Has anyone ever had problems with a lockright?

[Joe J-Truck]

Hi, I bought some used WT J10 D44 axles loaded with F&R lockrights and 4.09's off a dude here in NM. I was stoked at first because they were cheap, but I think I'm discovering why. I've only installed the front one so far, along with my TH400/QT swap. The rear D44 needed to get sleeved at the machine shop, so while I'm still waiting to get that back I've been running the truck around town in e-drive with no rear driveshaft and locked front hubs to see how everything up front is working. It handles crappy, but that's beside the point. When cruising on pavement on a straight road at any speed over 30, the front end makes a "blam!" noise about every 30 seconds or a minute. It kind of makes the truck jump a little and me jump alot. At this point, nothing has snapped or broken yet. It does it the same whether I'm on the throttle or just coasting. It doesn't do it on dirt. I need to get an alignment, could this be causing the locker to slip its internal gears like that, or perhaps the springs in the unit are worn out and need replacing? Both? Are these available anywhere? Very odd and not good I'm sure. From what I read the lockright is supposed to act like a spool during straight line driving, and only open during cornering. It has gears that can overrun themselves to turn corners. It seems its doing this on straightaways for some reason.
???

[scotty]

not sure exactly what it is doing, buti havet know hardly anyone to have good luck with locrights till some of the guys that respoded on this thread reported them:

http://www.ifsja.org/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=011198

most of the people ive personally know,and mostly the people ive talked to online and in the woods report short lifespans. tho most everyone ive talked to has had them in a small axle-30,35,44,sazuki or toyota axle.never talked to someone thats had one in somethin big like a 60...

my friend with the yj wrangler had a smililar prollem with one of his lockrights,sounds like it was doig what you are describing,not sure exactly what ended up being wrong with it. that was #2 for him and he ended up sending it back to be warrantied.

[FSJeeper]

You can expect tough steering and that popping noise in turns or when power is applied in certain circumstances with the front locker on or off the road.

Assuming there is no mechanical damage in the front diff, having the locker engage and disengage in a straight line on the road but not off road could be unequal tire hieghts. These lockers are really sensitive to this. Make sure both of your tires are of equal height and equal tire pressure. You will be amazed how small differences in tire pressures can cause this problem and it gets worse as the speed increases.

[Oracle]

Since I was buying so much other 'stuff' from them, Randy's R&P cut me a deal on a couple of lockrites I couldn't pass up, including the titanium/'xytanium' retaining pins. i spoke to techs at R&P, Westcoast, and some other place i forgot. Scoop was this, the lockrites have been continually upgraded, the pin is supposed to help quite a bit, they are NOT for HD high traction crawling with big gears/big tires/big motors however, for medium to light footed drivers with 33's or less the latest version seems to be doing quite well. Randy's guys told me they were now seeing the failures in lockrite'd vehicles coming in the axles/hubs/ u-joints as opposed to the lockrite itself which indicates that the design and materials have now matured. One thing they all did agree on, was "These are NOT Detroits" hehehe.

For those thinking lockrite vs. No slip, they all agreed that the No slip was NOT substantially stronger than the Lockrite BUT, that it IS smoother in operation and may last longer. As you can see from the sig below, I'm going to try them all and see.I'll keep you posted. Should have mud up and running in the next 10 days, Blood perhaps the same..still some parts left to order.

[Rockwagon]

I ran them in my CJ-5 years ago. They are very sensitive to tire presure. Driving with a locked front end in front wheel drive is never fun. Infact a lockfront on the pavement without unlocking the hubs is just plane scary. I personly like them for the price. I also hav a buddy with one in the front D60 in a 7500lbs Cheby with 44"s he has broke several hub and stub shafts but not the locker. He just up graded to 35 spline D-70 stubs. We will see where the next weak link is.

[Joe J-Truck]

I checked my tire pressures on the front, one side is 17psi, the other is 21. I'm going to bring them both up to 25 and see if that helps any. These current tires are old, quite worn, cracked and generally beat bias ply 35" mudders that I got for free from a buddy. They didn't balance very well and the truck rides like an old horse buggy. I've ordered some brand spankin' new 35" dick cepek radial MC II's from National Tire & Wheel. They should be here real soon. Maybe that will help too, I hope so.
I'll keep y'all updated. I hope I can make these lockers work for me because I can't really spend any more $ on my truck right now.

[Joe J-Truck]

Equalizing the tire pressures helped. It still pops when traveling straight, but not as often.
Hopefully new tires will eliminate this altogether.

[davez26]

Besides the tire pressure problem, If I read your opening post correctly, you are running around with just the front axle hooked up, both hubs engaged, and a locker in the front end. Driving a front locker full time is generally not suggested. Believe it or not, when you believe you are going perfectly straight, you are not. You make slight changes in the steering wheel and these deviations add up, resulting in the need for some driveline relief or a "pop". With a front locker engaged, handling will be crappy. The locrite is designed to engage under load and disengage with load removed. Powering into a corner will lock it up and give you understeer, wihle a coast through a corner should have very little effects. I've run the locrite, (see above post) and I haven't had trouble yet. Are you plannuing on runnig locrites and a full-time QT? If you are, consider a part-time conversion. Running a front locker full-time will wear you and the truck out a lot faster.

[Rande]

Equal tire pressure is not really what you are after. Equal height of the axle side-to-side is what you need.
Measure the axle height and adjust tire pressure to even it out. This must become a weekly routine for both the front and back. Once you become familiar with how the tires hold their air, the checking will become less often.
You would be better off swapping that front lockrite for a limited slip diff. Keep the extra lockrite for a spare.

[scotty]

he is only running around on the front cause his rear is being fixed. i assumed he was running around with no rear drivesahft,and only the front pulling,but maybe this wasnt a correct assumption?

if its gonna be a mostly trail rig,it wont really hutr him to keep the front lcoker and just drive it on the road with the QT in E drive and the hubs unlocked. no more funny popping or aything wierd from the front...

[KYJ10]

Im assuming the lock rite and ez-loc/quick loc are about the same. I ran 2 of them and had some similar problem in the front. Turned out, the little thin shim like washers(thrust washers) on each side of the locker were worn too much causing it to dissengage when driving. Other than that(which was my fault for not replacing), I love mine. Am currently putting one in my AMC20 with 456 and 35's. So it will be test more that my MJ. Dennis