Ford 9″ Locker Install (Part 6)
Clean the axle housing and mating surfaces.
Make sure you get everything out of the axle housing. Metal chips can interfere
with the locker. We used black rtv for our gasket seal. Just rtv the housing
and then lift the 3rd member into place. Once up there put a few bolts
on to hold it and add them all, then torque them down. My helper was about
to kill me when I asked him to dead lift the 3rd member. I recommend using
a jack if you can, or use a strong helper to lift it.
Now reinstall the axles and tighten the flange bolts,
install the drums and tires. Just as a test, we spun one wheel and watched
the other wheel. With spider gears one wheel will go one way and the other
will go the other way. Both wheel now spun the same way; this is a good
sign. Now install the drive shaft (keeping the marks lined up). Another
test is with the vehicle in neutral, rotate the wheels back and forth.
They should randomly unlock and click as the tires move. The is the easy-unlocking
characteristic of the Lock-Right.
Now its time to add the gear oil. The thicker gear oil
will keep the noise down so we opted for 85-140. If you are going to use
the vehicle in very cold weather you will need to use thinner oil.
It is now just over 7 hours and we have it all back
together. Time to see if it really helps.
Before we did the install we tried to drive up into
the front yard from the street which has a gradual slope for 8 feet or
so then a vertical climb of 12″. We attempted to take it at a 45-degree
angle so only the driver's front tire would climb. The van had no success.
The left rear tire (which was sitting on the dirt just spun while the other
right rear that sat on the asphalt just sat there). With the locker installed
it just climbed up w/out a problem. The tall first gear made the engine
lug but it climbed now problem. Once up, we stuck a rock in front of the
left front tire when the right front hit the vertical climb. Now both tires
are in the dirt but after a little tire spin (both spun) it climbed up
the 12″ vertical climb and the rock that was in front of the drivers front
tire. In our opinion this was a great investment.
Now we will see how it does in the real world.
