I got a d30 that came in my jeep (front), threw a lunch box locker in it, never dealt with one in a small axle before but it is LOUD, it worked ok at first then it sounded like a 10 spline axle srtiping and stopped pulling all together. i tore my axle down and nothing is broke, locker looks just like it did out of the box. the only thing i can come up with is that the radius that the cross pin goes thru was cut to small and not allowing enough force from the pin to be transfered outward to lock but most of the force is forward with very little outward force to force the teeth to stay locked. I was thinking of regrinding the radius to allow more outward force (not any deeper, just provide more of a wedge effect)

Any ideas or thoughts on this or could it just be that my 33-14-15 boggers are a little more than it was designed for? right now i have the core of a 7014 welding rod between the two halves to prevent them from unlocking (no they won't sling out), it works great as a mini spool but makes it hell to turn and it's a thumb breaker when you try to striaighten the wheel back out.

73 cj5 manual steering, spooled 44 rear

No offense to you, but take that lunchbox locker and rid yourself of that piece of shit. I've had the Lock rites and the Powertrax ones and they are junk. The Lock Rite blew apart 4 days after the intall and caused the rearend to gernade on me. Lock Rite honored my warrenty and put the money twords a Power Trax......it's gone too. Just do it right and get a Detriot or an ARB.

sounds like the cross shaft could be worn.Did you get the new chromo one from lock right or is it the stock one? or you didnt put the shims in from your stock side gears,

Give me a break I know a ton of people who run lock rights and never have a problem they work fine. Not all of us have $$$ trees.

Are you sure they sent you the right springs? When I got mine it had the wrong springs and pins in the box. That could possibly be the problem if the springs are tthe wrong length or if they are the wrong spring rate.

Come on man.....admit it, they are crap. I had a 88 Xj witht them front and rear, and i was constantly going through them one after another. The only reason i bought them in the first place is because I got them cheap from National Tire and Wheel and because they would honor my warrenty. I had a straight 6 with a 5-speed and 33 mtz's and them shitty ass lunch box lockers cost me 2 rear ends. Even though they were D35's, there was nothing wrong with the rearend when i put them in, and now there is. And just for the fact a detriot is bout 500 bucks, give or take a few. The Lock Rite's cost bout 300 or so for the common rearends. Spend the extra 200 and do it rite.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=241603


read #5, thank- you1:flipoff2:

Come on man.....admit it, they are crap. I had a 88 Xj witht them front and rear, and i was constantly going through them one after another. The only reason i bought them in the first place is because I got them cheap from National Tire and Wheel and because they would honor my warrenty. I had a straight 6 with a 5-speed and 33 mtz's and them shitty ass lunch box lockers cost me 2 rear ends. Even though they were D35's, there was nothing wrong with the rearend when i put them in, and now there is. And just for the fact a detriot is bout 500 bucks, give or take a few. The Lock Rite's cost bout 300 or so for the common rearends. Spend the extra 200 and do it rite.


They aren't crap, they work and they work well when they're installed correctly. Maybe your problems didn't stem from improper install, but maybe bent tubes or an out of spec carrier. I run a lockright in my 44 front with drive slugs, so it see's a beating. I was running a lockright in my rear 60, and it took a lickin, and I ran an Aussie in the front of my 30 for a while before selling the whole axle. I've only seen one lockright go and that was because the guy destroyed the carrier too. Hell I blew the carrier on my 8.8 to pieces, but the lock right, it was just fine.

Don't listen to this idiot, there are thousands of people who run lunchbox lockers with unfailing success. Of course a couple fail from time to time, there are discrepencies and slip ups in manufacturing processes and installation errors and all sorts of things cause failure, but they are a good unit for the average wheeler.

