Aussie Lokka front & rear now fitted

[tweake]

its fairly difficult to go to tight.
don't forget most makes of auto lockers make them for drop in installs done at home. generally will fit with stock shims.
only time you need to change shims is if its heavily worn.

there is two clearances to check. the main one is the clearance between the halves. that clearance is based on tooth size in what it needs to unlock and spin freely. obviously if its under minimum it will never unlock. once past minimum it will unlock. more clearance means one side will unlock and the other partly unlock, which can add wear etc as one side is being driven with part contact.
to much clearance and both sides will unlock resulting in no drive or freewheel.

the real critical one is that both halves are the same distance apart from the cross pin.

remember these are auto-UNLOCKers. normally they are always locked and when cross pin pushes the halves it just makes it a lot harder to unlock.

the other thing here is what size bar was being used. stock wheels are not big so not much leverage.

[nzlux]

I tried turning one wheel with the other held by my daughter and couldn't. I have 31 inch tyres on the hilux. Talking to the mechanic he said it was a big bar and lots of force, it just sounded wrong. I was told the clearances were at the minimum. Had the problem both axles off road in 4wd it was very hard to turn.
As I mentioned above I put tape on both wheels before driving to town today a couple of sharp turns etc the tape still lined up so it appears both wheels travelled the same distance.
The mechanic said the pins and springs only went in one way but he will check them.
Apart from too little clearance or the pins and springs being wrong what else would make it hard to unlock?

[tweake]

scratching my head on that a bit.
what diff is this anyone? rear, front, both?
is the rear v6 diff?

could be if the cross pin is not central and its binding on the little pins. tho if its jacked up it should still work like normal.

[nzlux]

It is on both diffs, checked both on axle stands and could not override the lokka.

The hilux is a ln106 2.8 diesel.


My guess (without seeing it all apart) is there is only just (ie right on the minimum or maybe less than minimum) clearance to enable to sides to unlock, which is why they needed to use a big bar and a huge amount of force (far more than the wheels could provide driving to town)

I also noticed when in 2wd with the front hubs locked (driving from the farm track back to my garage) that the front wheels were locked solid, I confirmed this with the front up on axle stands.

[trucked]

I have spartan lockers, same design.

I don't think they should be that hard you need a bar to turn them, when I set mine up I checked mine in my spare axle in the shed and I can unlock it with one hand while holding the other wheel, that is with out tyres on and 15 inch rims.

[nzlux]

I told my mechanic the same you shouldn't need a bar to unlock them. Just now trying to figure out what is wrong with the locker or the install that has caused this to happen

[tweake]

only other thing i can think of is the pins are in the wrong way. ie got the pin and spring around the wrong way. that may mean it doesn't slide on the pins and the halve rotates allowing it to push on the cross pin, which would keep it locked.

[nzlux]

only other thing i can think of is the pins are in the wrong way. ie got the pin and spring around the wrong way. that may mean it doesn't slide on the pins and the halve rotates allowing it to push on the cross pin, which would keep it locked.

I did mention at and was told that the spring and pins only went in one way, hopefully they check that too

[nzlux]

I gave the mechanic a copy of this article http://www.4wdsystems.com.au/pdf/4wdaction-lokka.pdf hopefully he reads it and realises that he can get the pins springs wrong and checks them

[tweake]

any chance of getting some pics when its pulled apart?

if it has been done a fraction to tight, my concern would be what damage has been done.

[nzlux]

its in the shop and I have to go to work so I wont get to see.

but will call in tomorrow and get them to check (I assuming that the teeth on the lokka are not burred etc)

[nzlux]

Just got the Hilux back (did the override / ratchet test on their hoist) all good.
Just had a drive in the tanker loop at home, definitely locked in the mud, and turning is way better (not so self centring as last week) so they did a good job of the install, and to their credit only charged me the 5 hours labour they quoted.
I asked them what was wrong, they did not know, just said they took the lockers out, put them back in and they now unlock (maybe they used too much grease to hold everything together when they first installed, who knows!!!)
Now to get out on a run and see how the lockers, in what looks like a farmers ute single cab full tray hilux, go.

[tweake]

good to hear you got it sorted