Locker question

[Roadkill]

I just installed a Genuine Gear Quick-Lok in the rear end. It is nearly the exact same thing as the Detroit easy locker or the one from Powertrax. It was a piece of cake to install, only took about an hour and a half. When I get a chance to wheel it a little (next few days) I will let you know how it performs. After driving around town a little, I have a question. It seems to pop and kick quite a bit; will this get better as it breaks in or is it just the price I will have to pay for not going with a more expensive "selectable" locker?

 

[Yardape]

If its kind of like a ratcheting sound then yes you have to get used to it. The benefit offroad far exceeds the discomfort of the ratcheting

 

[offroadbronco]

I just installed a Genuine Gear Quick-Lok in the rear end. It is nearly the exact same thing as the Detroit easy locker or the one from Powertrax. It was a piece of cake to install, only took about an hour and a half. When I get a chance to wheel it a little (next few days) I will let you know how it performs. After driving around town a little, I have a question. It seems to pop and kick quite a bit; will this get better as it breaks in or is it just the price I will have to pay for not going with a more expensive "selectable" locker?

most lockers do that. that is because a locker is locking both axles together so they spin together all the time- where in your open diff. allows your axles to spin at diff. speeds when needed

 

[Roadkill]

**UPDATE**

The pop I was asking about was not the normal ratcheting sound. It was doing that also (like it should) but just going in a straight line down the road it would occasionaly pop and shake the truck. I was not terribly concerned about it because in a few reviews of similar products, I read that they operated a bit rough for the first couple hundred miles. About halfway into my trip to the Chile Challenge in Las Cruces, New Mexico, it got to the point it was no longer drivable. It was popping almost constantly, and I could not go faster than 50 mph. So I stopped in Fort Stockton, TX to checked it out. Since I am often reminded that I am not perfect, I figured that I must have done something wrong on the installation, so I took it to a shop in Fort Stockton to be looked at by a "profesional". When we pulled the cover off the diff, I expected to see metal shards and a huge repair bill. $-) To our suprise, it all apeared to be in order. We did the funtion check from the instructions and everything worked as it should. All the little springs were properly installed and functioning, and there really is no way to assemble it wrong (it all only fits one way). Next we pulled it all apart and put it back together anyway, and the same thing happened. I was now at a total loss; it had been installed by me and a "profesional" with the same results. :angry: What to do? /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

As luck would have it (for some reason that I will never know) I put the original spider gears in my toolbox instead of tossing them in the shed. We reinstalled them, the truck worked again, and I was on my way again (now about 5 hours behind schedule and without my cool new locker)

As I sit now in my hotel, I still dont know why the locker did not work. At least I will still be able to hit the trails in the morning with my original open diff. I've done that before, but I was really looking forward to doing something a little more chalenging this time. ( I will decide later how to procede with the non-funtioning locker.

Anyway, I have to throw out an "attaboy" >- for the Fernandez Automotive Service shop in Ft. Stockton. They stopped what they were doing to help me right away and for dissasembling and reasembling my diff twice they charged me $100. Pretty good considering the going rates for labor.

 

[Roadkill]

**UPDATE**

The pop I was asking about was not the normal ratcheting sound. It was doing that also (like it should) but just going in a straight line down the road it would occasionaly pop and shake the truck. I was not terribly concerned about it because in a few reviews of similar products, I read that they operated a bit rough for the first couple hundred miles. About halfway into my trip to the Chile Challenge in Las Cruces, New Mexico, it got to the point it was no longer drivable. It was popping almost constantly, and I could not go faster than 50 mph. So I stopped in Fort Stockton, TX to checked it out. Since I am often reminded that I am not perfect, I figured that I must have done something wrong on the installation, so I took it to a shop in Fort Stockton to be looked at by a "profesional". When we pulled the cover off the diff, I expected to see metal shards and a huge repair bill. $-) To our suprise, it all apeared to be in order. We did the funtion check from the instructions and everything worked as it should. All the little springs were properly installed and functioning, and there really is no way to assemble it wrong (it all only fits one way). Next we pulled it all apart and put it back together anyway, and the same thing happened. I was now at a total loss; it had been installed by me and a "profesional" with the same results. :angry: What to do? /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

As luck would have it (for some reason that I will never know) I put the original spider gears in my toolbox instead of tossing them in the shed. We reinstalled them, the truck worked again, and I was on my way again (now about 5 hours behind schedule and without my cool new locker)

As I sit now in my hotel, I still dont know why the locker did not work. At least I will still be able to hit the trails in the morning with my original open diff. I've done that before, but I was really looking forward to doing something a little more chalenging this time. ( I will decide later how to procede with the non-funtioning locker.

Anyway, I have to throw out an "attaboy" >- for the Fernandez Automotive Service shop in Ft. Stockton. They stopped what they were doing to help me right away and for dissasembling and reasembling my diff twice they charged me $100. Pretty good considering the going rates for labor.

 

[Yardape]

Thats a strange one for sure. Just by reading your previous posts I am quite convinced you know what your doing. But one thing you might want to consider, could be just a flaw from the factory, they are mass produced and all. Not knowing what your particular locker looks like, I am wondering if there is a right way and a wrong way to install. Is there a chance you took a 50/50 shot at it and put it in backwards? Is this possible or does it go in either way?

 

[Roadkill]

Thats a strange one for sure. Just by reading your previous posts I am quite convinced you know what your doing. But one thing you might want to consider, could be just a flaw from the factory, they are mass produced and all. Not knowing what your particular locker looks like, I am wondering if there is a right way and a wrong way to install. Is there a chance you took a 50/50 shot at it and put it in backwards? Is this possible or does it go in either way?