As far as your problem is concerned, call LockRight and ask them, they can probably help you. Did you put the thrust washers back into the carrier under the sidegears? I wouldn't do any grinding, if there is a problem with the locker, you're more likely to get a replacement if you send back an undamaged unit than if you have one you've "modified"

The first one i had that went out wasnt machined right and thats the reason it gernaded. Thew second one....your guess is as good as mine and yes it was properly installed. I had the head mechanic from the local Ford dealership there to make sure we installed it right. I did everything like the book said and we even called them up personally during the installation and everything was right....then a few days later, BOOM! You get the picture, and as far as the rear being tweaked.....i dont think your gonna find two in a row thats teaked or screwed up in any way considering they both came from my buddies daily drivers, so thats out of the question. All im saying is to just do it right and bypass them turds. In my own opinion they are good for a small tracker or something along them lines that sees minimal wheeling, has small tires, and something thats underpowered. Im just voicing my own 2 cents so that this guy doesn't make the same mistakes i did. Oh yea, the powertrax in the front is still there and so is the detriot in the rear with the stock axles.

Originally quoted by Jack Mehoff read #5, thank- you1
Im sad to say it but i happen to like my Dana 30. It handles very nicely for the amount of abuse I put it through, considering there is a 450hp (give or take a few) sbc under the hood. So id say it handles pretty decent although im worried about the housing itself. Its way TOO thin and puny, i need to build a truss for it.

The first one i had that went out wasnt machined right and thats the reason it gernaded. Thew second one....your guess is as good as mine and yes it was properly installed. I had the head mechanic from the local Ford dealership there to make sure we installed it right. I did everything like the book said and we even called them up personally during the installation and everything was right....then a few days later, BOOM! You get the picture, and as far as the rear being tweaked.....i dont think your gonna find two in a row thats teaked or screwed up in any way considering they both came from my buddies daily drivers, so thats out of the question. All im saying is to just do it right and bypass them turds. In my own opinion they are good for a small tracker or something along them lines that sees minimal wheeling, has small tires, and something thats underpowered. Im just voicing my own 2 cents so that this guy doesn't make the same mistakes i did. Oh yea, the powertrax in the front is still there and so is the detriot in the rear with the stock axles.

Ok, I'll take your two cents, but I'll put mine in as well. I've been wheeling a bunch of places and with countless people, and I have only seen one or two fail. Of course everyone hears about someones brothers neighbors cousins uncles nephews that has blown a bazillion, but thats just that. They work well for me, and they work well for a lot of people I know.

yep, new cross shaft, i ordered new springs, checked the pin lengths, did all the normal stuff including the thrust washers. all these guys thrashing em need to come to GA, damn near every one I know runs these things with no problems but they are in larger axles and installed by rednecks in the drive way. guess i'll see what i can do about geting it replaced before i mod it. i did manage to borrow the piece of one from a 4x4 shop so i could measure the radius that i suspect is wrong on mine (same part number as mine) and guess what same radius, different depth, mine is all most 3/8 deeper on each side which would greatly reduce the outward force for the pieces that lock. thanks for the input

I was going to put a lock rihgt in my dana 30 last spring and had some teeth off of the ring gear. I took the housing to a shop to replace the R & P and let them put it in. They said they had to maching some edges on the carrier for it work right. Anyway both of mine work great just thought you might have the sme problem.

I love my Aussie in my 44 - went through 2 inner shafts and is still ticking - I hat a bent axle tube (what was causing the shafts to go) and the aussie is more than happy to be there...

My rear lock rite is very happy back there...

almost everyone I wheel with has one from of a lunchbox or another, and I have yet to have a lunchbox locker issue on the trail...

now - Ive never been on a trail run in which ARB's were in use and didnt at least hear one person say "My ARB isnt working"

OK it'a fixed and working great. I used a 2 inch grinding drum thing for my die grinder and made the place the cross pin goes thru larger wider what ever you wana call it (not deeper) so the pin would exert more outward force on the sides. I all so cliped 2 coils off each spring to make unlocking easier MUCH easier, on stands I can trun each tire with one hand and hear a VERY faint click click click not the POP POP POP i use to hear when turning. I tryed turning in 4x4 on pavement, just like 2 wheel drive. did a 4x4 test run on some steep MUDY hills, flawless, did them again in front wheel drive I would say flawless but i did hear it click one time, i think it was more the side that had traction lost it and the other side was "catching up" or it just wasn't locked when the other one stoped pulling but it was a click not a loud POP and no pull like before.

you can not hear it while the jeep is running and it's pretty quiet.

