Hilux 4x4 Forum

:arrow: To start with I will show you what the actual locker look like when it has already been fitted to the diff pumpkin, I will continue with the article got to go and shut the eyes for a few hours



I will be explaining in detail how you must go about the fitment of these lockers, some ideas and info that you will be able to use when you fit your ARB Lockers.

:arrow: :arrow: :arrow:

Have you had any seal failure on these yet?

Hay Guy

Maybe i sould think of fitting a diff locker to the rear dif

Okay will repost the photo's, but we have had no failure at all with these lockers, we know that they are the best for our application and they have worked as well.

Guys,

I am going to ask Simon to continue with this topic. Let's limit the discussions in this thread to constructive points or questions relating to the fitment of the Lockers, and take it from there.

RiceBurner, please feel free to add your comments as well, on your products.


-F_D

Okay first ask yourself why you want to fit a locker to your vehicle?

Do you want to have control when you have a locker fitted, in other words, do you want to be able to select and operate the locker when you require the usage of it?

Do you require a locker up front and as well in the rear diff of your vehicle?

Are you willing to spend extra monet so that you can have the type of locker that works for you?

There are cheaper lockers on the market, however they have limits of where they can be used and some do not give you control.

To name a few types, (not models or brand names).

Vacumn operation
Electrical Operation
Air operation
Cable operation
Auto operation, these types work with friction plates.
Welded operation
Led operation

So you have decided that you will be fitting a locker that will give you control of when you can activate it or switch it off.

Thus I will start with the fitment of an ARB Air operated locker to the front wheels of the solid front axle.
But once again there are two ways to do this fitment.

1. The cheap way, I will explain this in a seperate section.

2. The more expensive way

Okay the cheap way is as follows;

Remove one battery Ternimal.
Chock the rear wheels with a block of wood behind the wheels.
Please note if you have a vehicle lift this method various slightly.

Then loosen the wheel nuts, but do not remove them, now you can jack up the front wheels, use some suitable axle stands to support the front axle, place the stands under the axle beam in a suitable position, let the jack down slowly, make sure that the vehicle is stable before you remove the jack.

Now remove the front wheels. This is what you will see.





Take some photo's now if you do not have a workshop manual showing you the stripped down lay out of the various parts.

:arrow: Will continue

Thanks Simon, you are helping the mechanically challenged chaps like me. Looking forward to the rest.

Okay busy uploading some more pic's concerning this subject, but in the meantime I will continue with the next thing to do, before you loosen off the brake calipers, make sure that you have some cable ties close by, if not some fence wire will also work.

Remove the anti-rattle clips holding the brake pads in place, you will see two thin metal pins, the one clip wire keep the pins in place, on each end of the pins you will see a very small hole, some vehicle's might not have this anti rattle clip, they might only have split pins through these holes instead to prevent the pins moving out and the pads jumping out as well.


I find that an old pair of side cutters works best to remove this clip or a pair of long nose pliers, if you do use the side cutters, do not grip the wire too tight otherwise it will damage the wire clip, so you have managed to remove the clip and the two pins, you can tap them out from the inside with a small round drift or an old screw driver, then use a larger screw driver (yeah it is not good to use screw drivers like this but they make the work easier and I do not care what people say about the way that most of us abuse screw drivers).

But first of all make sure that the brake reservoir is not too fill, if so you must first drain off some brake fluid you can use a long clear window washer clear piping to do this easier, basically you just put the one end into the resorvoir, suck on the other end watch the brake fluid most times it is black (most people do not have it changed every two years in their vehicle anyway) until the level has dropped below the low mark, you can drain off until there the resorvoir is empty, but make sure that you do not suck brake fluid into your mouth the stuff does not taste nice, if you do get brake fluid into your mouth, wash it out with water or beer (most chaps who work on their own vehicle normally have a beer nearby anyway) some even have Brandy and coke that will also work,
Please note if you do get brake fluid by accident onto any paint work, body of your vehicle, wash it off again with water only.


