ARB or other

[pagar]

Any one here found a good place to purchase and fit an ARB or Toyota Diff lock, I am after one for the front of my BJ73 Cruiser. cheers

[Sadam_Husain]

I got mine (x2) from Rocky Road in the states last year while the NZD was high and saved about $1k after they airfreighted them out here. It would pay to ask around and compare prices and see what you can come up with, I think Jerry got his at a pretty good local price. As far as fitting goes I used the local ARB dealer here to set the diff heads up for me

[85BJ73]

I got them fitted by the local ARB dealer, but to be honest, the work they did was absolutely appalling, and all of it had to be re-done, not only that, but they damaged 3 parts, went $500.00 over their quote, took a week to install them, messed up my wiring loom, put back stuffed front wheel bearings (they didn't contact me to see if I wanted them replaced, nor did they tell me they were stuffed), put back rear pinion bearings that were stuffed, and did not re-install the crushable spacer, the list goes on.
But, that said, ask around, see who has had work done there and what they thought, I won't name the company who did my work, but suffice to say I will never go back, and if anyone mentions them, I give my honest opinion, and experiences.

[pagar]

what did you guys pay to have them fitted out of interest? would be good to get an idea of what work is worth. cheers

[Leithfield]

Any one here found a good place to purchase and fit an ARB or Toyota Diff lock,...

Where are you based? I can thoroughly recommend 4WD Accessories in Christchurch for fitting/service; the manager, Ric, formerly worked with an ARB dealership, and his knowledge/skill is invaluable.

I also purchased my two ARB's ex-US (24 months ago) and realised significant savings.

[pagar]

Normally when I am down country I say I am from Counties/ Manukau or Very north Waikato... but I am sad to say I am an Aucklander (Manurewa) Please don't hold it against me..... yes I would agree to the savings I have the first price back on a front only fitment which comes to $2227 + gst. so will price up one ex US or Aussie as I have found them down as low as 765 us so landed wouold be about $1000 plus freight considering this outfit want %1521.90 +GST Ifigure freight will be about $90 I stand to save abot $600 which is more toy's for the cruiser.

[Sadam_Husain]

what did you guys pay to have them fitted out of interest? would be good to get an idea of what work is worth. cheers

I took my 2 spare diff heads in to get done, I cant remember what they charged me but I think it was about 6 hr labour to fit them, they had to upgrade my 45mm carrier bearings to 50mm (I think all or most 40# 60# 70# cruisers up till late 1990's you have to do this now?), the pinion bearings were ok but they replaced the seals while they were there.

[85BJ73]

I think they charged $5500.00 for both, and as mentioned above, the diff side bearings get replaced with bigger units, and in my truck's case the new ARB centre is 4 spider, replacing the standard 3 spider set up, a lot stronger.
I have heard Staun are doing them, or going to do them, and Lokka do a different type, kinda similar to a detroit locker I understand.
Any competent workshop should be able to install them, as the ARB units come with instructions. I did all the wiring, and ran all the air lines, but they decided to re-do all my work, then admitted that got it wrong, and told me to re-do it, as they could not remeber how I did it, but charged me for all of their labour!!
Like I said, ask around, see who you get the most positive feed back about from the most people.

[monstr]

Hi a good guy to deal with is Bernie from jkracing he will supply and fit at a good price drop him a line at jkracing@ihug.co.nz hes out in south Auck

[pagar]

Thanks Monstr But I have spoken with Bernie already re diff configuration (I am a member of Manukau 4x4 Club ) and he suggested Motortech so I would presume he doesn't want to do them, but I will ask him when I see him next anyway (think he ma be busy at present). I will get an estimate from motortech for fittment only, do you know is it only the diff head that needs modification to fit or do some of the plumbing go through the main diff axle case?

[Sadam_Husain]

do you know is it only the diff head that needs modification to fit or do some of the plumbing go through the main diff axle case?

Its just the diff head that gets modified, you have to drill a hole in the diff head housing for an air fitting and the air line runs from there. If you get the arb's fitted to your diff head(s) its easy to put the diffs back and do all the airline, compressor and wiring stuff yourself. The instructions you get with the arbs are good and and easy to follow

[pagar]

thats what I figured, I won't be running an arb comressor so it I would be doing all the plumbing anyway and it will give me a chance to get to know my front axle more intimatly.... I will probably do bearings and seals on hubs at same time so it is all nice and newish. I will email bernie and see if he can do the diff head for me when I get it. Have scored a LSD for the rear which is from a low km truck and is good and tight so will fit next week. and then it is more Bar work and fit my body lift and syspention components. all I need to do now is secide on which truck, have been feeling all nostalgic about my old girl and am swaying towards keeping it and upgrading it rather than put my gear into the new one.....

