Oh yes I did! Harrop/Eaton E-Locker thread (11 Viewers)

[SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr]

Bumping this one.

@SummitCruisers Jr,

I also have a 3FE FJ80 (1991) and wanted to do exactly what you’re doing. Had a couple of questions:

- Did you switch from OEM lockers that were previously retrofitted to your rig? If so, why did you switch from OEM lockers to Harrop elockers?

- What was your concern about not wanting to hack up your gauge cluster to add the OEM front and rear diff lock indicator light strip at the bottom of the instrument cluster? I spoke with a mechanic and he seemed to indicate that it was “relatively” easy / minimally invasive to swap in the bottom strip OEM diff lock lights from a 93 or newer instrument cluster.

First time poster, long time reader. This is a great forum!

Welcome to mud! No, I didn’t originally have factory lockers. I bought a set of locked axles from a junkyard but it ultimately wasn’t going to be worth swapping them in considering the issues that they can develop. I sold them and bought an unlocked full float rear axle from a ‘95 to swap in with the harrop and gears.

Here’s a pic of the back of a cluster from a ‘97. If your mechanic has done that type of work before, I’d be interested to see how that would be done. I personally don’t see a way how that would be done cleanly, and in an OEM looking way.

 

[White Stripe]

There's been some negative info spread around about the engagement of the Harrop e-locker, lately and how inferior it is to the ARB and other selectable lockers. Ran across this video in a thread on FB and just wanted to post it so others could be informed. Video is dated 4-24-18. It's about 4 min long & called:
Facts about Harrop Eaton ELocker Engagement

The harrop locker does disengage when you reverse and then has to re-engage again during forward power. Several videos of this online. Probably not a big deal if lockers are only used to get out of a emergency situation once in a while. For regular wheeling though I imagine it would throw you off of the more technical lines.

 

[80t0ylc]

The harrop locker does disengage when you reverse and then has to re-engage again during forward power. Several videos of this online. Probably not a big deal if lockers are only used to get out of a emergency situation once in a while. For regular wheeling though I imagine it would throw you off of the more technical lines.

Yeah, maybe not the best design for competition, but one of the best for simplicity, reliability and durability. No leaks or compressors or special requirements or additional maintenance involved. Just traction when I need it. I have no complaints.

 

[gearinstalls.com]

So far, I have installed over 100 Harrops/Eatons for my customers and no negative feedback of any sort. But, then again, I don't think they ever competed in those fast paced Hammer type events. As simplistic as the design is with just 2 wires....+12v and a ground.....you'd think the shops could wire a good solid ground wire but I have seen otherwise

 

[Retro LC]

Welcome to mud! No, I didn’t originally have factory lockers. I bought a set of locked axles from a junkyard but it ultimately wasn’t going to be worth swapping them in considering the issues that they can develop. I sold them and bought an unlocked full float rear axle from a ‘95 to swap in with the harrop and gears.

Here’s a pic of the back of a cluster from a ‘97. If your mechanic has done that type of work before, I’d be interested to see how that would be done. I personally don’t see a way how that would be done cleanly, and in an OEM looking way.

View attachment 2556610

Do you happen to have a picture of the back of a cluster from a 1991 FJ80 3FE? I’m getting closer to having my Eaton / Harrop e-lockers installed and wanted to get an idea of what the back of our FJ80 3FE clusters look like in preparation to wire in the locker lights. Sounds like if there is an empty unused bulb socket to securely hold the light bulb for the locker light in place that this might actually be do-able. Also, wanted to do a side by side comparison of the cluster lens strips from a 93/94 vs the 91/92 lens strip indicators to see if they line up the same as the 91/92 lens strips with the exception that the 93/94 lens strip just has the locker lights added in.