So now that you have drained off the brake fluid, use the flat screw driver and ply apart the brake pads just slightly, this will then allow you enough space between the brake pads and the brake disc to remove the pads.

Do this to both sides left and right, but place each set of pads in a seperate dish, depending on the condition of the pads Do not judge their consition by their thickness, you have to first check that they do not have heat cracks on their surface and you must also check the condition of the brake discs as well, herat cracks and thickness as well as high spots to see the high spots you will notice blue marks on the disc surface, if you see them, rather fit new, do not attempt to have them skimmed, you will be wasteing your time and money.

So you have managed to get the pads out, now you must have a look around the back of the brake baking plate (wear some clear safety glasses) you will see two bolts that hold the brake cailper, if I remember clearly they will be size 19mm headed bolts, use a strong arm and a socket to loosen them off, once you have loosened them off, ply the brake caliper loose from the mounting point, now use the cable ties or wire, tie the caliper up above out of the way.



Photo showing the brake caliper removed, will continue with this subject.

A hint on what is to come with this article



Goodbye for now (going to bed)

While you busy with the article please can you explain the operational side of the different lockers. I know how the ARB operates but would like to know the Lockrite; Detroit ext type's. Have seen and heard about the welded front lock and it works well. I refer to it as a Farmer locker

Thanks I like the info on this topic.

Knersus wrote:While you busy with the article please can you explain the operational side of the different lockers. I know how the ARB operates but would like to know the Lockrite; Detroit ext type's. Have seen and heard about the welded front lock and it works well. I refer to it as a Farmer locker

Thanks I like the info on this topic.

Okay to start with, it would be much better for Riceburner to explain the operation of the other lockers, he is a fundi on them, however I will give you a brief outline on them, there are many types of lockers and their applications and what activates them to work, first of all;
1. Electric
2. Vacumn
3. Compressed air
4. Cable
5. Automatic
6. Afrox (farmer)
7. Limited Slip

Now you have to determine what application you want to use your vehicle for, once you have made up your mind, you will have to determine your budget (finances) these lockers can cost a lot of money, however do not make the mistake and buy the cheapest one that you can afford, rather wait a few more months and buy the correct locker instead.
Electric lockers basically work through a 12 volt relay that are connected via a fuse box to a switch in the cab, when you press the switch, a light will come on next to the switch sometimes the switch itself will have its own light, thus when you switch this switch on, it will supply a 12 volt currect through to the activator valve that is part of the rear cover of the diff housing, this valve will push a lever inside the diff and will connect the insides of the locker into position, this will then lock the diff so that both rear wheels will have traction.

Sometimes this valve gets water into it and will not work, but most times the simple relay is the problem.

The the vacumn locker is similar to the electric activated locker, but in this case, when you press the switch, it will then open a valve that comes from your inlet manifold on the engine (depending where the supply is coming from) this vacumn will then activate a valve also on the diff and press a lever so that the teeth of the locker line up and mesh, sometimes a special vacumn pump is also installed to a vehicle and even a small cylinder vacumn tank is fitted, however if you do get a leak in the vacumn hose, it is difficult to determine where it is leaking, even on the connection.

Compressed air is activated also by an electric switch that allows power to a small compressor that is fitted to a vehicle (most times people fit this compressor in the engine compartment which in my books is a huge no no, the reason why I say this is because in the limit switches, there are special little O'rings that harden with the existance of heat build up in the engine compartment, your locker will then not work, so find another place for your compressor instead, but it is not only electric compressors that are used, there are other sources of compressed air as well, a high pressure CO 2 Cylinder can also be used, which will give you many times of activation of the locker's. Then of course you can also use this small compressor as well as the CO 2 cylinder to inflate your tyres if required.

