Back for round 2 - Questions on front auto locker

[Zurn]

Ya, I called them and they said they didn't have them on the shelf, which kind of pissed me off because it showed 8 in stock on the website. They guy said 2-3 weeks, but I got a tracking number two days ago and it looks like it's on the way. Shows it will be here next Tuesday so when it shows up I'll get some measurements and report back. I've got lost of of other things to fix on this truck still. Waiting on a new radiator FedEx lost. Got an oil pan gasket and shift shaft plugs to install as well. For $500, it only leaks transmission fluid, oil, and water. I need to check/repack the front wheel bearings as well and the front breather hose was nothing but water, I'm assuming I might need to replace the bearing in the front diff as well. That will suck... should probably re-gear if I have to go that far.

 

[A .SCOTT]

That's good you got a Tracking #. I'll be in the procces of changing gears soon. Waiting on a few parts.
I'm Putting a lunch box locker in the rear and ditching the LSD.
I pulled an open carrier from the wrecking yard to do this.
I found out only one company makes a lunchbox locker for the LSD carrier and it's $$$. With an open carrier more choices and less $$.
Trying to keep the budget low so far so good.

 

[Zurn]

Locker showed up a few days ago. It looks like a knock off of the power trax lock-right. Saw a write up on the ranger station website of the power trax unit and they look exactly the same. I won't have a chance to get it installed for a few weeks, but glad it showed up. I've got the engine out right now, the oil pan was leaking. Thought it might be the rear main so I replaced that while I'm in there as well with the newer motorcraft seal. Also found out it had the older oil pan design on it and somebody used way too much permatex so I had to clean all that off. The spare motor I had has the newer oil pan design so I'll be putting that back with a new felpro perma dry gasket. Hopefully I can get it back on and get the motor put back in tomorrow. I haven't actually taken this think for a rip yet because it was running and leaking so bad. New oil pan gasket, new radiator, and new shifter house bushings on the trans and I should be good to go for a while. At least hopefully I will have slowed the leaks some...

 

[Zurn]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this... but here I am again. My son's car got totaled, he's totally fine, just and older car insurance won't fix so I've been helping him with his new project. But now I'm back to the Navajo. I found a guy kind of local (2 hour drive) that had a set of explorer axles with 4.88 gears that was willing to swap me for my axles since I had disk brakes on the rear. He wanted them for a ranger project he is working on so it worked out for both of us. So now I've got a truck in the drive way on jacks stand with no axles in it... wife loves me. Anyhow... I finally got around to installing the locker in the front. Somebody did a horrible weld job that had broke so the spider gears would spin 1 or 2 teeth each direction. I finally got that mess all cleaned out and was able to get the new Nitro locker installed. I had to sand the black coating off the side gears to get them to fit into the case. They would slide in, but won't spin. I had to use some sand paper and sand the black coating off the shafts to get them in. Now that I got it all together, I'm out of spec. Like the Aussie locker it's supposed to have between .145 and .170 of clearance between the sides of the locker. I've only got .133. Do I remove the side shims? Would it hurt anything to run without shims? I think that's my only option at this point...

 

[A .SCOTT]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this... but here I am again. My son's car got totaled, he's totally fine, just and older car insurance won't fix so I've been helping him with his new project. But now I'm back to the Navajo. I found a guy kind of local (2 hour drive) that had a set of explorer axles with 4.88 gears that was willing to swap me for my axles since I had disk brakes on the rear. He wanted them for a ranger project he is working on so it worked out for both of us. So now I've got a truck in the drive way on jacks stand with no axles in it... wife loves me. Anyhow... I finally got around to installing the locker in the front. Somebody did a horrible weld job that had broke so the spider gears would spin 1 or 2 teeth each direction. I finally got that mess all cleaned out and was able to get the new Nitro locker installed. I had to sand the black coating off the side gears to get them to fit into the case. They would slide in, but won't spin. I had to use some sand paper and sand the black coating off the shafts to get them in. Now that I got it all together, I'm out of spec. Like the Aussie locker it's supposed to have between .145 and .170 of clearance between the sides of the locker. I've only got .133. Do I remove the side shims? Would it hurt anything to run without shims? I think that's my only option at this point...

I have a Spartan locker for the 8.8. According to the instructions I didnt use the shims.

 

[Zurn]

Had a chance to work on this again over the weekend. Turns out because of the crap weld job there was a ton of weld beads in the carrier. I thought I had done a good job cleaning it but I found a few pieces of weld that had gotten behind the thrust washers. I'm guessing I knocked them loose when putting the locker in. I pulled it all apart and cleaned it up again. Hit it with a wire brush and some sand paper to remove some of the slag/weld splatter and put it back together. I now have it at a tight .145. It's probably actually just under, but I can get the .145 in there so I'm going to run it. Waiting on seals and brake parts to show up and I'll report back on how it works.

 

[Zurn]

Well the problems keep coming on this $500 project, but I guess I shouldn't have expected much for $500... Turns out one of my front hubs was broken. I've got a Mile Marker on one side and a Super Winch on the other. I just order the $100 replacement set off of Amazon and they look the same as the Mile Marker hub I already have. So now I have a spare. Put them on and the locker is working! But since the hub was broken the axle spindle thrust washer was trashed. I looked and finally found that there is a replacement that super seeds the OE part made by Spicer 701128x:

Dana Spicer Drivetrain Products 701128X Spicer Drivetrain Products Axle Spindle Thrust Washers | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Spicer Drivetrain Products Axle Spindle Thrust Washers with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Spindle Nut Washers at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

The first place I found them wanted $30 per side! I got them at Summit for $10 each, I'm guessing you can get them for less but I needed them. Now onto the rear axle and brakes... I think I have all the parts I need but we'll see.