Posted by Charlie on Saturday, December 16, 2000 at 02:10:42:
In Reply to: ARB cost ? posted by R Davis on Friday, December 15, 2000 at 23:32:15:
I've had ARB Air Lockers in the front of my F350 (Dana 60) and two Landcruisers for 8-9 years. I replaced the rear ARB on my BJ40 with a Detroit Locker when I switched to a rear full floater. The automatic lockers are definitely superior for the rear, much more reliable, cheaper and "always working". But the ARB has much in its' favor for the front, particularly with manual steering. I had compressor problems with my BJ40 till I replaced it with a later version compressor, the F350 runs off a huge belt driven compressor and the BJ60 wagon has the newer better compressor. I haven't had any air line icing even in Alaska's climate, the O-rings have been reliable and everything else has worked properly. But for the rear axle application it's nice to not have to think or worry about it.
It's entirely possible that an existing ARB carrier would be machinable down to Dodge dimensions and drillable with ring gear bolt holes. There's also the matter of the "air sleeve" which is a thin circular steel piece which slides over the carrier side bearing "lands" and seals with two O-rings and takes air out of a metal (brass) tube (which ultimately connects with the air supply through a bulkhead fitting through the 3rd member case) and sends it into the carrier housing to drive the annular piston which locks the side gear to the carrier. Because it occupies some space a special thinner side bearing is needed on that side.
An ARB Air Locker of that general size would retail for about $600, plus the compressor which runs over $200; available in 12 and 24V.
I've been paying $230-255 for #1210 Lockrights.
Charlie