Cable lockers work with a length of cable to a manual lever that has it's own mounting bracket, normally alongside the centre tunnel of the bakkie, next to the gearlever if it is a floor mounted gear lever, the older Isuzu bakkies the 2.6 petrol models came out with this type of locker, however to just give you a product name (there are few) you can visit the OX Locker web site. When this cable is pulled, it activates a lever as well which then selects a lever inside the diff housing which then activates the locker.

Automatic lockers, activate on their own, when a wheel is spinning, there are clutch type plates inside the diff locker housing, these plates will then "grab" each other which then locks the diff so that you will have traction on that wheel, in some cases when people fit these type of lockers to the rear of a vehicle, you will get a clacking noise as you go around a corner, this is nothing to be concerned about, however you have to drive carefully, becasue the locker will lock up if you are not carefull, the clacking noise is basically a safety aspect for when a vehicle goes around a corner, sort of a release type application, but when these auto lockers are fitted to the front of a vehicle that either has manual front locking hubs that have to be turned or pre-select from inside the vehicle, you are looking for troubl;e with the fitment of this type of locker to a vehicle, some people swear by this type of locker fitted up front, but I do not, when driving off-road and you have locked the front hubs or selected 4x4 low, and you are wanting to turn, you will find that the vehicle will want to carry on in a straight direction and this is not a good thing, you want to have control of your vehicle at all times when off-roading, another thing if this auto locker is fitted to the rear of your vehicle, you will get uneven tyre wear and will not benefit from having to replace the rear tyres.

The farmer Afrox locker, well only people who have no idea of the application and controlling of a vehicle will do this to a vehicle, people who do not have respect for their vehicle as well, to go and weld either the sun or spider gears together is only looking for problems, once you do this you can throw the diff pumpkin away as scrap metal, as some of you know, molten lead can also be poured into that section of the diff to lock the small gears up, but when you hear what a new crownwheel and pinion cost you will think twice about doing this sort of thing, the reason why the term Afrox locker or farmer locker is used is because that is the type model name that the welding machine comes from or is used, some times Farmers (boere like Andries will do such a thing) but poor old Andries will first have to start his tractor and then connect his farm welder to his PTO on his tractor and then ask his vrou to do the job while he looks after his children

If you weld the small gears up, and you have selected the front hubs, your turning circle will be stuffed up, you will in fact not be aboe to turn, your vehicle will carry on in a straight direction, you have been warned.

Now you must remember that with the various lockers that are fitted, there are sometimes special types of oil that must be used, some even have an added additive that has to be put in with the oil.

Also that various vehicle's have different type of axles fitted to them, some types of lockers will not work for that type of diff and some will be cheaper for another type of axle compared to another one, basically on the older type Hilux 4x4 vehicle's pre 1998, all of them have imported type front axles fitted, but for the rear you have The Gearmax and Imported type rear axle fitted, the side shafts from the two different rear axles are not the same, as well as the brake system.

You also get two ratio's from these modelas.
1. The diesel models came out with a 4.55
2. The petrol models came out with a 4.875.

You cannot mix the two ratios up, thus if you do your Farmer locker and stuff a diff pumpkin up, you must make sure that the pumpkin that you buy has the correct ratio.

I think this basically covers everything, The limited Slip locker basically works along the same lines as The Auto Locker, some vehicle come out std with these lockers fitted, for example The older Datsun Safari's, King cabs.

Riceburner please correct me if I have said anything wrong or add your side as well, guys you must remember that Riceburner has many contacts concerning these lockers and if you are looking to buy a locker or lockers please ask him for a quote as well, he might even fit it for you as well. He is able to also import many 4x4 items from overseas.

Thus if there are any more questions please ask 8)

Thanks Simon for the info.

I have driven a SFA with a Farmer locker in front and it worked well. The steering is a bit limmited but as long as you turn on a loose surface it does not matter that much. It costed the guy R100 to do the welding of the gears and new oil for the diff. The way it was welded still provided about a 1/2 a turn slack on the front wheels before it locked both ends. I think this is why it is providing a bit of a turning circle.