Moby
GOLD Star
I've had a rear air locker for about 4 years. It has blown oil up the air line since day 1. Holds air no problem (for hours without cycling the compressor). Went back and forth a couple of times with the shop that did the install and they certainly stood behind it and did their best to figure out the problem but no luck. This hasn't been a big deal. Mostly I've been leaving the air line disconnected from the air solenoid and blowing it out and reconnecting it before trips.
Finally I figured that since I'm in Seattle I'd call ARB and see what they said. I asked them if they'd consider looking at it (they aren't a repair shop but I knew from previous visits to pick up OME products that they have a technical department). I talked to Nils in tech about the problem and he said to bring it by.
I just got back from spending a couple of very interesting hours (at least for me) at ARB. Nils spotted a problem immediately. I had an old style air seal unit which makes routing the copper tube harder. The tension on the tube wasn't allowing proper the air seal to float properly.
He replaced it with a new style unit (including the new style square o-rings), checked other internals and surfaces to make sure they were still OK, and then started routing the copper tube and checking everything. He noticed that as the pinion was turned back and forth the new seal was rotating properly but was getting "jacked" up (not staying in alignment with the housing). After consulting with a couple of other guys in tech they were pretty sure that this was the source of my problem - the movement was unseating the o-rings.
The main cause of the movement was an old style c-clip that retains the air seal. It had rounded off instead of square ends. They replaced that with a new style c-clip and that mostly solved the problem. However there was still a small bit of movement that they didn't like. They thought that it would probably be OK but wanted to address it if possible. The ended up routing the copper line under the diff, by the pinion and out the housing. This applied reverse tension to the seal and removed most of the remaining movement. At that point they were happy. They bench tested the unit and called it good.
And needless to say I was very happy. They let me watch the whole thing, answered all my questions, and gave me an extrodinarily high level of technical support. Plus they called the whole thing warranty due to the c-clip issue! If you have any issues with ARB or OME products I highly recommend that you talk to these guys, they really know their stuff. Even if you're not local they'll talk to shops or individuals that are having problems with a product to figure out a solution.
Thank you ARB USA!
Finally I figured that since I'm in Seattle I'd call ARB and see what they said. I asked them if they'd consider looking at it (they aren't a repair shop but I knew from previous visits to pick up OME products that they have a technical department). I talked to Nils in tech about the problem and he said to bring it by.
I just got back from spending a couple of very interesting hours (at least for me) at ARB. Nils spotted a problem immediately. I had an old style air seal unit which makes routing the copper tube harder. The tension on the tube wasn't allowing proper the air seal to float properly.
He replaced it with a new style unit (including the new style square o-rings), checked other internals and surfaces to make sure they were still OK, and then started routing the copper tube and checking everything. He noticed that as the pinion was turned back and forth the new seal was rotating properly but was getting "jacked" up (not staying in alignment with the housing). After consulting with a couple of other guys in tech they were pretty sure that this was the source of my problem - the movement was unseating the o-rings.
The main cause of the movement was an old style c-clip that retains the air seal. It had rounded off instead of square ends. They replaced that with a new style c-clip and that mostly solved the problem. However there was still a small bit of movement that they didn't like. They thought that it would probably be OK but wanted to address it if possible. The ended up routing the copper line under the diff, by the pinion and out the housing. This applied reverse tension to the seal and removed most of the remaining movement. At that point they were happy. They bench tested the unit and called it good.
And needless to say I was very happy. They let me watch the whole thing, answered all my questions, and gave me an extrodinarily high level of technical support. Plus they called the whole thing warranty due to the c-clip issue! If you have any issues with ARB or OME products I highly recommend that you talk to these guys, they really know their stuff. Even if you're not local they'll talk to shops or individuals that are having problems with a product to figure out a solution.
Thank you ARB USA!
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