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Aussie Locker
Here's a pic of all the parts you will get with your Aussie Locker Kit
Use the square drive head of a 3/8" ratchet to remove the fill plug on your differential cover
Remove all but one (top one - leave loose) the bolts on your differential cover using a 1/2" socket
Carefully pull the cover off your differential and drain the fluid into a catch pan
Clean the internal components of your differential using brake cleaner
Remove your disc brake caliper bolts using a 1/2" socket
Zip tie your caliper out of the way
Remove the 3 bolts on the back side of the spindle using a 1/2" - 12 point socket
You do not need to completely remove your axles. You just need to pull them out about 6" or so
Remove the bearing caps securing your carrier in the differential using a 5/8" socket. Make a note of where each bearing cap goes
Using a pry bar and 3 lb. hammer, carefully remove your carrier from the differential
Using a Sharpe, mark your ring gear and carrier so that you remember where it goes
Place your carrier in a bench vice and remove the ring gear bolts using an 11/16" socket
Knock out the rolling pin securing the pinion shaft and spider gears in place
Remove the spider gears from the carrier
Make sure to clean and set aside the thrust washers for reuse with your Aussie Locker. Be sure to pay attention which side each one came from
Grease up all the Aussie Locker components. The grease will act like a glue and help to keep the parts all together
Please note that one end of the pins have a step and should be inserted accordingly
Insert the 4 springs into the cam gear using a small screw driver. Please note that the spring will be held in place by the step on the pin and recessed hole in the cam gear
Reassemble your ring gear onto the carrier, place it in a bench vice and torque the bolts to 80 ft. lbs. in a star pattern
Reinstall your carrier back inside the differential and torque the bearing cap bolts to 45 ft. lbs.
Apply a 1/4" bead of RTV around the mating surface of the differential cover
Refill your differential with 80W-90 gear oil, put your fill bolt back onto the differential cover and then torque it to 25 ft. lbs.
 
 
Aussie Locker by Torq Masters
Dana 30 Front Axle


Just about everyone and their mother knows that a Jeep TJ, right out of the box is one of the most capable (if not the very best) off road vehicle on the planet. Now, what if I told you that you could take a stock Jeep, throw about $250 (shipped to your door) at it and make it perform a hell of a lot better on the trail... would you be interested? Well, with an Aussie Locker by Torq Masters installed in your front Dana 30 axle, a hell of a lot better is exactly what you will get. The Aussie Locker is strong, amazingly quite, easy to install and will take you places you never dreamed your Jeep could go.


What You Need
• Aussie Locker - Part#XD-13027
• 2 - Bottles of 85W-140 Gear Oil
• Axle Grease
• 1/2" (12 Point), 5/8" and 11/16" Sockets
• Ratchet
• Torque Wrench

• Breaker Bar
• Standard and 3 lb. Hammer
• Flat Chisel
• Pry Bar
• 3/16" Punch
• Bench Vice
• Vice-Grips
• Floor Jack
• Jack Stands
• Wheel Chocks
• Zip Ties
• PB Blaster
• Oil Drain Pan
• Gasket Scraper
• Hi-Temp RTV
• 1 Gallon Milk Jug
• Brake cleaner (spray can)
• Hand pump or funnel (for refilling diff when done)


Installation
1. Open your Aussie Locker box and verify that you have all the parts indicated on the parts list. Also make sure that you have all the supplies listed above before you start anything. Then, park your Jeep on a level surface, engage your parking brake, chock your wheels, crack loose your lug nuts (but do not remove at this time), jack up your front axle one side at a time and then rest it on jack stands so that your tires are clear of the ground.

2.
Remove your front wheels and place them underneath your frame rails for added protection should your Jeep fall off the jack stands.

