Air locker opinions

[montaillou]

@Montaillou. I'd look for a shop that has experience with installing a ARB in a Rockwell 2.5 Ton. They are popular in the 4x4 off road community. Having to "see" the locker, doesn't inspire much confidence...........but theres always beginners luck.

While I see your point, according to the ARB site you don't need expertise to install one. I don't want to have to take a day from work and drive a hundred miles and pay a premium shop that may not even have a lift that can handle a deuce.

Motor Trucks mostly work on 18 wheelers, buses, ambulances, etc. I sent an e-mail to the nearest 4x4 shop to me (60 miles away) and they haven't even had the courtesy to respond.

 

[cattlerepairman]

While I see your point, according to the ARB site you don't need expertise to install one. I don't want to have to take a day from work and drive a hundred miles and pay a premium shop that may not even have a lift that can handle a deuce.

Motor Trucks mostly work on 18 wheelers, buses, ambulances, etc. I sent an e-mail to the nearest 4x4 shop to me (60 miles away) and they haven't even had the courtesy to respond.

That shop will be comfortable working on things heavy and bulky and they certainly understand rear ends.

There appear to be a few things that ARB is not mentioning. I would at least provide that info to the shop...a random example is that you need to substantially grind out the casting on the inside of the pumpkin for clearance in two locations. If you don't know that you might be reluctant to take the grinder to the housing...

There is a good posting on the ARB install that mentions these points.

Providing that to the shop might save time and your money.

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk

 

[davidb56]

@ Cattlerepairman......that post deserves a triple thanks. It probably saved people dozens of hours and lots of frustration.

 

[davidb56]

@ Montaillou... I understand your situation...especially the part where if a shop cannot do a job, or has too much work, they should have the courtesy to at least call back, instead of just deleting a voice mail. Those are the shops that will not correct something under warranty that they have done wrong.

 

[davidb56]

send your shop this link.(if it works) https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?87548-ARB-Air-Locker-RD145-Install-Thread-Pics-and-Tips

 

[montaillou]

send your shop this link.(if it works) https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?87548-ARB-Air-Locker-RD145-Install-Thread-Pics-and-Tips

Looking at that thread is not filling me with glee.

I've started calling around hoping I might find a shop that has installed this on the deuce, if not I'll stick with my original plan and give a print out of that thread, and the locker (which has an included manual) to my shop.

There are some ARB dealers in my area, but after 1 call, I'm not confident I'll find one that will let me supply the parts and can work on something like the deuce, but it can't hurt to ask.

 

[davidb56]

Im likely going to do the front of mine next year. I'll have to get by with tire chains and winch this year for the snow. My problem is that I have 11/20's on the rear, so inside chains don't clear the trunion. BTW, at least you live within a hundred miles of a shop that will work on it. Im on my own here.

 

[montaillou]

So, an update.
I eventually had to go out of the country (fortunately I live pretty close) to find someone willing to do the differential work. I called probably a dozen shops in WA and most just weren't set up to work with a truck the size of the deuce and I only found one that admitted to working on Rockwell 2.5's. There was one shop that sounded promising, guy said he'd even installed ARB's on Rockwells about 15 years back but when I called them back they said they could do it, but didn't want to do something they don't usually do (wtf?) - that was Randy's Off Road.

The guy I did find is in Mission, BC called Enrico's Differential Solutions. He's was recommended to me by 2 other people (competitors) in lower BC and no one I'd spoken to had worked on deuce differentials but this guy was said to have worked on hundreds of ARB's. His shop wasn't big enough to pull apart the deuce so he set me up with Mid Valley Drive Train, a commercial shop near his that would rip apart the axles, give him the differentials then put everything back together.

So, apparently, while Enrico was working on the diffs he found something wrong, contacted ARB and they paid him to fix it as warranty work. He told me working on the Rockwells took a lot longer than any other ARB's he's done, so I'm glad I went with a pro - also I wouldn't have found the fault until something went wrong during operation. In the end he charged CDN$460 (~$350 US) for each diff. I asked him if he would rather not have me list his name on-line, I really got the impression that this was a PITA job for him, but he said better him than some someone that doesn't know what they're doing. I know he spent 2 days on the first diff, that was discovering the problem and communicating back and forth with ARB and probably a 3rd day on the 2nd diff.

Mid Valley has been busy so they haven't gotten back to finishing me up, they're keeping it inside and I know they want the bay back so I think I'll get it back fairly soon.

 

[davidb56]

could you find out what the actual warranty problem was, so those of us that are going to do it ourselves are aware.

 

[rustystud]

So, an update.
I eventually had to go out of the country (fortunately I live pretty close) to find someone willing to do the differential work. I called probably a dozen shops in WA and most just weren't set up to work with a truck the size of the deuce and I only found one that admitted to working on Rockwell 2.5's. There was one shop that sounded promising, guy said he'd even installed ARB's on Rockwells about 15 years back but when I called them back they said they could do it, but didn't want to do something they don't usually do (wtf?) - that was Randy's Off Road.

The guy I did find is in Mission, BC called Enrico's Differential Solutions. He's was recommended to me by 2 other people (competitors) in lower BC and no one I'd spoken to had worked on deuce differentials but this guy was said to have worked on hundreds of ARB's. His shop wasn't big enough to pull apart the deuce so he set me up with Mid Valley Drive Train, a commercial shop near his that would rip apart the axles, give him the differentials then put everything back together.

So, apparently, while Enrico was working on the diffs he found something wrong, contacted ARB and they paid him to fix it as warranty work. He told me working on the Rockwells took a lot longer than any other ARB's he's done, so I'm glad I went with a pro - also I wouldn't have found the fault until something went wrong during operation. In the end he charged CDN$460 (~$350 US) for each diff. I asked him if he would rather not have me list his name on-line, I really got the impression that this was a PITA job for him, but he said better him than some someone that doesn't know what they're doing. I know he spent 2 days on the first diff, that was discovering the problem and communicating back and forth with ARB and probably a 3rd day on the 2nd diff.

Mid Valley has been busy so they haven't gotten back to finishing me up, they're keeping it inside and I know they want the bay back so I think I'll get it back fairly soon.

I know it's hard to find a shop that can handle a Rockwell double reduction differential. Even when I was rebuilding them there was only a handful of shops in Seattle that would even touch them. It does take a day to completely rebuild one. The two speed double reductions are even more fun !

 

[montaillou]

could you find out what the actual warranty problem was, so those of us that are going to do it ourselves are aware.

When I asked about this his response was: "There is a seal, bonded piston seal, that may be defective. We replaced that in advance. Think of it as a recall."

 

[WhoMe08721]

I Did all 3 axles (ARB Locker) about 2years ago and it was the best thing I have ever done to the truck. The Job was not hard at all, the only thing I wish I know before hand was you have to grind the top of the diff housing for the new air diff.