So I have some good news and I have some bad news...
The good news: After 4 years of saving, having to use all the money I had saved for emergencies - three times! - and an extra two weeks of waiting (see post #705 in this thread) I finally have an ARB locker in my front Dana 30 to match the one I have in the rear Dana 44, and while I was at it I also had chromoly front axles installed. Kudos to the guys at Desert Rat in Albuquerque, they got it done in an amazingly short time. Life is good, right? Not exactly...
The bad news: The front locker locks up as soon as I turn on the compressor and won't disengage after turning the compressor off - you literally have to disconnect the front air line to get the locker to release. Drove the guys at Desert Rat nuts trying to figure it out. I figured it out right away: it is my fault. Several years ago I built and installed a DIY winch/locker panel. Worked great and has a retro/aviation vibe to it. Somehow, in trying to simplify the wiring I evidently went too far. What worked quite well with only one locker isn't working at all with two. So now I think I'm going to have to ditch the retro look and reinstall the original ARB Carling switches. They have something like six contacts on the back of each switch, as opposed to the two on the old helicopter switches I was using. Gee, ya think the other four wires going to each switch actually do something? Fortunately, I didn't cut any of the original wiring, I just tucked the stuff I wasn't using up out of the way. A little redesign of the panel, hook all the wires up the way they should be, and I think I'll be back in the crawling business in a day or two. In the meantime I have my DD back, so it's not a total loss.
Next up: Install the CalTrend seat covers that just came in.