I'm happy, it pulls like hell with the boggers and I can actually turn the steering wheel in 4x4 again GOTA love manual steering and a locker up front.

tryed it again today thrashing it as hard as my straight six could thrash it, got the front tires over a 2-2.5 waterfall and when the back starerted over (dragging on the skidplate) it broke a front shaft. just got it put back together and it still works perfect. so far so good but my next one WILL be an Aussie without a doubt. very nice guys, sent me an email making sure it wasn't one of thiers, I didn't see any of the others worried about if their crap didn't work right. Aussie contacted me, which is above and beyond customer service.

I can not stress how much this impressed me. seriously, when was the last time a vendor contacted you and said hey, that's not one of ours messing up is it?

Come on man.....admit it, they are crap. I had a 88 Xj witht them front and rear, and i was constantly going through them one after another. The only reason i bought them in the first place is because I got them cheap from National Tire and Wheel and because they would honor my warrenty. I had a straight 6 with a 5-speed and 33 mtz's and them shitty ass lunch box lockers cost me 2 rear ends. Even though they were D35's, there was nothing wrong with the rearend when i put them in, and now there is. And just for the fact a detriot is bout 500 bucks, give or take a few. The Lock Rite's cost bout 300 or so for the common rearends. Spend the extra 200 and do it rite.

You're an idiot. You are running an already inadequate axle, with larger tires, and some decent torque. What exactly do you think is going to happen to anything in that axle? Especially if you drive like the dumb redneck you sound like.

and them shitty ass lunch box lockers cost me 2 rear ends

Hillbilly :shaking:

YJTypeR Now listen here you dumb bastard, it wasnt the rear end that fucked up. It was the P.O.S. Powertrax that fucked up and gernaded my rear end. If you could read you would have noticed that i stated that before. Oh yea, whats wrong with being a dumb redneck you stupid ass? And what the fuck do you drive?, and for the most part who paid for it? Did your mommy and daddy front you the money?

YJTypeR Now listen here you dumb bastard, it wasnt the rear end that fucked up. It was the P.O.S. Powertrax that fucked up and gernaded my rear end. If you could read you would have noticed that i stated that before. Oh yea, whats wrong with being a dumb redneck you stupid ass? And what the fuck do you drive?, and for the most part who paid for it? Did your mommy and daddy front you the money?

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

I'll give you one guess as to what I drive.....

I pay for my own crap, why would my parents have anything to do with my Jeep......

You're still a hillbilly......

Don't you have some sheep to help through a fence? :flipoff2:

Back to topic.......

I've been looking at the "grenade" effect he's talking about. if the pins break, the thing will no't lock under power but will self lock in turns and worst case in that situation is that the pin could get between the ring and pinion, if your wheeling you should just STOP unless your an IDIOT and try flooring it and then busting the ring and or pinion gear.

the teeth could break, same situation. unless your running over 10 mph you should get a warning like the wheels LOCK UP and SLIDE when your foots NOT on the brakes.

the locker COULD break the week STOCK cross pin which would most likelly cause a piece of the pin to (under centrifical force) and would either sling out or strike the pinion gear (once again unless your a complete dumb ass you won't be going that fast BECAUSE YOUR WHEELING not in a burn out contest or try to HAMMER down cause you STOPPED MOVING).
Now this is where the only point I could see "grenading" an axle which to me isn't a break it's a catostrophic failure that reduces pretty much anything in the case gets chewed up, broke or mangled all to shit.
When the broken cross pin hits the pinion or the case under high speed or when a dumb ass hammers down cuz his rig won't move, since the pin is STRONGER than the thin side of the case, the case breaks and this is BAD becasue if dumb ass has still got it to the floor the pinion cuases the ring gear to cant to one side there goe the bearings and axle ends break off because with a 4 banger your dumping about 1000 lbsft of torque on all the BROKE stuff it your in first gear low range.

oh yeah, in case your wondering, I have a mechanical engineering degree and I have been working with metal (not just welding crap together) for over 15 years and have personally built, by hand, prototype components foro GM that have gone into production.