I was also thinking maybe a defective part, possibly the little springs are not strong enough to keep everything locked together.

The pieces all fit so close together that there really is not possible to put them to gether wrong. Here is a photo of all the pieces. (I took a bunch of pictures because I was going to do an installation write-up for the "How to" section. I won't do that now though; no point in posting a "how to" about an unsuccesful job)



The instructions were pretty clear on how to assemble the parts. The only piece you could possible put in wrong is the small spacer. But if it were backward, it would not fit down over the end of the axle shaft and would block the cross pin from sliding back into place.

 

[Broncosaurus!]

What brand locker do you have by the way

 

[Roadkill]

It's a "Quick-Lok" from Genuine Gear. It's very similar to the Detroit Easy Locker or Powertrax.

 

[viper]

If it is just when you are turning , under power , it's designed to ratchet to prevent wheel hop of the inside tire. Which has to turn faster than the outside tire. It's the nature of the beast.

 

[Justbust1n]

I just installed a Genuine Gear Quick-Lok in the rear end. It is nearly the exact same thing as the Detroit easy locker or the one from Powertrax. It was a piece of cake to install, only took about an hour and a half. When I get a chance to wheel it a little (next few days) I will let you know how it performs. After driving around town a little, I have a question. It seems to pop and kick quite a bit; will this get better as it breaks in or is it just the price I will have to pay for not going with a more expensive "selectable" locker?

i knew a person that had the detroit easy locker that did that when he first installed it it slowly gets better but never goes away... its called backlash , the wheels do it when you turn .... does it only do it while turning and starting out/? if so yeah its normal but it shouldnt do it while driving straight going down the road ...

 

[Yardape]

i knew a person that had the detroit easy locker that did that when he first installed it it slowly gets better but never goes away... its called backlash , the wheels do it when you turn .... does it only do it while turning and starting out/? if so yeah its normal but it shouldnt do it while driving straight going down the road ...

Oh so thats what backlash is, now I get it

 

[Roadkill]

i knew a person that had the detroit easy locker that did that when he first installed it it slowly gets better but never goes away... its called backlash , the wheels do it when you turn .... does it only do it while turning and starting out/? if so yeah its normal but it shouldnt do it while driving straight going down the road ...

Yes, it was doing it straight down the road. In fact when I put a lot of power to it, it would "break loose" and just spin. Made a terrible noise. Thats why I expected to find nothing but metal shards when I opened the diff back up. Amazingly the gears where in nearly new condition after all that. If nothing else, they are durable.

Here is the latest update on the locker. 4Wheel Parts (who I got the locker from) had a booth in the venders area at the Chile Challenge and the guy knew right away what was wrong when I told him what had happened. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "When I'm driving straight down the road it pops and bangs loudly and I cant go more than 45 - 50 mph."

Tech Guy: "Do you mean it breaks loose and free-wheels?"

Me: "Yeah, that would be a good description."

Tech Guy: "Did you put both springs in each hole?"

Me: "Both?"

Apparently I left out some parts when I put it together. It's not entirely my fault though. Here is why I say that: The instructions say

"Assemble the 4 springs and caps with grease; Insert a spring and cap assembly with cap towards dowel pin through the slot in the clutch; repeat for the other three dowel pins"

I mentioned this to the tech guy and he seemed pretty sure that two springs should be in each hole. If you look in the picture I posted earlier in this topic, you will see that each of the little baggies contains 4 each of the springs, caps, and pins. Since the instructions only mention one spring per hole, I assumed that the second baggie was just extra parts in case you manage to shoot some of the pieces across your driveway (something that would be easy to do)
When I get back to Killeen, I will try the tech guys advice if time permits before my leave is over and I have to return to Iraq. If I put it back in over the next week, I will let you guys know how it goes. If not, you will have to wait till my tour of duty is complete in August to find out.

 

[Yardape]

Well thats good news, kind of odd so much rides on a couple springs

 

[Roadkill]

Well thats good news, kind of odd so much rides on a couple springs

That's true, but my orginal gues was that maybe the little springs were not strong enough (as I mentioned in one of the posts, above). It seems to me that it will be really tight trying to get those extra spings into the holes, but I will definately give it a try.

I could have really use a locker yesterday! Still kept up with the jeeps though B)

 

[Yardape]

That's true, but my orginal gues was that maybe the little springs were not strong enough (as I mentioned in one of the posts, above). It seems to me that it will be really tight trying to get those extra spings into the holes, but I will definately give it a try.
I could have really use a locker yesterday! Still kept up with the jeeps though B)

Love the pics, keep'em coming. wish I was there. Still got three feet of damn snow here

 

[Roadkill]

Love the pics, keep'em coming. wish I was there. Still got three feet of damn snow here

Unfortunately, today was the last day. ( I'm sitting in the hotel now catching up in e-mail and stuff. I put all of the pictures that I took HERE. Eventually I will put my favorite ones in my Broncozone album, but at supermotors, I can upload dozens of photos with one click and here I have to do it one photo at time.

 

[Broncosaurus!]

So youre stacking two small springs end to end? Why not just make one spring the right length, or would that make too much sense?

 

[Roadkill]

So youre stacking two small springs end to end? Why not just make one spring the right length, or would that make too much sense?

I agree. But, how many times have you been working on something and asked yourself, "what was that engineer smoking when he designed this?"

I probably wont have time to mess with it over my last few days at home. It's going to bug the crap out of me for the next five months wondering if the tech's advice will work.