After several months of debating, weighing pros and cons, reviewing budgets and general head scratching. I bought an Aussie Locker and installed it with the old man a few weekends ago. It went right in, instructions were clear and concise. Sealed up the diff, filled it with gear oil and took it for a spin...
ugh, not fun. Turns out it wasn't the product for me. Way, way louder than anticipated. Corners, even with a slight amount of gas, were not pleasant. The back lash was terrible, shifting into reverse made a loud metallic thunk that turned heads in the parking lot. After a bit of back and forth with Aussie Locker tech support we resolved that everything had been installed correctly, but, we were at the upper end of the tolerances. And apparently tighter is better on these things. Wish we had known that during installation, we kept the original thrust washer since the jeep only has 20k, and we were within tolerances...
So we were faced with the conundrum of installing thicker washers and hoping that a couple thou would drastically improve the manners, or, take out the Aussie and put in a different lunch box locker (Like the Powertrax NoSpin which, given the advice here, I should have probably opted for in the first place. But I thought I could go cheap and the click-click would be okay), or, bite the bullet and pay to have a selectable locker installed.
Well the Aussie had to go, and rather than waste another whole day (I really am supposed to be studying) and take a mod step backwards by returning to an open diff. I decided to cut my losses, do it right, and try an
Auburn Ected...
There were several things that attracted me to, and made me settle on the Ected. Primarily, the price, at $550 it’s the least expensive selectable locker that I know of. Also the Ected is a limited slip when it’s not “locked” which seems like a bonus and actually achieves its locked state by mechanically compressing the clutch pack. Which seems like it would offer a certain amount of smoothness that could benefit my “fragile” Dana 35 axle. Auburn is a fairly well respected company and also offers a complete replacement program for $100. The Dana 35 Ected just came out a month ago but other Ected applications have been around for years.
I was able to get a good price from
4wheelersupply.com and lined up MIT in El Cajon to do the install. They were pretty amenable with me trying to save money where ever possible; installing the locker that i bought elsewhere, letting me supply the gear oil and removing the labor for the wiring from the install cost. I took the jeep by last Friday (when I should have been heading out toward Yuma to rendezvous for the Black Mountain trip). Dropped it off and walked to the nearest borders book store where I camped out for most of the day, reading those expensive Land Rover mags and studying for my next exam.
Well, so far so good, the rear is tighter now than it was stock and it’s totally transparent on the street. The locker itself and the thoroughness of the wiring and components exude a degree of quality. I have yet to do the wiring (I’d kill for a free weekend) but am looking forward to testing out on an expo trip soon!