offroad axle to sport axle

I did get it working again! Doesnt mean itll last long but its there for now. I used rtv to seal the actuator then i upgraded the breather to 1/4 hose that connects to the one i made for the diff that breathes up by the gas cap. No more water for me. But im still going to swap axles and do the gearing and all at once. Just a matter of when.

 

forgive the dumb question but why do this exactly? Are the stock e-lockers that bad or prone to failure?

 

They're not that bad

Really what makes the other diff stronger is the fact that it's essentially gusseted. Under heavy load the pinion and ring gear want to separate, the housing and carrier want to twist, and this can lead to breaking things. The non e-locker has better "gusseting" to hold it all together better.

The e-locker does have 4 spiders which I like. In the end though they both have 8" ring gears and AFAIK same sized side gears. Call me bias cause I blew up my side gear but I want beef.

 

There are mechanical means to get rid of the electronics. PM PSUtaco85. He has looked into it and posted the info in another forum. He also has had numerous issues with shitty e locker electronics and currently is 2wd due to them

 

I know nothing about ring gears and pinions, so really I paid extra for weaker axels? I dont plan on lifting or putting bigger tires on the truck, I just want longevity.

 

Basically its this, elocker vs. non elocker; tires peeling out on pavement then tires hitting a pothole the elocker is more prone to being blown?

 

Thanks, I definitly know not to use it on pavement I was just saying since its a smaller 3rd member to more prone to beaking. I only brought that scenerio up cause my friend had a Dodge Ram and he was spinning his tires and eneded up blowing his ring gears due to hitting a pothole with all that stress hitting the edges of the hole

 

for those of you that are concerned...

Like max said, the e locker isnt that bad. And if you jusy use your truck for pavement amd the occasional offroad gravel trip youll be fine. The only reason mine turned out bad is for three reasons:

1) driver stupidity (deep river crossings)
2) maintenance neglagence (not relocating the stock breathers that arent high enough)
3) exceeding what the part could handle
(Water and electronics dont get along)

My truck is more than just my daily driver. Living in alaska has some benifits like being able to explore some really beautiful places but sometimes it means going through some nasty trail haha. And so for my needs id rather go with the air locker and not electronics due to water and snow and mud that ive found out the hard way made it into my actuator. The nice thing about e locker tho is that if my actuator fails while im out in the middle of no where i can pop off the 12mm bolts/nuts and use my screw driver to lock in the diff.

So i wouldnt worry about the reliability so much if you treat it right. I just abuse mine lol

 

Check this out:

http://www.chilkatdesigns.com/

That being said i would still go with an 8.4 and an ARB.

 

...and 8.4 its much much thicker
...and spiders are bigger...
...and more gear ranges are available including ones from Tundra, 4runner, Land Cruiser.

 

Ya two different things going on here:

My original issue was the actuator itself. I dont know im im hardcore enough to actually break my gears lol. I just know that to get an arb air locker to eliminate my e locker i would have to get a bigger housing. That was my whole goal here was just to replace the actuator. The gears being bigger/stronger are deff a plus but the bigger housing for the arb locker was the goal. For now my actuator works again so when the time comes and it fails again ill be swapping axles, regearing to 4.88, and adding arb air lockers to front and rear and calling it a day lol

 

1. not sure if new e-lockers are the same but ... if there is breather tube you need that to go higher. Originaly I think Toyota terminated them on the frame.
2. Seal e-locker with new rtv. Replace O-ring on the elocker where it goes to diff and you can go through water no problems.

 

problems already solved the breather tub now joins up with the one i made for the diff and runs up to where the gas cap is. and the actuator was sealed with rtv this time so no more water for me!

 

The breather off the actuator terminates at a nipple embedded in a cross member above the diff.

 

Are you saying the ring gear is thicker?
Are the spiders larger? Side gears? Have links? There are only two though.
Gear ratios are limited by front clamshell .

 

1. Yes it is. backing on the ring is thicker by about 1/4 inch. (hence why I think splitted rings on e-locker.) folks that upgraded their e-locker gears to something lower 4.56 4.88 maybe better off. As the lower the gear ratio the thicker ring gets.
2. Yeah I saw it only once somebody had posted spider gears and they were bigger. Sorry no links and I shipped my spider gears to somebody on the forum who bought third with broken sidegears.