Posted by Charlie on September 17, 2000 at 15:22:13:
Two questions:
1) Is anyone planning to be in the SE Utah arear last 2wks of April/1st wk of May next spring? I have time off then and I have a good vehicle in Boulder Colorado with my college freshgirl daughter @ CU. It's an 84 diesel Landcruiser wagon with lots of "improvements" including 34" tires, 4.56s and lockers, 3" suspension lift and F/R winches. Not a M37 but similarly capable.
2) A few days ago it was mentioned that there's a desire for an ARB Air Locker for the Dodge 3rd member. Does anyone have a diff taken apart and have the critical dimensions: diameter of side bearing lands, distance between right and left side bearing "stops" (where they can't be pressed on any further), distance from mating surface of ring gear flange to above mentioned side bearing "stops". It is possible that an existing Air Locker, which is a complete carrier replacement, could be machined from an existing unit, perhaps would need new/different ring gear bolt holes drilled. If this is true, then the same might apply to the Detroit Soflocker, which is a mellowed out Detroit Locker that has some "mini-LSD" plates inside to dampen the normal freeplay. I have a Soflocker in the rear of my BJ40 90" wheelbase Landcruiser and it seems (through 2 winters so far) very civilized even on icy roads. I'm glad we have the Lockright but I've had 2 failures so far related to the little pins. One might have been due to misalignment due to a twist/partial fracture of the axle shaft, the other perhaps due to broken fiber thrust washers, but all the same they are not failure proof. I have never been personally acquainted with a broken Detroit Locker and they have no more tendency to stess other driveline parts than a Lockright does.
Charlie