Anyone with detroit locker experience?

Im noticing some stuff that doesnt seem normal to me and ive noticed a few of you are running detroits and might have some insight.

First off, it clunks into reverse and drive (auto JK) everytime and i hear this is normal. did it when i got it and 1000 miles later still does it

Secondly, ive been experiencing lag on take off from a stop where it will slip and catch and most recently it sounded like a chipped a tooth. other than that and even right after that it drove fine and didnt make any grinding noises or anything i was worried about.

Now that being said, the pinion nut came loose during break in and i had the installer re tighten it and since then ive noticed the second issue with lag. is all this normal? i know the detroits are brutal monsters and take a beating but i plan on having this jeep for a very long time, whats the issue if there is one? thanks guys

MI jeepskate said:

Im noticing some stuff that doesnt seem normal to me and ive noticed a few of you are running detroits and might have some insight.

First off, it clunks into reverse and drive (auto JK) everytime and i hear this is normal. did it when i got it and 1000 miles later still does it

Secondly, ive been experiencing lag on take off from a stop where it will slip and catch and most recently it sounded like a chipped a tooth. other than that and even right after that it drove fine and didnt make any grinding noises or anything i was worried about.

Now that being said, the pinion nut came loose during break in and i had the installer re tighten it and since then ive noticed the second issue with lag. is all this normal? i know the detroits are brutal monsters and take a beating but i plan on having this jeep for a very long time, whats the issue if there is one? thanks guys

Click to expand...

maybe the gears need to be "reset" ? re-shimmed ? too much backlash? u joints ? I had a detroit in my 93- goin on 15 years and no problems at all, my brother has it now...:/

MI jeepskate said:

Im noticing some stuff that doesnt seem normal to me and ive noticed a few of you are running detroits and might have some insight.

First off, it clunks into reverse and drive (auto JK) everytime and i hear this is normal. did it when i got it and 1000 miles later still does it

Secondly, ive been experiencing lag on take off from a stop where it will slip and catch and most recently it sounded like a chipped a tooth. other than that and even right after that it drove fine and didnt make any grinding noises or anything i was worried about.

Now that being said, the pinion nut came loose during break in and i had the installer re tighten it and since then ive noticed the second issue with lag. is all this normal? i know the detroits are brutal monsters and take a beating but i plan on having this jeep for a very long time, whats the issue if there is one? thanks guys

Click to expand...

Only installed about a month ago but yes they are a noisy locker, what I did was over fill my diff slightly and that seemed to eliminate quite a bit of noise..I don't have the lag issue tho.

Quick question for you. On the lag, was it a one time only issue or does it happen after every stop? Mine lags almost every time it's been parked for a couple days, but only on the first take off from my house. After that all is well. I talked to my tranny guy and he said its a common "problem" there is a part in the tranny that's supposed to keep fluid in the torque converter. In mine this has failed and allows the fluid to drain out of the converter. This causes the tranny to "lag" after it's been sitting for more than a day.

Maybe this is your problem too? Unrelated to your locker?


Keep your head low and your powder dry.

Its done it maybe 4 times and id say 3 were in the rain so its dicy as to if it was loss of traction or just lag. the only one im really concearned about is the one yesterday that sounded like a bomb going off. thanks for the help though guys

If it was that loud, start looking for broken stuff. Pull the diff cover and look for metal pieces or shavings.
Hope everything's in one piece. What rear end do you have?


Keep your head low and your powder dry.

Did you get the problem figured out?


Keep your head low and your powder dry.

I have been running Detroit lockers for 20 years and I have never had a problem with them. One thing is for sure, they do not slip! They will bang and pop once in a while. You pinion nut should not have come loose. Your installer did not set the preload correctly and should have used a new nut each time it is loosened. These are one time use lock nuts. The crush sleeve may also be no good now. I would pull the diff cover and look for damage to the ring and pinion. The slip issues is your transmission. The same air pressure and tire diameter are critical with Detroit lockers. They bang and pop a lot less with an automatic transmission then they do with manual transmissions. They like to keep the pre-load on the unit for smooth operation. Even if you were to break an axle shaft, it would drive the other side and you would not have slip. I have broken the front axle before and pulled it out, plugged the hole and wheeled for 2 more days. you couldn't even tell I was missing an axle. I like the fact that they are always doing "there thing" so you don't have to worry about them. In the front they will make the jeep push. Just back-up a little and they disengage on the slippery dirt.