Rubicon E-Locker problem. Warning long read!

2013 Rubicon with factory 4:10s Never been apart! Just over 13,000 mi.

So I just did a EVO Double D Pro install. Also put on a set of Adams CV 1350 drive-shafts that include the bigger pinion yokes. Per Adams torqued to 160
Pinion angles and castor were set to specs.
Rear is pointing at driveshaft within 1 degree.

Drives great, no vibrations up to 80 (That’s fast enough for me)

Went to the Dunes yesterday and ran up and down the beach in 4hi for about an hour.
Took a short break and went out onto the dunes. Shifted into 4lo and locked up rear locker due to fine sand like flour. Went right in and rear locker engaged right away.

Ran around on dunes for about 45 minutes at speeds no greater than 20.
Upon getting ready to leave I attempted to unlock rear locker and just got the dreaded flashing light.
Did everything I could, backed up- backed up and turned both ways- backed up fast-
Relocked in and attempted to un-lock. Very solidly locked as when you turned one wheel would scratch or squall on the street.

Pulled into a parking lot and popped off the plug. Diff was very full, like almost overfilled. Lost a large amount of fluid. I knew there was a ring in there someplace but at first I could not find it.
Said screw it and put the plug back in. Really thought it would un-lock after a while of driving. Nope, no matter what. Drove off a curb kind of fast for the bump. Drove on some dummy dots for the vibration. Nope.

Got back under there and pulled plug again. Finally found the ring I was to press (far left side of hole back in behind cover.) Slight push and it moved smoothly.
Unlocked right away.

Jacked up both back tires, with motor off and key on I could lock and unlock and hear the clicks both from the relays and the locker.
Second/ third time I engaged it hung up again. Had to press ring to unlock.
Okay now what the heck?

I do not trust this thing and really do not want to have to pull the plug every time I need to unlock my locker.

Is there a trick to get a better quality lock and unlock from the ring? I know it is pressed back with a spring washer, can a stronger one be purchased?
Can a guy remove and polish the ring and mating surfaces to try to improve ring movement?

Anybody have any ideas?

Yeah I know ARB’s but not right now.
Will go Dynatrac’s before I dump any more money on these factory axels.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Sounds like the exact issue I had when we all wheeled Tillamook back in April.

Ever since that one hang up, it has worked perfectly every time. I was a bit nervous the first trip out, but it worked as advertised every time.

Having it jacked up in the air, doesn't quite exercise the locker mechanisms the same as under power with both wheels on the ground. I would probably pull the cover, make sure the ring isn't bent and there is no evidence of metal in the oil. Seal it back up, fill it up and go run it.

The factory lockers can be a little finicky.

And I'm with ya, a ProRock in the rear is ideal and a better place to spend the $$$ than building up the factory 44.

You know Morgan I was going to contact you and see what you ended up doing about the problem. Just did not want to bug you. I did go in and read some more of the Mauser thread. :thumb:
Thanks for the reply. If it was not for me watching you and (Jeff?) fight with yours I would have never even started to know about how to do that little trick.

So tonight I jacked it up and locked and unlocked that stupid thing about 20 times or more. Every single time now it just clicks in and clicks out as sweet as you would want.
I can just bet there is a big difference between loaded up as in wheels on the ground and unloaded.

Thinking back I might have only used my rear locker about 20 times total since new, and most of the time for just a few minutes.
Yesterday in the sand I had it on for at least 45 minutes and under a pretty good load. When I got the plug out and spewed oil all over me it was dang hot. Not smoking, but pretty hot. Like fresh out of the drain hole on a hot motor. I doubt that had anything to do with it but I wonder.

Going to go out someplace this coming weekend and run it some more. Kind of worried about going into the woods right now with the fire danger. Have a place we can go down on the river and get into some river sand/ gravel about 15 minutes from home. The dunes are like an hour and a half away.

Take care and thanks again.

Morgan is the locker whisperer.

