!! 911 !! Aussie locker help please!

[brianjwilson]

Hey everyone, I need some help with my rear Aussie locker. My truck is parked in front of my garage (in the alley) of my townhouse, been there since last night, neighbors aren't happy...

Short story:
Center pin is stuck. Locker doesn't fit in clearances...

Long story:
I received a warranty replacement for my locker, it doesn't fit with the side gear shims (thrust washers).
When I installed the first locker, same problem. I had to install it without the thrust washers, and the cam gear spacing was BARELY within tolerance (wide). Worked fine for 6 months, then started slipping all the time. Called everywhere to look for shim kits, different thickness shims, no luck. Everyone told me they always re-use factory shims, and you can't buy different thicknesses.
So I had a shop look at it, they somehow fit the original shims in there and put it back together, gave it to me without measuring the cam gear spacing (idiots). Still slips. So now that I received my new locker (after ups lost it), I pull the cover off, measure the spacing, it's only .130, and specs say it should be .145-170.
Removing the center was a ***** when I opened it, had to hammer it out from the back side and push and pull for 20 minutes to get it out. So I took out the old locker, here's how it looked...

Moving on... I installed the new locker, pretty easily, with the shims in place. Now it's time for the last step, installing the center pin. I measured the cam gear spacing first (still only .130"). It's 11pm and I decide I'll just try it and hope for the best. Start to slide the center pin in and I can't simple push it through. So I bolt the wheels back up and make sure I'm pulling the axle out as far as possible, still no go. So I decide to tap the center pin with a rubber mallet, fairly lightly. Tap tap tap, clunk, first part goes through the C-clip holder, hmm, okay. Well it came out this way. Tap tap tap, doesn't go in further. So I try to pull it back out, doesn't come out. F' it, I'll tap it in and see if it works. So I tap it in until the top of the center pin is flush with the ring gear, but unable to get it all the way in. I'm able to tap it back out to the first spot, but now it's pretty well stuck. Here's where it is...

I can't get it out now.
I'm ready to take the thing out and ship it back to aussie, but I can't get the center pin out. I've tried sliding an allen wrench through the center pin bolt hole and tapping it from the backside, but it still won't budge.
If you haven't seen the inside of an aussie, or need a reminder, here it is...

This is basically what you have on each side, and the centerpin goes down the center. In the middle of that is the c'clip holder (collar). that is what the centerpin is stuck between. Should I hammer the crap out of the pin and force it through, and hope it works? Or what can I do to get it out? Aussie locker has had horrible customer service through out all of this. I call and get a lady who doesn't know what a locker is, and I ask for a tech. It takes hours, in one case 2 days to get a response, no matter how much I call.
Please help with some ideas!
Thanks

 

[IZwack]

Hmmm, you're approach to just hammering it in and not really taking care of the interferance issues is fine for off roading but I'd be more careful if t his vehicle sees the road.

But at this point, you can try adapting a slide hammer or something onto the main cross shaft. You can also weld to it (to which you can then take a hammer to) but you'd probably need a new pin after that.

 

[brianjwilson]

Hmmm, you're approach to just hammering it in and not really taking care of the interferance issues is fine for off roading but I'd be more careful if t his vehicle sees the road.

But at this point, you can try adapting a slide hammer or something onto the main cross shaft. You can also weld to it (to which you can then take a hammer to) but you'd probably need a new pin after that.

I'm thinking that hammering it in with tight tolerances may end up like a spool (not what I want). When I installed the first one, I had to leave the shims out. The wide tolerance is what (likely) caused it to slip. The problem is that I cannot get different shims. I've called a lot of places, I even drop 45 minutes (each way) this morning to buy some used shims from a shop to hope that would work, but they are the wrong diameter and don't even fit over the axle gear.
What pisses me off is that Aussie (when I talked to them before) offered no help. No suggestion of what to do with it, no suggestion of where to find different thickness shims, no part numbers, no idea what might work. I will not buy another aussie locker. I gave them plenty of chances to help before I posted anything but they have been horrible.

 

[carlover]

I'm thinking that hammering it in with tight tolerances may end up like a spool (not what I want). When I installed the first one, I had to leave the shims out. The wide tolerance is what (likely) caused it to slip. The problem is that I cannot get different shims. I've called a lot of places, I even drop 45 minutes (each way) this morning to buy some used shims from a shop to hope that would work, but they are the wrong diameter and don't even fit over the axle gear.
What pisses me off is that Aussie (when I talked to them before) offered no help. No suggestion of what to do with it, no suggestion of where to find different thickness shims, no part numbers, no idea what might work. I will not buy another aussie locker. I gave them plenty of chances to help before I posted anything but they have been horrible.

Hmmmm thats wierd, i had this exact problem with mine and they were very very helpful. Even sent me new parts to replace the ones that were damaged. I never used them though, and sold everything and went another direction.

 

[brianjwilson]

What did they do to fix the problem?
Funny this is, when I went to the shop to buy those used shims, they said another guy bought some of the exact same ones for an aussie locker in a ford 8.8. I think Aussie had bad measurements on the explorer when they made them or something...?

 

[brianjwilson]

Had to move the truck so I just hammered away until it went in. It's tighter than the specified tolerance but it drives like it should. Spacing is still .130 instead of the .145 they want, but a cam gear only needs to move inward .065 to let one side free-wheel. So far, so good. If this one blows I'm getting something else for sure.

 

[HahnsB2]

The Aussie in my D35 is a tad tight (around .140ish) it works fine, I had to clearance the carrier window just a tiny tiny bit, but that's normal working with castings that are all different, I've heard nothing but good things about Aussie customer service, from those who've needed it, I've heard Bill is the guy to talk to.. My lockright in my rear axle I didn't even measure, just threw it in, working great over a year later.

 

[brianjwilson]

I've heard that about the lockright from a few shops. They never measure them, just throw them in and they work.
Bill is generally good to work with when you get a hold of him, but he refers me to Tim every time. Tim took 3 days to call me last time. I talked to Bill 3 times and he told me he kept sending Tim a text to call me, but he didn't. He still never gave me a straight answer.
Well it's working fine for now, I'll try to get a hold of Tim and see what he says about the tolerances. In the meantime I'll just hope for the best.