[85BJ73]

A good idea is to fit a small resivoir to the air system, the compressor won't cut in and out as much, and it gives the lockers a more regular air pressure/supply. A small fire extinguisher works well, and have heard of air con resivoirs being used too.
I have an old truck air brake tank, and an extinuisher as a back up tank.

[pagar]

yes indeed, I have a 15 ltr holding tank to put in on a presure switch, should not need it though as I am fitting a 90cft dive tank to run it and pump tyres etc. compressor is just incase need to use up my air while doing cv's or other repair in the mud.

[nstacey]

What about one of these? http://tjm.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=93 How do they compare?

[85BJ73]

Dive tank man, they are heavy, look around for a truck air brake tank or fire extinguisher, heaps lighter, and run a good compressor, the combo works fine, it is what I did, and I used the ARB pressure switches too, just to be safe

[Madaz]

Hi there, I got mine from Maquarie 4x4 in sydney,$990 per locker and arb australia were running a deal where you got the compressor for free if you bought 2 lockers-,got some friends to bring them back from oz for me and they claimed back the tax on them when they left the country, tax refund pretty much covered the over weight charge on their baggage.
All up managed to get every thing for just under $2300nzd compared to about $3800 locally.
I would recommend Duncan @ Maquarie 4x4- was a excellent dude to deal with, no hassles ,no dramas
Cheers

[rayndeb]

Hi Ive just today bought an alloy truck air tank for 20 dollars... I have one of those typhoon compressors all I have to do is plumb it up and mount the tank.. Should work better than the small coke can sized one ive got now... Ive just started playing with tyre pressures off road so being able to pump them up again will be good... The guy i bought my wagon off bought the locker second hand and he had it for nine years and ive had it for 1 and its still going strong ..Ive heard of people pulling the factory ones out to put air lockers in so if thats anything to go by air is the way to go.. Cheers Ray

[Madaz]

4WD Fibreglass in hamilton have got Airlockers for $1250 ea or $1350 with compressor

[pagar]

thanks for that I will keep it in mind when I buy another, unfortunatly I ordered mine already from Rockyroad.com, 769 us$ all up will be landing around 1100ish, but If I had known I would have paid the extra to get from a local but could not justify the excess prices I got quoted here cheepest was 1550 +gst big difference between 1743.75 and 1100.

[nstg8a]

4WD Fibreglass in hamilton have got Airlockers for $1250 ea or $1350 with compressor

is that for an arb one?

[Sadam_Husain]

4WD Fibreglass in hamilton have got Airlockers for $1250 ea or $1350 with compressor

Are they ARB or the chinese ones?

[Madaz]

Chinese. Toyota in stock, Nissan is on the boat & Suzuki is being developed right now.

[swampa]

with these chinese lockers, what are they covered for under warranty, does a spring lift or even just a change of tyre size make the warranty void?

[Madaz]

Big tyres,big horsepower, and competion use are not covered under warranty- Same as ARB and TJM.
Cant see a spring lift being a issue.
But as you can imagine we treat each case individualy and with a bit of common sence.

Cheers

[safari_mulisha]

chinese stuff is shit.... i wouldnt bother with it and blowing a diff when your miles from home
same with the winches

[TJ]

chinese stuff is shit.... i wouldnt bother with it and blowing a diff when your miles from home
same with the winches

Not all Chinese stuff is useless. Quality standards are improving dramatically for some products. But I do agree, in general if there is an alternative available, I would tend to go that way. I held away from the Runva deal for the same reason. Some of the members here are very happy with them, but I was still not convinced by long term reliability.

[pagar]

Items out of china are not always crap, the problem is when you get a product manufactured there it is almost done in reverse, you can give an item to a manufacurer and say I want these made for this price and the will. the trouble comes when suppliers try to maximise product cause if you pay peanuts you get munkey poo. So if it is really cheaply sourced it will probably be crap, not any easy problem to get arround as a consumer cause there is no way of knowing what quality level has been spec'd by the importer.

[safari_mulisha]

i know its not allways crap
but in saying that because most of it is im not willing to try anything that might let go when im in the middle of no where

[Sadam_Husain]

i know its not allways crap
but in saying that because most of it is im not willing to try anything that might let go when im in the middle of no where

What pagar says is quite true coz a lot of reputable quality brands are now out sourced to the chinamen to make, ARB outsources a lot of their stuff to asia although I dont think their air lockers are (yet?).... its just the way things are done now

But haveing said that I take the same position as you and I stuck ARB air lockers in my truck and wouldnt compromise the quality and reputation by sticking an unknown chinese brand locker in a high stress and critical place such as a diff