Tree Frog said:

You know Morgan I was going to contact you and see what you ended up doing about the problem. Just did not want to bug you. I did go in and read some more of the Mauser thread. :thumb:
Thanks for the reply. If it was not for me watching you and (Jeff?) fight with yours I would have never even started to know about how to do that little trick.

So tonight I jacked it up and locked and unlocked that stupid thing about 20 times or more. Every single time now it just clicks in and clicks out as sweet as you would want.
I can just bet there is a big difference between loaded up as in wheels on the ground and unloaded.

Thinking back I might have only used my rear locker about 20 times total since new, and most of the time for just a few minutes.
Yesterday in the sand I had it on for at least 45 minutes and under a pretty good load. When I got the plug out and spewed oil all over me it was dang hot. Not smoking, but pretty hot. Like fresh out of the drain hole on a hot motor. I doubt that had anything to do with it but I wonder.

Going to go out someplace this coming weekend and run it some more. Kind of worried about going into the woods right now with the fire danger. Have a place we can go down on the river and get into some river sand/ gravel about 15 minutes from home. The dunes are like an hour and a half away.

Take care and thanks again.

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Not bugging me at all!

I would probably make the suggestion to avoid locking up for extended periods of time like that. Maybe an ARB would handle that kind of duration better, but the e-locker is just finicky to put it simply.

My practice has always been to only lock when you need and unlock as soon as you don't.

Rear diffs can get warm, even hot, but wheel speed is usually pretty slow when using lockers (maybe with the exception of mud and an occasional spot in the sand). So since you said the oil was hot, I'm thinking that wheel speed was probably higher (like you said 20 or so), but in those situations I'm thinking you could have been unlocked.

When I went to play down at Pismo, we were probably in the dunes a couple of hours, and I only locked up once to get up hill. Total time locked was probably 45 seconds.

If you find yourself stuck locked, do everything you can to avoid driving on pavement. That can be very hard on the differential and axles.

Good luck on the coming wheeling trip. I was a bit nervous first time out post Tillamook, but it worked great.

Speaking of Tillamook, hopefully we can do that again!

07JKSahara said:

Morgan is the locker whisperer.

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More like the Jerry Springer for lockers! You were ready to kick that bitch (axle!) to the curb and I don't think whispering was going to talk you off the ledge! :cheesy:

I can't really say much about the locker, as I haven't had to mess with mine yet. As for the oil spewing out, how much did you lift it while installing your Double Down? Maybe rotating the rear pumpkin up towards the trans to get the pinion angle right lowered the drain plug down below the "normal" oil level line? Just a random thought.....

Tree Frog said:

... Shifted into 4lo and locked up rear locker due to fine sand like flour. Went right in and rear locker engaged right away.
Ran around on dunes for about 45 minutes at speeds no greater than 20 ...

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you needed to let it cool off - you shouldn't be in 4lo and use your lockers in the sand, it causes too much wheel spin and heats up the oil and gears too much. you may not have gone over 20mph but the wheel spin would be greater.

best thing for sand is to drop your tire air pressure and keep it in 4hi.

if oil spewed out it was expanded from over heating. you may want to check your gear oil once it's cool and top it to the filler hole so you won't cause damage from day to day driving with the oil level too low.

I don't know what it is about the factory rear lockers...but a lot of them seem to do this. It happened to mine...for a while I could get it to unlock by putting it in 2wd and fish-tailing it a little bit on dirt. Ultimately, it stopped unlocking completely and had to replace it with an aftermarket one. I've never heard of it happening to the front locker. It seems more common with '13s too...that's what mine is. Anyway, I replaced mine with an electric actuated Ox locker and it's worked great. It may not disengage quite as quickly as an ARB (takes about 1-2 revolutions of the wheels), but it cost about half as much. In actuality, I would've done ARB but it would've required getting a new 35 spline axle for the rear as well as the cost of the stuff for the locker, compressor etc