Detroit locker problem????

[pineymike]

I have owned a detroit locker for over 20yrs the same unit has been in 2 different jeeps.The first jeep was a '77cherokee d44 3.07 gears that compeated in the mud bog for 3yrs 360on nos/performer intake&cam/headders/780 holley/T400 milemarker equipt Qtrac/35" Hawgs, this was also my d/d and family truckster at the time&was driven to mudbog races allover the tristate area[Del,Pa,NJ]camping in PA.&wheeling in the pines so it has some miles on it at least 80,000 Any way after I wore that cherokee out I striped all the"good"parts I sold it the detroit sat on a shelf in my dry/heated basement in a paper bag hi&dry for 6yrs then I got my other cherokee back from my brother{another story} 455/780 holley/T400/D20/3:07 gears/33"at's one of the first things I did was instal the D/L in the rear,Its been a long time since I drove it in the other cherokee&I ran it pretty hard but it seams like it never unlocks? it's like having a spool I wheel with other guys that have D/L's and they unlock regulary I can't rember weather it acted like this before or not? has anyone else ever had this type of problem? I'm about to swap out the rear in my cherokee for one out of an Izuzu w/disc&centered diff I'm thinking about tearing down the detroit to see if it's in need of repairs?:fsj:

[jeeping1974]

It might need a rebuild. Being 20 years old and beat on, it might not be a bad idea.

[Stuka]

Yeah, sounds worn out to me as well. But man, 35's with 3.07's, I couldn't bare to drive with that gearing :P

[pineymike]

Only works with a lot of power,The first cherokee was primarly a mud bogger,lots of wheel speed helped it zip over the mud but if it bogged down that was it! it wouldn't slog thru, the current cherokee just has gobs of tourqe with the 455 and works really well in the rocks,the T400/larg cooler seams to compensate for lack of a good crawl ratio.Without an over drive I hate to go with lower gears as I like to drive to the trails and it gets verry good milage compaired to a stock 360,But the rear I am building will have 3:54's hopefully that will be a good compromise I'm trying to figure out if I should rebuild the detroit or go with a limited,I think I would miss it and probly put it back later.Any way I guss I'm used to things not working when they wear out?so I'll probly tear it down and rework it any one know a good parts source?

[moorehouse77]

I have a buddy that has a detoit locker in his full size bronco. His locker never unlocks unless he goes into reverse. Its been this way since it was installed. Rebuild might not hurt though. Just my $.02.

Dave.

[gte901m]

Detroits only unlock when power is not being transfered to them. All my vehicles are manual transmissions, so when you push in the clutch, you definately feel it unlock. Heck, sometimes it almost shifts you into the other lane.:D With an automatic transmission, maybe its always getting a little power and doesn't want to unlock? Have you tried throughing the transmission in neutral and taking a turn to see if it will unlock?

[JeepsAndGuns]

Detroits only unlock when power is not being transfered to them. All my vehicles are manual transmissions, so when you push in the clutch, you definately feel it unlock. Heck, sometimes it almost shifts you into the other lane.:D With an automatic transmission, maybe its always getting a little power and doesn't want to unlock? Have you tried throughing the transmission in neutral and taking a turn to see if it will unlock?


Never thought of that, but it makes really good sense. Its worth a try.

[pineymike]

Thanks for the input guys I think I'll disassemble it when I tear the rear down check it over & replace any thing that looks warn,I'm definatly going to try the netural turn idea before I get into tearing it apart just out of courisioty?