E locker actuator/motor install

I picked up an e-locker axle to put into my sr5 Tacoma. There's a ton of info out there on the subject, but it took me awhile to get my head around the actuator install so I thought I'd add some pics to help the next guy/gal out. I'm sure it was explained in one of the dozen locker swap threads I've read, but it went over my head

Essentially three things need to match when installing the actuator: The locking fork in the differential, the dash switch, and the actuator gear. They either need to all be "locked" or "unlocked." I didn't understand that the actuator gear mattered that much, I thought it would just get turned either way by the switch, and either lock or unlock the diff, but that's not true.

Once I figured out what the FSM was trying to get you to do it helped understand it a lot. Basically, the FSM instructions assume the motor/actuator state is unknown, meaning it could be locked, unlocked, or somewhere in between. So what it gets you to do is line up the drive gear of the actuator to be in the "locked" position. Then you put the actual locker fork inside the 3rd member into the locked position. Then you reinstall it with your truck switch also in the locked position so that everything is matched.





This is less important if you are taking the motor out of your own truck for a differential rebuild or something, because then you can just put it back the way you took it out. (i.e. leave the motor and your dash switch unchanged, and just flip the fork inside the differential to match once you re-install). The third member will only install into the axle housing if it's locked, so if you took the actuator off while unlocked you'd need to push the toothed rail on the locking fork outward, toward your driver's rear wheel, to unlock it. The manual actually tells you to turn the truck on and lock the rear diff before starting the job, which would eliminate that step.

But if you don't know, or if you're putting in a new actuator, you need to go through the alignment process to get it to the "locked" position.

In my case I got the axle, housing, 3rd member, etc. all disassembled. I also knew the guy I bought it from had bench tested the actuator to make sure it worked so I wasn't sure where the actuator was at when I got it. This is important because the drive gear won't just spin infinitely in either direction. It actually has a very short travel range. Where the FSM page says "if the matchmarks come to the extension limit of the rotation, don't electrify moreover" I was thinking WTF? "don't electrify moreover?"
I found this out the hard way, but that means "stop" because if it hits the end of its rotational limit it will bind.

a 9 volt is handy (more on this later) but a AA battery (1.5v as the manual indicates) is better because it moves the gear slower, letting you fine-tune the position easier.



You just use direct contact with the two pins circled below. alternating which pin has positive will determine which way the gear turns.



When you're using a battery to move the gear to get it to the right spot, if you go the wrong way and hit the end of it's travel, STOP immediately. Or else it gets stuck. I went searching both ways (clockwise and counter clockwise) and hit the end of the travel on both sides. This is where the 9v can help. Alternate the pos/neg wires, but with a 9v battery instead of the AA, and the extra oomph seems to help get the gear back moving the opposite direction. I thought I seized the actuator several times by hitting the limit, but repeatedly hitting the pins with 9v got it unstuck. I was able to get it unstuck with the AA once, but it took awhile.

First hold the actuator in it's mounted orientation as though it were on the truck, looking at the gear side, so the breather tube is straight up. If you draw an imaginary line from the right hand side of the lower stud hole to the right hand side of the upper stud hole flange, it goes right through the center of the gear (upper half of this picture in the manual):



The matchmarks are wide grooves, but can be partially covered by the circlip that is holding the gear on. As I found out by hitting the rotational limit on both sides, the gear has a short travel. If you look at the picture below I've got the top matchmark where you eventually want it to be. Using that top matchmark as a reference, its range of travel is approximately the green portion of the circle.



So as you can see, matchmark "A" is the only one that can ever possibly be at top dead center. This helped me understand their directions a little better, because just looking at the manual at first it didn't make sense which mark needed to be aligned up top. Basically the only one that can.

You want it to be close to vertical, and are shooting for 0-5 degrees offset to the right, or clockwise, but note that the matchmarks themselves are almost a whole tooth wide. Which is about 21 degrees. So you don't even want the whole mark to be past the vertical line (which would put the center of it about 10 degrees off vertical). You want it about where it is in this picture where you can still see some of the lower mark sticking out past vertical on the bottom. In fact, if the two marks are equally positioned on your imaginary vertical line then you're at 0 degrees and probably good to go:


When you're using the battery to line it up it's actually a lot easier to check its location with a string or something you can pull tight, as seen here, but it's harder to do that and take a picture at the same time



The last part of the alignment is done while mounting. The slot between the two bottom mounting holes aligns onto a pin on the 3rd member, and the pin should be in the far left side of the slot when looking from the outside (the far right side in the picture directly above). With the matchmark where it is in the picture, I was able to line the actuator up with its mounting holes, just jiggle it a little to mesh with the locking fork gears, and it slid right in with the pin in the right location in the slot. Hope that made sense to someone!

