Man...I have certainly battled this demon! So I bought a set of built up Rubi axles a little over 3 years ago for my Sahara. Sleeved, trussed, and gusseted front 44 with LCA skids, factory Rubi locker, and RCV shafts. The rear had chromoly shafts and the factory Rubi locker as well. Both axles came with Riddler diff covers and Yukon 5.38 gears. We discovered that the rear locker wouldn't engage right after installation. A new Rubi locker was going to be a little over $1100. I told them that if I was going to spend that much more on it, what else could we do to beef it up even further. We contacted Auburn and got one of their 35 spline lockers for $650. So we put new chromoly 35 spline shafts, all new bearings, etc, along with the same Yukon 5.38 gear set.
Fast forward 3 years, 2 days, and 6000 miles. The rear locker gave up on me while down at Hidden Falls Adventure Park 5 weeks ago. I simply noticed that it wasn't engaging, and then started hearing some light metal dragging sounds about an hour later. The next day I pulled the diff cover to inspect and found that the outside of the ring gear had 90% of the teeth missing. Weird, as the pinion still had full bite on the middle of the ring gear. The damage had been done up to that point, so I cleared all of the debris, refilled with new gear oil, and continued wheeling the rest of the weekend without issue. Back to the shop 3 days later, 4WheelParts pulls it apart and discovers that the 6 allen head bolts that hold the locker case together had started backing out. The debris accumulated from the shearing of those bolts are what ate the ring gear up.
I asked about the warranty of the locker but they told me it was only 1 year, and anything over a 31" tire voided it anyways. I'm running 35's. However...I was then informed that I had paid for their "Extreme" warranty, and that stretched it out to 15k miles, or 3 years. I was over that by 2 days, but they went ahead and honored it. They told me that they would install all new bearings, gears, and the now upgraded version of that Auburn Ected locker for a total of $161.00. The old locker had a 2 pin locking design and the newer version is a stronger, 4 pin design and is made of a different, stronger material. It was also a little over a grand. That was a no brainer!! However...I am always about beefing it up! I inquired about the Dynatrac 60, and he told me he would be willing to credit all of the parts needed towards the new 60. I would've been out around $2000 for the upgrade, minus labor. The struggle was REEEAAAALL!! I've currently got a wedding ring fund going, so I ended up passing on the upgrade. Still can't beat $161 to rebuild the whole rearend! I'll be moving up to 37's after the wedding ring is purchased. Just Empty Every Pocket!!!