3. Place an oil catch pan underneath your differential and then remove the fill bolt on the differential cover using
the square drive head of a 3/8" ratchet. Next, remove all but one (top one - just leave loose) of the bolts securing your differential cover using a 1/2" socket. You may have trouble getting to a couple of the bolts due to the track bar right in front of it. Don’t remove the track bar! Put your jack on the frame and raise it an inch or two (remember, your jack stands stay under the axle)

4. Place a flat chisel between the differential and cover and then carefully tap it with a hammer until the cover separates just a bit. This may take quite a bit of “tapping”. Position the chisel in different places around the diff and tap it until is breaks loose. Then, Slowly pry open the cover and let your gear oil drain into the catch pan. Remove the last bolt on top and set your differential cover aside for now.

5. Thoroughly clean out the internal components of your differential using brake cleaner and a clean rag or paper towels. Pour your gear oil into a 1-Gallon Milk Jug and be sure to take it to your local auto parts store for recycling.

6. Remove the 2 bolts securing your disc brake calipers using a 1/2" socket. Then, pull off the entire caliper and zip tie it on top of your control arm so that it doesn't fall.

7. Now, if you look at the back of the spindle, you should see a total of 3 bolts (1 up front and 2 behind) that have a 12 pointed head. Remove these bolts using a 12 point 1/2" socket. Some PB Blaster and a breaker bar may be required to do this.

8. Carefully pull your axles out about 6". You do not need to completely remove them for this installation.

9. Okay, back to your differential. Remove the four bearing caps securing your carrier in the differential using a 5/8" socket. Please pay attention and make note as to where each of the bearing caps goes and in what orientation they need to be in.

10. Using the differential housing as leverage, place a pry bar between it and the carrier inside and then carefully tap it loose using a 3 lb. hammer. You just want it out enough that you can remove it by hand and not let it drop to the ground. Be ready to catch it! Some times the carrier is ready to fall out with minimal prying.

11. Clean up your carrier the best you can of gear oil using brake cleaner and a clean rag or paper towels. Put a plastic sandwich over the bearings at each end of the carrier to keep dirt out (use a rubber band to hold the baggie over the bearing). Place the carrier on a clean work bench and mark it and the ring gear so that you know where to put things back. Note - be gentle when you put the carrier in the vice. You don’t want to scratch the carrier housing.

12. Place the carrier into a bench vice with the ring gear bolts facing up and proceed to remove these bolts using an 11/16" socket. Remove the carrier from the bench vice and remove the ring gear from it. Some effort may be required but you should be able to do this by hand. If it doesn’t want to come out with hand pressure, use a rubber mallet (but do not hit the gear teeth!).

13. Set your carrier back on your work bench with the larger disc end up. If you look carefully, you should see a small hole that has a rolling pin inside securing the pinion shaft in place. Take hammer and a 3/16" punch and tap out this pin.

14. With the rolling pin out, you should be able to remove the pinion shaft and subsequent spider gears with ease. If the pinion shaft sticks, a couple of light taps of a hammer and punch should knock it free.

15. The pinion shaft and thrust washers will need to be reused so be sure to clean them up and check them for wear or damage. Set aside all the other spider gears, you will not be needing them.

16. Gather up all the Aussie Locker components, the pinion shaft and thrust washers and apply axle grease to them. The grease will help to keep everything together like glue as you assemble them together and into your carrier.



NOTE: Please refer to the diagram above before continuing so that you have an understanding of what is what.

17. With all your components greased, slip a thrust washer onto each of the Aussie Locker axle gear and insert them into the appropriate location of your carrier. Driver side thrust washer on the driver side and passenger side on the passenger side.

18. Now, if you look at your Aussie Locker cam gears, you should see 4 holes on the smooth side of each. 2 will be shallow and fully enclosed and the other 2 will be deep and partially open on the side of the gear. Insert a pin (with the stepped end facing into the holes) into each of the deeper and partially open holes on both cam gears. Once in, the pins should sit relatively flush to the surface of the cam gear.

19. Insert the Aussie Locker spacers into each of the cam gears (make sure that the flat sides will be facing each other once assembled) and then install them onto the axle gears (teeth to teeth) one at a time inside your carrier.

20. Once inside your carrier, rotate the Aussie Locker components so that the pinion shaft hole lines up. Then, slip the pins you installed earlier down into the holes on the opposite side cam gear. Using a small screwdriver, install a spring onto each of the pins as shown in the pic to the left. The step on the top of the pin and the recessed hole on the cam gear will hold the springs securely in place.

