So if you read my Part 1 post, I got through the initial assembly of the Aussie Locker into the carrier. To reflect I had a factory Trac Lok in the Dana44 and since the Aussie Locker will not fit into a Trac lok case I had to get an open carrier to put it in. So for most people putting an Aussie Locker into an open axle the install will be easy. For me because I have to switch carriers I now have to have the Ring Gear reset, basically half of a Ring & Pinion install.
So far my experience with the Aussie Locker has been pleasant, everything has been as expected and experienced no issues. This continued with swapping out the carriers as I found a local Denver guy that does Ring & Pinion work out of his garage and comes highly recommended by many. He goes by the online persona 87xjco and you can find him on NAXJA.org or on the colorado4X4.org boards. He cut me a pretty good deal to reset the Ring Gear as it turned out my luck was with me again. I will explain here soon but first you might ask why didn’t I try it myself? 1.) I do not have the experience or time to learn this and gears setups can go really wrong if not done right. I did not want to take a chance on my daily driver. 2.) to make the job easy on yourself having the special tools is a must, and they are expensive and I am broke.
So here is how it went down; Arrived at 11am at his garage. Break free the lug nuts on the rear wheels and jacked up the back end with blocks in front of the Jeep, putting the transfercase in neutral. Pulled the wheels, then the drums, and then yanked shafts partially out only to free up the carrier. Yanked the cover drained the fluid, once done 87xjco slapped on a case spreader and checked the current setup. Everything was nice and tight and no apparent excessive wear. He pulled the carrier and started to remove the bearings and the Ring Gear.
While he was messing with the Ring Gear I cleaned up my nice Crane Cover and the surface of the axle waiting for him to get everything to go back in. He set the new carrier with my Aussie Locker into the axle and put on the yellow marker paste and ran it through, PERFECT! he said. Which translated into meaning everything lined up beautifully and he did not have to play with it any more.
So he battened down the carrier and the cover while I reassembled the axle shafts, drums, and tires. We finished around 12:30 so it took only 1 hour and 30 minutes and I was expecting 3 hours worth of work. Woohoo!
I had previous experience with a full locker with my old CJ-7 as it had a Detroit Locker in the rear axle. So I am very familiar with all the quirks they have to offer; clanking, clicking and the infamous “Locker pop” which is when you go around a corner and power it out and the rear end makes a loud BANG causing your rear to jerk around. So driving away and putting 60+ miles on it I was surprized in many ways. Aussie Locker claims that with an auto tranny the banging backlash noise and “Locker pop” are not as severe as with a manual tranny and so far this is true as my CJ-7 was a manual and my XJ is an automatic and I have yet to experience any backlash noise or “Locker pop”. The Aussie Locker from what I have read also claims to be quieter than most full traction lockers, but I definitely hear the Aussie Locker a lot more than with my Detroit Locker. It could be after 8+ years with my CJ-7 I got so use to the noise I tuned it out and don’t remember really hearing it and I have not had a vehicle with a locker in it for over a year now, so this might be the case. Aussie Locker stated there is a break in period of 200 miles then it will quiet down. I will reach that pinnacle soon so we will see. However in the mean time Part 3 will be the most important, but it will be awhile before I can get to it as the sole purpose for buying the Aussie Locker in the first place is for wheeling. So stay tuned in the near future when I can get some trail time in with this locker. (There is an obstacle on a trail that really isn’t that hard but I got hung up last year because my Trac Lok failed to deliver. I want to go back and beat it into submission for the simple fact of retribution.) More to come!
