Novice locker install (1 Viewer)

[highfructose]

due to issues with the kit bearings:

• I purchased oem inner and outer bearings to swap out for the non oem ones that came in the kit. Sticking w the non-oem side/carrier bearings for now though (they’re already on and don’t appear noticeably different from oem visually)
• I removed the old outer bearing race (the one from the kit)…very tough…could barely get a punch on the lip of the race that came in the kit (koyo as opposed to oem nsk I think)…took a while but I got it. The seller of the kit later recommended I use a rotary tool to remove a small bit of material from the diff…that way I could get the punch on the edge a little cleaner. I had already managed to get the race out by then
• After inspection, removing the koyo sent in the kit marred the lip of the differential carrier…kind of sucks but it’s very minor. The outer bearing race in the kit had essentially no “lip” to allow it to be removed without damaging or modifying the differential housing (the oem had a large easy to punch out lip)…plus the kit/koyo race design was so different from oem (plus an excessive proud lip on the other side) that I wasn’t sure the change wouldn’t cause some issue…plus since the old and new race were different, I couldn’t use the old one as a sizing tool…definitely don’t recommend the kit. If anyone is doing a locker job, I would recommend doing the small bit of homework and buying all oem rather than taking the convenient kit route.

 

[highfructose]

Would anyone happen to know whether the 100 series rear diffs DIDNT have pinion nut washers and that the 200 series ones DID?

I can’t find a pinion nut washer from my 100 series rear diff disassembly…my multiple rear diff parts kits don’t appear to come with a rear pinion nut washer…and my spare 100 series rear diff didn’t have a pinion nut washer…but the Otramm video shows a rear pinion nut washer step around 12:50 into the following video for a 200 series rear diff locker and gear install.

 

[TeCKis300]

Would anyone happen to know whether the 100 series rear diffs DIDNT have pinion nut washers and that the 200 series ones DID?

I can’t find a pinion nut washer from my 100 series rear diff disassembly…my multiple rear diff parts kits don’t appear to come with a rear pinion nut washer…and my spare 100 series rear diff didn’t have a pinion nut washer…but the Otramm video shows a rear pinion nut washer step around 12:50 into the following video for a 200 series rear diff locker and gear install.

I wish I could remember.

The FSM for the 100-series doesn't show a washer under the drive flange.

200-series doesn't show one either?

Thinking about this from another perspective, the pinion nut is a beefy flange type. Would suggest it doesn't need a separate washer?

 

[highfructose]

Next I

• I pressed the new oem large pinion race/outer pinion race into the diff

• I installed the small/inner pinion race with a sledge hammer, an aluminum bearing driver, and the old race.

Then I began the process of test fitting the pinion and gears

• (I sanded the inside of my old inner/small pinion bearing to make a sizing bearing as well as the old outer/large pinion bearing…in the event that there was an issue I wouldn’t have to use special tools to remove the new ones)
• Test fit the locker together…12:50 into this appears to be test fitting the pinion with an e locker in a rear 200 series (Otramm)
• (Try not to beat up the pinion flange dust cap, if that’s what it’s called. It’s soft metal and bends easily)
• Slide your previously used pinion spacer onto the pinion
• Slide your old internally sanded large pinion bearing on
• Push the pinion into place
• Slide your old sanded small pinion bearing
• Slide your pinion flange on (this is a tight fight, may want to clean up the teeth, wd40, etc)
• put the old pinion nut on to hold the pinion from falling then (It appears) that getting the pinion flange to seat onto the pinion requires hammering with a plastic/nylon hammer (in otramm video)…30mm socket I think…you can get in on a ways with a ratchet, but then the torque you can apply while holding the flange from spinning kind of runs out…I think that’s when an impact wrench is necessary…dunno if it’s right but I drove the nut until the bolt was just proud of its crown
• (I don’t appear to have a pinion nut washer and you may not either. If you have one, you would do the next step)
• Then you remove the pinion nut again, put the pinion washer on, then put the pinion nut back on

 

[highfructose]

• Then you snug the pinion nut down with an impact. Not critical measurement, just some drag on the bearing to start setting pinion depth…it appears Otramm tightened the pinion nut until the pinion flange dust cap was flush w the differential case….i had trouble w the diff carrier spinning on the bench w this so I went about trying to make a “holder” for it. I ended up using the following tools…not a close fit, but it appears feasible for what I want it to do…not advice, but I was able to put a bolt through the top of the engine holder and transmission holder to secure it a bit more in there…and was able to pinion a big wrench to lift the diff into a more flat (rather than leaning) orientation.

 

[highfructose]

im currently at the “snug the bearing caps” and tighten the adjusters portion of the test fit I think. I had trouble tightening the adjusters by hand and didn’t want to use a hammer and punch-the adjusters seem to require a proprietary tool…and some people weld a custom tool. I don’t really weld so I went about trying to make a tool.

I used a multi angle ruler that I purchased a while back for a tile job…supposedly these work well to get exact angles in the corners of a tile job. I took mine apart, stacked a few of them, and then used carriage bolts to clamp them together. I don’t know how well it will work in the long run, but it seems like it’s working now.

If anyone has advice on “test fitting” the arb carrier to get a pattern before final assembly, I’d be glad to hear them…the prospects of pulling pinion bearings off to put different spacers in are daunting to a novice.

 

[highfructose]

• 
  The instructions I’ve seen say, next, to wiggle the side bearing caps down so you don’t cross thread the caps onto the adjusters…I had a really hard time at this step. Partially because you have to be careful with the side bearing races…the races like to turn a bit sideways and not stay perfectly square on the side bearings…which makes the whole differential assembly be off axis by a few degrees…which makes aligning side bearing caps a bit tricky. Carefully holding the carrier making sure the races don’t wobble as you place it in the differential gets it in there square though. Partially i also had an issue because where I drilled a hole for the air line, it slightly encroached into the threads of the side adjuster (I quadruple checked the location in the instructions and I appeared to place it in the right spot…this isn’t ideal). This made it hard for the adjuster to smoothly engage the adjuster threads while also attempting to align the caps (which have the upper half of the threads). So it kept not wanting to settle and popping out…sometimes causing the race on the side bearing to move. So I tried tightening the (2) 17mm side cap bolts to finger tight so I knew the threads (and side bearing races) were aligned perfectly…and then tried to carefully and slowly hand thread the adjusters completely from the side (rather than placing them into the threads and carefully tightening the caps per the video)…I needed to use the previously mentioned homemade adjuster nut wrench to bump the adjuster through the slightly buggered threads from where the air line hole was…but within about 10 seconds, everything seemed to go together well and easy.