Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:35 am
Well, I finally pulled Sleepy's front third to see what had failed.
The locker failed!
It was not engaging fully and wouldn't hold. I thot it was funny that it worked so well for so long and then just failed. Shane and I looked it over pretty carefully yesterday.
We could see marks on the side gears where it had slipped. The marks were towards the center of the side gears, at the edge of the coupler. It's possible that the angle is slightly different between the side gears and the coupler. I'll check this out better later today.
I also noticed that the original thrust washers that I had moved to between the side gear and block were holding the side gear a little too far away from the coupler.
Remember how I said that I was gonna polish those thick new thrust washers before I put it together? Well, I got inna hurry and didn't. So they polished themselves.
Also, remember that I said the locker had much nicer manners than the one in my Sammi? I think that was a symptom of the locker disengaging to easily.
My take on this information:
I think the locker was working fine originally, but the clearances were right at the point of failure. As the thick thrust washer polished itself, it became thinner (I'm guessing by about .010") This allowed the clearance to open up just enough that the locker wouldn't stay engaged under load. If the angles on the side gear and coupler are slightly different, this would exacerbate the problem.
What I'm gonna do:
After a little more inspection today, I'm gonna put this thing back together with different side gears and move the original thrust washers back where they are originally, with the thick washer against the side gear and the original next to the housing. THIS time I'll take micrometer readings of the thrust washer thicknesses and post 'em here so's that they don't get lost in my clutter.
I'll get this baby working yet.
The locker failed!
It was not engaging fully and wouldn't hold. I thot it was funny that it worked so well for so long and then just failed. Shane and I looked it over pretty carefully yesterday.
We could see marks on the side gears where it had slipped. The marks were towards the center of the side gears, at the edge of the coupler. It's possible that the angle is slightly different between the side gears and the coupler. I'll check this out better later today.
I also noticed that the original thrust washers that I had moved to between the side gear and block were holding the side gear a little too far away from the coupler.
Remember how I said that I was gonna polish those thick new thrust washers before I put it together? Well, I got inna hurry and didn't. So they polished themselves.
Also, remember that I said the locker had much nicer manners than the one in my Sammi? I think that was a symptom of the locker disengaging to easily.
My take on this information:
I think the locker was working fine originally, but the clearances were right at the point of failure. As the thick thrust washer polished itself, it became thinner (I'm guessing by about .010") This allowed the clearance to open up just enough that the locker wouldn't stay engaged under load. If the angles on the side gear and coupler are slightly different, this would exacerbate the problem.
What I'm gonna do:
After a little more inspection today, I'm gonna put this thing back together with different side gears and move the original thrust washers back where they are originally, with the thick washer against the side gear and the original next to the housing. THIS time I'll take micrometer readings of the thrust washer thicknesses and post 'em here so's that they don't get lost in my clutter.
I'll get this baby working yet.