My conclusion, if there was a catastrophic failure it was most likely caused by a broken cross shaft followed by a VERY HEAVY foot.

and yes I have broken cross pins before in my ford a little FYI if you dont all ready know this, when an axle stops moving (locks up) try backing up (gently) if it moves a little then stops then goes forward a little and stops either call someone who knows how axless work or pop the cover remove the broken shit and DON"T hammer down.

when a case has preasure the way it was designed it's STRONG but if a broke pin puts a little torsional stress on it, it WILL snap it's thin where the pin goes thru.

Now kids....lets have a seat around the campfire and let me tell you a story about a shitty ass locker. Well I installed it on a friday nite and on tuesday on my way to school i made a left turn and all of a sudden it was like the axle decided to go into neutral. So i stopped and made the usual glances at the rear to check for holes and what not, so i decided to drive the 50 feet into my schools parking lot. I then yanked the cover during lunch and found the the teeth had ground themselves almost flat and it would no longer engage. So i cleand the housing that afternoon in my auto body lab and yanked the axles, pinion, and case. Then took all parts to automotive lab and used their parts cleaner to remove all pieces of metal and then repacked the bearings and all that good stuff and yes i did thouroghly clean the housing, then reinstalled everything and thankfully i still had the stock spider's in my jeep. Put it all back together and she was good to go. Called em up and sat on hold for only god knows how long, said fuck it and called my good buddy Greg Eaton, onwer of National Tire and Wheel, he contacted Powertrax and got some answers. So i sent it back and a picked up another one in the mean time. Installed it and yes it went in correctly just like the first one and clearences wear all of what the manual says it should. Then it must have been a month or so and next thing i know im goin down the raod and BOOM! The pin shot out from the case of my jeep without warning. I then called my buddy and while he was on the way with a trailer I yanked the diff cover and then discover that I no longer have a ring gear. The locker was still good so i went to the local U-Pull It and pulled a rear out of an 87 Xj with 3.54 gears and virtually no slop at all for a measily 75 bucks. In the mean time i ordered another pin becasue the locker itself was still good. So i get the new pin and springs then had the Ford mechanic there with me and put her all back together. Good to go again, so i thought, maybe about a week later the whole thing just exploded so to speak, and yes agian i was on the road and keep in mid that this is a daily driver. S i again yank the diff cover to find nothing but moderate sized chunks of my diff case and ring gear along with pinion. So this is when i said fuck it. Bought another rear from a 93' and left it open for a while, and saved enough to buy a Detriot and to this day its still there even though i don't own the xj anymore.

YJTypeR Well i figured id ask about the parents crap because everybody around here that has a vehicle thats some what sweet has their parents credit card to thank. Oh yea, as far as the sheep go....thats not me man i prefer your woman.

sure you don't have a LS carrier? That will happen with a LS carrier running a lock right...

No they were open diff carriers. The onyl difference between the locker was the fact if one had abs. None of mine did. It also didnt help the fact that the catalog was from 1995.....

yeah the first one actually sounds like a heat treat problem. if the teeth wore off it was too soft and if they broke off it was too hard. THEIR fault I couldn't agree more. the pin flying out. if the pin didn't break, or the retaining pin/bolt (i think it depends which day it was made as to what you get, I've pulled 2 covers from 2 jeeps less than 6 months diff of the line and one have a bolt and one have a roll pin, I've all so found 2 8.8 31 splines that had roll pins fromt he factory, wierd shit). if the cross pin retainer came out YOUR BAD. the grenade problem does sound like the pin came out.

Man I'm really sorry to hear you have had such shity luck with these things.

I'm not gona say you caused it becasue I don't know but the last 2 events don't sound like a problem casued by the actual locker.

if you don't mind tire wear throw a mini spool in it, it's all most impossible to sling a pin with one of those and they are 10 times more predictible for street use I HATE rear lockers. I can deal with tire wear and the drive is actually safer in a turn (unless it's wet, then it's about the same except you can feel it letting go before it does unlike a locker which locks mid turn and cathes you off gaurd)

FUCK IT SPOOL IT !!!!!!!! if i had hydro on the front it would be spooled too lol.

