and by reading these forums and practicing "safe off-roading" I hope the LC will serve as well or better.
Heading over to Tarawarp (sp) next weekend. It's a 63 mile undeveloped road that leads to a off the beaten track area over looking the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The locals tell me you can sit on the rim and look down over 4000 feet to the canyon floor. I will let you guys know if my crappy litlle 2 pinion front differential makes it back 
SWUtah said:I will let you guys know if my crappy litlle 2 pinion front differential makes it back
So: did it?
Yesterday I wasn't only in the mud, but also in the snow. I did quite a bit of forward and backward rocking as a military truck was driving in front of me and I bottomed out a few times (and was also pulled by the truck once - when all wheels were in the air
).How many of you guys wheel your 100 with a stock 2 pinion front diff (and don't break it, of course)?
Regards
Samo
SamoL said:So: did it?
Yesterday I wasn't only in the mud, but also in the snow. I did quite a bit of forward and backward rocking as a military truck was driving in front of me and I bottomed out a few times (and was also pulled by the truck once - when all wheels were in the air
How many of you guys wheel your 100 with a stock 2 pinion front diff (and don't break it, of course)?
Regards
Samo
No problem but some where I dinged my step on the drivers side.
SamoL said:So: did it?
Yesterday I wasn't only in the mud, but also in the snow. I did quite a bit of forward and backward rocking as a military truck was driving in front of me and I bottomed out a few times (and was also pulled by the truck once - when all wheels were in the air
How many of you guys wheel your 100 with a stock 2 pinion front diff (and don't break it, of course)?
Regards
Samo
Stock front diff for the past 13-months...but that is going to change next month
This is starting to sound like the 80 HG problem 
The 2-pinion front diff is a major weak point of the older 100s. Having lived in Alaska for 23 years, I rocked the **** out of my '92 Ford Aerostar E-4WD (automatically locks/unlocks center diff) MINIVAN more times than I can count in the deep stuff (often several feet of snow) and never had any front/rear diff problems (or tranny or engine problems, for that matter), also pulled out several stuck cars in forward and reverse gears- again, no problems except new CV joints at 80K (more than expected service lifetime on these vehicles, esp. in severe conditions such as regular 40-50 below winters and unavoidable wheelspin most of the winter). The fact that a FORD MINIVAN has handled this type of use for 14 years and counting while '98 and '99 100s are exploding more than their share of front diffs under mild/moderate use definitely indicates a problem.
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