Ford Factory E-Locker Teardown (and some discussion)

[david85]

I just found something interesting: "Eaton E-Locker 4"

Dana 60 ELocker for Dana 60 & 70 | West Coast Differentials

Dana 60 ELocker - Faster, Stronger, Smoother. The new "Direct-Acting" Dana 60 and Dana 70 ELockers are here! Selectable Electric Locking Differentials.

www.differentials.com

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It seems to use a very similar design to the sterling. The mechanism works by grabbing the back face of side pinion gear. Only real difference is Eaton put the mechanism opposite to the ring gear. Everything else is nearly identical, including the short travel, and larger number of locking elements (possibly to compensate for the short travel?).

They make a point of saying that it "Does not disengage when shifting from forward to reverse and vice versa".

 

[u2slow]

They make a point of saying that it "Does not disengage when shifting from forward to reverse and vice versa".

Probably a '1-up' type statement against the torsen style diffs and Dana powr-lok.

Toyota and Nissan have (had?) electric lockers. I don't believe they disengaged on direction change.

 

[Coopons]

Excellent write up! I like they way you took it apart and showed the internals. I'm running one in my 96 stroke that I rear axle swapped with an 09 10.5. But I never actually took mine apart to see how it worked. I also just have mine wired to a relay and switch. Side note I payed $400 for a used unit from my local wrecker.

 

[david85]

Old thread but wanted to add the part numbers for the OEM style connectors. Once in a while someone sends me a PM with questions and this came up a few times. Probably a few more that were wondering and never messaged, so here it is.

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The top black connector is integral to the actuator solenoid. I don't know if its available separately.
Middle is the Differential through hole connector (black): AU5Z 14489-AAA
Bottom is the Exterior Harness connector (green): 2U2Z14S411BB

Google those OEM ford numbers and you'll get plenty of hits. I got the middle connector on Ebay, while the bottom one came from Rockauto.

 

[03wr250f]

where did you put your passthrough?
i would love to see that
I added a cable passthrough that is waterproof
about where the factory one should have been

 

[david85]

where did you put your passthrough?
i would love to see that
I added a cable passthrough that is waterproof
about where the factory one should have been

I show the hole and pass through setup on the installation thread: https://www.oilburners.net/threads/factory-ford-e-locker-install.92000/

First version leaked, but the second version with steel plate and cork gasket is holding.

It's a really tight squeeze to get the pass through fitting to work on a housing that wasn't designed for it. I ended up drilling the hole just a smidge too far forward, where the connector interferes with the side rib of the diff housing. But I was still able to make it work. I've submerged my axle a couple times since the conversion and never had water intrusion issues. Stopped having gear oil in the drums as well, now that I opened up the vent fitting slightly ( kept clogging and pushing oil past axle seals from the thermal expansion).

 

[Aaronbbcr]

Hello
2004 f250 4x4 CCSB compounds blah blah blah.
Ive been running this diff (ford e-locker) for a few years . Street high hp, it just failed on me this last weekend. It was disengaged and I hit a high speed one leger hopping on the freeway . It was not locked but it was locked a mile or two earlier. Either way when i got off the freeway and made hard turns i herd grinding and banging noises and could feel the locker locked.
I opened it up and verified it is de energized and it still is locked. No visible damage at all. I assume a gear piece broke off the locking gear or slide gear and is jammed behind the slide gear holding it locked. Im looking at grizzly and Detroit lockers right now. Any suggestions . To be fair i use it on the street for launching and playing around. I cant definitively say it was weak or a bad design as Im sure I was abusing it far beyond its intended use .once i pull it out ill determine the failure point.
I will say moving forward I will not recommend it for my type of application.
.

 

[david85]

I don't claim to be a big expert on lockers in general. But in general, lockers and burnouts tend to break parts. Limited slip like a torsen allows both wheels to break loose, without the axle hop that often happens with a solid locker. The trouble with a solid locker (including a spool), is they always have some slack (spider gears, axle splines), which allows the axle hop to happen more readily. Once the hopping starts, the locker splines get slammed back & fourth repeatedly until they start to deform.

Having said all that, I like the Ox locker design because of how much area the splines have, compared to other designs. I liked it so much that I bought one for the front axle (not installed yet).

 

[Black dawg]

Even open diffs will lock up like that if you one wheel peel them hard enough. Be interesting to see if it was a partially dis engaged type failure or just over sped the carrier internals.

 

[1tonFtoy]

Any idea on the torque specs for the bolts that hold the case halves together??? I have one that the pinion went out on. Got metal everywhere and I want to tear it down to inspect and clean if usable. Can’t seem to find torque specs for the bolts on the case halves for re assembly?

 

[david85]

I couldn't find any torque specs at the time either. I ended up looking at the bolt size and grade, then looked up a close match from a standard lookup chart for metric bolts. They have red loctite from factory, so don't forget to do the same when you reassemble.

From what I recall, it was also a very odd size. Something like 11mm? So even finding a generic torque spec was a bit of a challenge.