I'm in a good mood I just found a set of 1 ton chevy axles I forgot I had :D

Hell yea on the 1 tons man! But yea thats what they said back at Powertrax as far as the teeth "grinding" off. But i can't really remember which one had the pin and the bolt because i had an 88' and 87' D35 which would both be the same and then the 93' which had c-clips. But when the shaft shot out the pin or bolt or wutever was still there but jus sheared off. But no biggie i guess. Oh yea, before i forget as far as spools go, is it better to go mini spool or full spool? I got to thinking and was wondering about the strength of a stock carrier when running a mini spool. But with a full spool there would be less to worry about, i think. I just would like to know somebodys opinion on how they handle and the installation. Nobody around here really runs them, they just got for Rockwells and bypass all that.

And before i forget this hows your wheelbase on your CJ? I have stock wheel base with a 350 and chevy 4spd. ( can't remember which trans it is) along with a 205 tc. well its got 2 inch springs and SOA. I am having some really bad driveshaft issues, the angle kills both joints approx. every 2 weeks. Im running Auto Zone out of joints! But i also have horrible axle wrap which doesn't help out with the u-joint problem. So to combat the driveshaft length i decided to swap out the tired 350 and 4spd and tc for a 300-350 hp AMC V-8 with a T-18 and Dana 20 tc.....Soon to be a Dana 300 with the tera low kit and a rear output upgrade from Advance Adapters. But that still wouldn't fix the rear shafts problems by too much....i think:confused: So...wheel base extension ? maybe i dunno Whats your opinion on that?

80cj-5 i have had two detroits in the rear of my jeep with the dana 35 and it blew them apart as well with a 4cyl and 33s so i think the problem is a shitty axle not the luchbox lockers. I now have the powertrax in the rear 8.8 of my jeep with 35s and and a stroked 4.0L and have zero problems. if you are dumb enough to put any sort of money into a dana 35 thats your problem but don't blame the lockers for your stupidity

If you look at any axle they all have their weaknesses. Such as the Amc 20 and their crappy ass axles. Have you ever compared the size of the ring gear of a 20 to a Dana 44? Theres nothing wrong with a 35 if you build it right jackass. Put some sweet alxes in along with a Detriot or a ARB and a nice truss and its just as nice as your 8.8. So therefore go fuck yourself. Don't knock on me for using a Dana 35 because i know of a lot of them that work flawlessly. As far as you sinkin over a grand into a 35...i think you're the stupid one here. Im only out of 300 some for the locker, 150 or so for rear ends, and my time. You're out over a grand you dousche.

we run a cj-7 with 35 inch tires, with a lunchbox in front.(Detroit in the back)
Its been working fine here.

I had one in the front of my XJ's D30 and never had a prob with it. I dont know if it was jus because it only had power to it when I was in 4x4 but it was always in movement hence Jeeps great idea of selectable hubs.

YJTypeR Well i figured id ask about the parents crap because everybody around here that has a vehicle thats some what sweet has their parents credit card to thank. Oh yea, as far as the sheep go....thats not me man i prefer your woman.

I knew you folks were into your cousins and stuff, but your mother's as well? :flipoff2:

Ok, I'll actually contribute. I've daily driven my D35'd YJ for about 2 1/2 years with a lockrite in the back. It's been very predictable as far as locking and unlocking. No complaints here.

If you look at any axle they all have their weaknesses. Such as the Amc 20 and their crappy ass axles. Have you ever compared the size of the ring gear of a 20 to a Dana 44? Theres nothing wrong with a 35 if you build it right jackass. Put some sweet alxes in along with a Detriot or a ARB and a nice truss and its just as nice as your 8.8. So therefore go fuck yourself. Don't knock on me for using a Dana 35 because i know of a lot of them that work flawlessly. As far as you sinkin over a grand into a 35...i think you're the stupid one here. Im only out of 300 some for the locker, 150 or so for rear ends, and my time. You're out over a grand you dousche.



:shaking: