ARB locker in Dana 44 is not doing well

GTERDN

GTERDN

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Hi and after my last wheeling trip in the LJ I just picked up, the front ARB Dana 44 30spline started clunking. It is primarily during left turn or as video shows, when turning passenger wheel.

I believe it's a dr117 or possibly 116 but previous owner didn't install it and no paperwork. My research here and other sites indicates it may just be the clutch and wave spring kit (pretty cheap) and hoping not spider set. I took cover off and didn't find really any material on magnet just small amount of muddy paste. And visually everything looks ok with no odd marks on any of the surfaces. Looking inside the locker thru the holes to the planatary set looks ok from what I can see but then I'm looking thru a small hole.

FYI The wushing noise is the wheel self balancers and not part of the ARB. And that's my honey helping out :)

Figured I'd post it here with a few pics for any input from others if u think I should expect something worse. Also and input on cost to R&R a front unit?

Thanks for your help and going into shop in a week hoping for a quick yet proper fix.

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It’s not the RD116 because you have the Rubicon thick ring gear. Whoever setup the gears was an idiot. See the right side carrier bearing cap, it’s turned 180 degrees from where its supposed to be.
 
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No it's old so no warrantee. Any input on if it could be the clutch gear or worse? Based on the noise I expected to see Chuck's all over.
I am having both front and rear inspected and front will being fully torn down to fix what ever is wrong.

Thanks for the points so far as I can see if facility points these out as well before committing.

Thanks
 
Hmm, looking closer at the right cap u are taking about I see it actually has a small piece missing by the yellow arrow. May not be root cause but certainly odd.
 
I see my video didn't upload first time so including here

 
GTERDN said:
Hmm, looking closer at the right cap u are taking about I see it actually has a small piece missing by the yellow arrow. May not be root cause but certainly odd.
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When it’s on correctly that notch is where the stock carrier actuator air tube goes. Here’s mine.
66005513-0E72-4957-B846-F160E50D6E49.jpeg
 
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Thanks for pic of correctly set up unit. I'll try converting an uploading. It certainly outlines the issue.
Thanks again
 
GTERDN said:
Thanks for pic of correctly set up unit. I'll try converting an uploading. It certainly outlines the issue.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Yeah, it wasn’t put together correctly. What else could they have missed? It needs disassembled, cleaned & inspected. And your preliminary guess at what’s wrong is spot on. They sell replacement wavy springs.
 
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Chris here is mp4 as suggested jusf a bit bigger but certainly brings home the point.

I tried to attach to original post but could not. I u get time can u move up there?
Thanks



 
Daryl said:
It’s not the RD116 because you have the Rubicon thick ring gear. ...
Click to expand...

Only if thick cut gears were used. An entirely fresh setup can use the rd117 and regular cut gears.
 
GTERDN said:
Hmm, looking closer at the right cap u are taking about I see it actually has a small piece missing by the yellow arrow. May not be root cause but certainly odd.
Click to expand...
When the factory installs the caps before the axle center section is machined to line up the axle tubes with the center of the bearing bores where the caps hold the bearings in, they take a letter or number punch and stamp the gasket surface and the cap. One side is always stamped differently than the other but if something like the letter L yours has is used, it will be the same orientation in both places on one side and a matching but different orientation on the other. That is used to tell the gear setter which side the caps go on and which way is up.

The "missing small piece" is not the problem, that is the notch to clear the factory air line in a Dana 44. The "problem" is the two letters L are not the same orientation.

Whether that caused your issue remains to be seen. The reason they are marked is the machining may not hit the exact center of the cap so it can't be flipped over. But, it could also be close enough that it doesn't matter, not ideal but not enough to cause a failure. The failure would also very likely be at the bearing, not the locker internals.

You mentioned facility, you did not mention which one. You might consider doing so just in case it is one we all avoid.
 
Take it our and take it apart. Very easy to do. I'll send you a link to a video I just replaced the clutch gear on. They run about $75. Some models have 12 coil type springs and others use a wave spring. Mine had the 12 springs and I replaced it with the wave spring.
 
jjvw said:
Only if thick cut gears were used. An entirely fresh setup can use the rd117 and regular cut gears.
Click to expand...
I have no idea which ARB he has. I know it’s not the RD116 because the pictures he posted clearly show a thick cut ring gear.
 
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mrblaine said:
When the factory installs the caps before the axle center section is machined to line up the axle tubes with the center of the bearing bores where the caps hold the bearings in, they take a letter or number punch and stamp the gasket surface and the cap. One side is always stamped differently than the other but if something like the letter L yours has is used, it will be the same orientation in both places on one side and a matching but different orientationThe "problem" is the two letters L are not the same orientation.
Click to expand...
B464532E-AD22-468F-B69E-6AA0CE5E4B1F.gif
 
Thanks Daryl for the additional details.
Although my old locker is not working yet, I have learned a lot from everyone's input and from my research. It's actually very interesting how the ARB design functions yet they kept it simple and well built overall. Neat stuff.
 
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