1 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
1. Seriously, this is all involved in your average Spartan Locker; two inner gears, two outer gears, four springs, four pins and a new cross shaft. There was also a sticker, instructions and four small pins used for the installations. All you need is an open differential.
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
2. As Tyler Jones, Jeff Hautamaki, Derek Montgomery and Brad Hicks set to work to see which team could get finished first, the bustle in the shop was, well, hit or miss.
3 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
3. Tyler was on the move getting the hubs pulled from the front of the truck so that the shafts could be slid out.
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
4. Meanwhile, the back of the Trailhoe was being opened and drained by the likes of Brad and Jeff, only to realize the rear differential was not of the open variety. Instead, it was a factory clutch-style limit slip, which is not compatible with the Spartan Locker, or any style of lunchbox locker. This was the first headache.
5 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
5. Rather than give up, Jeff took his frustrations out on the rear axle shafts as we decided to continue. I found a solution from Kelowna Transmission who happened to have an open Dana 60 housing sitting on a shelf. Brad drew the short straw of going to retrieve it while the clock ticked on.
6 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
6. With the rear shafts removed and the drums taken off, we could screw the specially designed cutting tool onto the spindle and attach our drill. The carbide bit is tough-as-nails and some lube with patience were required.
7 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
7. Up front, the 30-spline Dana 44 open carrier had been released from it’s hold. The rust was a little disconcerting, but at this point, we risked it. With the 4.10 ring and pinion setup we had, the best course of action was to get the cross shaft out and remove the ring gear.
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
8. “Hey Jeff, how’s it going drilling those spindles out? Never mind.”
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
9. In the front, the factory spider gears were tossed, and the Spartan was installed as per the instructions. Our last step was to drive the roll pin back into the carrier and through the new cross shaft.
10 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
10. It’s a good thing when you need an extra set of hands installing the front carrier. Typically, this shows there is still some preload on the carrier bearings. Remember to get the caps and races back in the original position for longevity.
11 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
11. A brass or rubber mallet will do the job getting the carrier back in place. Do not use the bolts and caps to pull it into position.
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
12. After a good 10 minutes of drilling, the discounted ½” drill decided to let the smoke out. Again, a new plan of attack was required. A good point was brought up – if we could kill a drill in such a short time and we had much more to go, we may be better off with a rental.
13 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
13. As Jeff ran out for a drill for us to use, a delivery of a good, used open Dana 60 carrier arrived. As we were going to use the old ring and pinion on the new carrier, all we needed to ensure was in spec was the backlash and bearing preload. Fingers crossed we would catch a break.
14 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
14. Same as the front, all the new components – including a fresh cross pin – are included in the kit. We assembled the locking pins and springs into the case halves (to begin with).
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
15. With the new case ready and the ring gear bolted on, we started inserting the plates in the proper order. Once they were in, we like to install the cross pin, then pull the small needles that keep the springs and locking pins together.
16 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
16. The size and strength difference between the factory 30 spline and Yukon 35 spline shafts is immense. These shafts are a cut-to-length design, meaning we needed to make some measurements on the old shafts and mark them accordingly.
17 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
17. Jeff had returned with the expendable drill and went back at work drilling out the spindles.
18 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
18. Derek seemed to enjoy cutting the shafts down. Doing this on a lathe is better, but don’t even waste your time with a hacksaw, the steel is too hard.
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Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
19. The preload felt good and we had a backlash setting, which was within the Yukon’s specifications, so we were happy to torque the bearing caps back on.
20 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
20. Realizing the front end had been done for an hour or so at this point, it turned into a team effort to get the rear finished while we still had some time for a test run. The freshly cut axle shafts were sealed up with a little silicone and slid home after the drums were placed back on the opened-up spindles.
21 of 21
Bryan Irons
Locker Follies
21. Normally, you wouldn’t think that after being in a shop all day and reeking of gear oil would make us all want to get in the cab of a truck together, but wheelin’ changes people. The truck drove amazingly well on the street and now has life altering traction in the dirt.
Story & photos by Bryan Irons @bryanirons
We find ourselves entering every project with the highest of expectations and best of intentions. However, as the saying goes “some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the fire hydrant.”
You may think that after so many backpedaling endeavours that the bitter taste of crow would be discouraging from attempting another ambitious task in the garage. Well, Scottish stubbornness and brute ignorance for facts won’t keep us held back. Besides, if you had to swallow a jagged pill of reality and give up every time, we’d all be huddled in the fetal position calling for mamma.
This shop of dreams started with the intention to get our buddy Derek’s family trail bus – the Trailhoe 6000 – out in the woods with locked axles. The mid 1990’s leviathan left the factory with a front IFS system, perfectly suited for a dumpster and a rear that is nary strong enough to hold a paper towel roll.
Derek did the rig justice by swapping in a set of axles scored off a local craigslist ad, which was a Dana 44, 8-bolt front axle and a rear full float Dana 60. With unknown history and a tight budget, we didn’t want to dump a whole lot of coin into the unknown. The decision was made to simply stuff a set of USA Standard Gear Spartan Lockers in the axles, as well as upgrade the 30 spline factory shafts to beefier, 35 spline 1541H alloy units – all scooped from Randy’s Ring and Pinion.
The Spartan lockers are a sure-fire way to exponentially increase the traction derived from an axle with an open differential without the need to sell a kidney. Randy’s has them available for a multitude of axles and most are in stock and ready to ship.
The bonus for us is that they don’t require any specialized tools or setup, unlike many full case units and other “lunchbox” styles on the market. They simply engage machined, internal teeth together when under load to essentially “lock” the left and right axle shafts together. They also ratchet/open when little or no load is being applied to the drive wheels, making them seamless in the front of a 4x4 on the street when in rear-wheel drive. Granted, they are not the ideal choice in the rear axle of a short wheelbase, high horse power, standard transmission rig, but in Derek’s Trailhoe this won’t be an issue.
The major catch with this install is the rear axle. Dana 60’s can go from peanut prices to astronomical or at times, comically high. This one is at the low end of the scale simply because it is equipped with only 30 spline shafts and massive drum brakes. The brakes are a simple bolt-on kit swap, but upgrading from a 30 spline 1.31” shafts to a 35 spline 1.5” shaft setup involves boring out the hardened spindles to fit the new metal. Luckily, Randy’s ring and pinion sells such a tool, allowing you to bore the spindles out at home with a good drill and some spare time.
Taking a tally of where we were, we had our Dana 44 and 60 Spartan lockers, new Yukon cut to length 35 spline shafts, and a bunch of guys with time on a Saturday to kill. So, a “race of greasy gearheads” was plotted with two teams of two. One pair tackled the front axle, and the other took care of the rear. Yours truly figured that with the extra work of pulling off all the components on the front of the rig to get the carrier out would make up for the extra time needed to bore out the spindles of the rear 60. However, as previously mentioned, not all our plans go off without a hitch. Between burnt out drills, broken bolts, rusty guts, and a limited slip where an open differential should be, we were right on track for disaster and another episode of garage Déjà vu. Read on from here to see the roadblocks we hit and how we overcame them to help a buddy get a cool rig back in the dirt.
- Randy’s Ring and Pinion – www.ringpinion.com
- Yukon Gear and Axle – www.yukongear.com
- USA Standard Gear – www.usastandardgear.com
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