Other tidbits I figured out:

The "locked" indicator sensor is a pressure switch that can be easily tested with an ohm meter by pressing it against something. If it isn't working, hit it on something. That worked for the one that came on my axle, and was finally able to get a good connection when depressed

The crush washer for the locked sensor is Toyota part number 90430-A0003. It must be a common size because the dealer had a bunch in stock. Since it's a compressible washer you should replace it if you remove the sensor.

The sensor itself needs a 27mm socket

The actuator o-ring is a 2mm o-ring. I want to say the diameter was 2 cm, but don't quote me on that. I went to Ace and rummaged through their metric o-rings...you're looking for the one that will be 2mm rubber, but just slightly smaller overall diameter than your stretched out used one

 

So any idea what position these come in from the factory? Just got a brand new actuator from Toyota today. My diff and my switch are both in the unlocked position. Looking at it I should just be able to bolt the brand new one in without having to rotate the gear at all right?

 

Sorry just saw your message. I don't know because I've never bought a new one, but there's now way to get the actuator to the correct "state" of unlocked. So what I would do is manually lock your diff by pushing the toothed rod toward the driveshaft through the hole that the actuator came out of, and put your dash button in to "lock", then follow the alignment procedures to get the motor to the locked position. It might already be there coming from the factory, I'm not sure, but you should be able to tell from the positions of the marks on the gear.

I checked after doing this process where the marks are in the unlocked state. The problem is that they are both within the green portion of the circle in my drawing above. This means when it's unlocked you have no way of telling which mark is "A" and which is "B" because they're both in a position that either one could be "A" - they're both on the far ends of "A's" movement range. I'm guessing that's why they ended up describing it to line it up for being locked.

Hope that helps, but you probably already got it done and installed

 

Hey thanks, I appreciate the reply. I ended up figuring it out. After some reading I figured out installation of the third member can only be done in the locked position so I figured Toyota probably rolled their actuators off the line already locked to make assembly of the third member easier on the line. Turned out to be a good guess. They are manufactured in the locked position. Good to know for future reference for anyone else doing this though. As an aside anyone buying a new actuator should consider getting a new locker position sensor. Mine wasn't working so the diff would lock but the truck wouldn't register it. The sensors are cheap enough (part number 84222-12010 I think) and its a good bet if your actuator is shot so is the sensor.

 

Good to know!

My sensor was not working either, but since it is just a ball-pressure sensor I knocked the ball on a countertop a few times and it started working. I think the pressure ball was just stuck in place. Worth a try for anyone dealing with that.

 

great write-up
you happen to remember which pin you have to hit with the positive to make it turn counter clockwise, and vice versa?
mine will not move, even with the 9v, and i need to get it to turn counter clockwise, but don't know which pin i need to hit to make it do that.
i've spent about 20 mins trying both and neither makes the motor turn at all.
maybe this thing is just ceased? i did buy it from a dismantling company online, but, they say they test and garuantee their parts

 

bump

 

welp... i just took it apart and moved it manually. installed in the truck and all is working well now.

 

Sorry wish I had written that down! It’s been too long and I don’t recall, but I’m glad you got it figured out. I bet it was just stuck on one of the extremes...it’s engaging now via the switch alright?

 

Hey!
It's cool, your post helped me through this. It was stuck, due to having traveled too far, like you said. I gutted it, and was very happy to see that it was extremely clean in there. Came off of a 2009.
It is working via the switch, very well; quickly engages and disengages. My sensor that tells if it's locked or not is not working, however. I did take it off the diff and mess with it, but, it still doesn't work. I can hear it engaging and disengaging, though; so, a flashing diff light instead of solid is fine with me

 

So I know OP hasn’t been on in almost a year. But I got to playing with my actuator today and noticed that once the gear is in the desired position, it’s doesnt match OPs pics. The green portion is on the opposite side on mine than it is on OP’s. Can someone with more experience tell me if this matters?

 

I know this is an older thread but I couldnt find it anywhere else on the interwebz so if anyone is looking for the Toyota Oring PN for this use this:

90301-20005

 

No, that "green" section is just the opening for the e-clip. It doesnt matter where that's at as long as the match marks are correct.

e-Clip:

 

Thanks for this how to! Helped me get mine back up and running (I had to clean, re-align/test)

 

I'm going through this now...Appears an earlier poster stated it needs to be installed in the locked state. when the gear is facing you which direction is fully locked? does it turn counter clockwise to be fully locked or is it locked when the gear moves clockwise? thanks!

 

looking at the face of the gear it will turn CW to lock

 

The direction/polarity is shown in the FSM picture. Negative goes to pin 3(farther from the blank pin) and positive goes to pin 2(middle of the row, next to blank pin) to turn the gear CCW.

also if you’re overtraveled and 9v won’t get it off the limit, give it a quick second of 12v jumped straight from your trucks battery. that turned the gear off the limit instantly.

thanks for this write up!