Richmond Lock-right D30

Trying get a better understanding of how a lock-right locker will behave on the street. A good friend of mine with a 2000 XJ just took his Lock-Right locker out and replaced it with an Eaton E-locker. Now obviously if money was not an issue i would do the same thing but he is willing to sell me his Lock-right for 100 bucks.

Now the reason he took it out is for the same reason i write this thread, he absolutely hated it on the street and said his Jeep was virtually un-driveable. He said, it seemed that it never unlocked and was impossible to turn on the street.

I have read that if these are not installed within a specific tolerance that unlocking is an issue, i have also seen where Richmond gear is very explicit about driving/handling characteristic and driver input (basically changing your driving style). I had asked him about whether or not he measured the gap and he said no, so i have no way of knowing if it was due to the gap being out of tolerance or not.

This is a daily driver for now that we are hoping shortly we will become just a weekend vehicle. Plus my 5'2" wife drives it as well.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me.

Thanks

there was definetly something wrong, I tossed in a used lock rite in my 30, never had any issues in 7,000 miles locker was in a friends jeep for probley 20-30k both daily drivers. onle issues I had was turning into tight parking spots to fast besides that it was like it wasn't there

Thanks ROBZ95XJ, that's exactly the kinda of thing i have been reading but i like to hear things first hand from other users.

Had one in my 30 for many years, invisible in 2wd. Only thing I didn't love was in the snow when just trying to get around, its much nicer having a fully open front diff for DD around in the snow IMO but it wasn't horrible.

Likely the clearance wasn't correct.

With that locker, what locks the axles is the center pin forcing the inner halves of the locker out, which in turn locks the inner & outer halves together until either the power from the driveshaft stops, or one of the tires turns faster than the other (as in turning).

What allows the locker halves to disengage so turning is possible, is there MUST be enough clearance for the inner locker half to be able to fully disengage from the outer half, thus letting that side tire spin faster to allow the turn. If there is not enough clearance for the inner half to move towards the center pin far enough to clear the teeth of the outer locker half, it will never unlock.

Conversely, if there is too much clearance, due to improper installation, the locker may never lock, or not stay locked.

That's why most kits come with more than 1 spacer to help set the needed clearance up.