21. Slide your pinion shaft back through the carrier and Aussie Locker and secure it into place with the rolling pin you removed earlier.

22. Reinstall your ring gear onto the carrier being mindful that the marks you drew on it earlier line up. Then, place your carrier back into your bench vice and reinstall the ring gear bolts in a star pattern. Torque these bolts to 80 ft. lbs., again in a star pattern.

23. Clean up your carrier and Aussie Locker one last time using brake cleaner making sure it is free of debris or metal pieces, remove the plastic baggies from the bearings and then carefully reinstall it back into your differential housing. Make sure your bearing caps go back on the way they came out and torque the bolts to 45 ft. lbs.

24. Carefully slide your axle shafts back in, bolt them into place and then torque the 3 bolts down to 75 ft. lbs. Just to make sure everything has been installed correctly, go to one side of your axle and rotate your hub by hand. You should see that the opposite side is now rotating too.

25. Cut the zip ties holding your disc brake calipers, reinstall them and torque the caliper bolts to 11 ft. lbs.

26. Back to your differential, cover up your carrier and newly installed Aussie Locker with some paper towels and then proceed to thoroughly clean the RTV off your differential housing and cover using a gasket scraper. Do a good job here or else you will end up doing it again.

27. Once cleaned, remove the paper towels out of your differential, clean up any gasket debris and then prep the mating surface of it and the cover by spraying and then wiping them down thoroughly with brake or carb cleaner.

28. Apply a continuous 1/4" bead of RTV along the mating surface of the differential cover as shown in the diagram to the right and then, carefully place it onto your differential making sure not to move it around too much. Fasten the bolts in a criss cross pattern to 30 ft. lbs. of torque. It is very important that you do NOT over torque your bolts and installation of the cover should be done within a 5 minute after applying the RTV.

29. Now, fill up your differential with the appropriate gear oil recommended for your axle. I have a Dana44 rear end with a Trac-Loc which requires a special friction modifier to work properly. Most synthetic gear oils like Valvoline make already have it mixed in. Using a cheap bottle pump ($2 at PepBoys) will make it a lot easier to do this task. Keep filling your differential until gear oil starts to ooze out of the fill hole and then re-install the fill bolt to 25 ft. lbs. of torque.

30. Reinstall your wheels, jack up one side of your jeep and remove one jack stand so that one wheel is still up in the air. Go to this wheel and rotate it by hand. If you installed everything correctly, it should rotate freely. Do not be alarmed if you here a ratcheting or clicking while the tire rotates. This is normal for an autolocker and will be virtually transparent on the road. This clicking may be louder the first couple times you turn the wheel, as the oil has not covered everything yet.

31. Remove your last jack stand, torque your lug nuts to 95 ft. lbs., remove your wheel chocks and then take your Jeep out for a spin.

That should be it! You are now locked up and ready to take trails you would have never dreamed of and on your own power. Don't forget to take your gear oil into your local auto parts store be recycled and not dump it in the trash or worse. Please let me know if you have any questions.


Special Thanks
I'd like to give special thanks to Cliff for providing great additions to this write-up which ultimately have made it more complete.


Post Installation Notes
11/15/04
I've now had my Aussie Locker in my front axle for about 1,000 miles now and can tell you this. As far a auto lockers go, these are by far one of the most quiet ones I've seen. Inside my Jeep, they are virtually invisible and can only really be noticed when making a hard U-turn. I will be sure to post an update once I've had a real chance to test it out on the trail.

02/26/05
I've finally had a chance to really test out my new Aussie Lockers on the trail in Death Valley and in Anza Borrego and all I can say is WOW!! While this locker is virtually invisible on pavement, it has made my Jeep virtually unstoppable on the trail. My Jeep pretty much walks all over obsticals that would have required some effort in the past and has made it possible for me to take on ones that i couldn't have climbed over in the past. If you are in the market for an auto locker, I would highly recommend getting an Aussie Locker!!





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