What do I need to know about buying a OX locker?

I got a EZ-locker for now. Wanted a selectable later. This is my DD in Colorado. EZs no worky. I have $400 in it now with my Diff cover. Could try new carrier but got to set it up and no guarentee it would work. Thought about a Detroit. Have to set it up, and it has agressive road manners. Plus, if I get selectable I will have to set that up later. 4 wheel parts has OX with free cable for $775. This build is way over time and over budget. Thought about ARB, but no money for air. Was going to convert my AC later, but I have to stop spending money now. Wanted a Electrac, but even Eaton steered me away from them.
What should I do? What do I need to know about OX? How long of a cable do I need. What about cable getting hung up or smashed. Any experience or input is most appriciated.
I am so sick of this build. I just want to go wheel!!! Now I have to remove the EZ, put in spiders and get it warranteed. ^#$^@^^$%^$^ Sorry, rant over.

My bet is definietly to go with the ox locker. You get their awesome design which is stronger than any locker on the market right now and you get their heavy duty diff cover. Also if you shop around you can get a better deal than that 775. Check the vendor's forum.

Matt

matt6669 said:

My bet is definietly to go with the ox locker. You get their awesome design which is stronger than any locker on the market right now and you get their heavy duty diff cover. Also if you shop around you can get a better deal than that 775.

Matt

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x2.

matt6669 said:

My bet is definietly to go with the ox locker. You get their awesome design which is stronger than any locker on the market right now and you get their heavy duty diff cover. Also if you shop around you can get a better deal than that 775. Check the vendor's forum.

Matt

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http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=84907

Just be careful...sometimes you find a sweet deal on an OX, but they don't include the $100 cable, making that sweet deal not so sweet.

I like OX lockers and reccomend them all the time, but they have their quirks when setting up, that's for sure (D44 carrier shims don't fit the carrier properly, D44 case center section needs grinding for shift fork clearance...both not mentioned at all in instruction manual). Very stout and well made units overall.

I've look at a couple of installs and saw the grinding needed. Haven't checked out the details, but I am aware of it. What is the deal with the carrier shims? Let's be clear, you don't mean the bearing shims right. I have a mechanic friend that help with my gear install. He kept telling me about the shims, but then we found out my housing does not have them. You are talking about the thick "spacers" that go between the carrier and tube right.

Thanks for the replies guys. How do you protect the cable. I've seen some fabbed up guards. I might be able to come up with something. I don't weld but have friends. What about cable adjustment? Is it hard, picky placement. Does it have to be balls on? I've seen complaining on this issuse, but don't know if it is just people that don't know what they are doing, or people that don't have one that are just talking out their neck. Thanks

our deal does include the cable and when i make up the qoute i state that in our qoute because i know i've seen people do the bait and hook thing with people like that and we don't like that.

on the other note i just installed both front and rear ox lockers in my truck and this is how we did it, and this is how we had it done on our comp rig.

For the front since the cable will exit going towards the driver side of the truck, we routed the cable up the upper lca and then through a hole in the floor.

For the rear it'll be exiting through the passenger side of the truck so we went up and just tucked it in by the frame rails and then through the hole that conviently was there.

I will be back up at my shop on friday and saturday i will try to remember to take some pictures for you so you can see how we did it. I might be throwing together a small write up as i might of found a nice spot to mount the levers in a 98.


Matt

You are talking about the thick "spacers" that go between the carrier and tube right.

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The ones that go under the carrier bearings, between the carrier bearing and the carrier. It seems like the land and journal machined on the carrier for the bearings isn't squared enough (a little round at the base), making the shims stand off the carrier a little. It's only a problem when using set-up bearings...the shims act like springs under there, giving eronious preload and backlash measurements. The press fit of the new bearings has no problem squishing the shims down tightly. Just a heads up on something that's bitten me and my employee once each

bobnoxious said:

The ones that go under the carrier bearings, between the carrier bearing and the carrier. It seems like the land and journal machined on the carrier for the bearings isn't squared enough (a little round at the base), making the shims stand off the carrier a little. It's only a problem when using set-up bearings...the shims act like springs under there, giving eronious preload and backlash measurements. The press fit of the new bearings has no problem squishing the shims down tightly. Just a heads up on something that's bitten me and my employee once each

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Exactly. That drives me nuts. Several other lockers are also guilty......

bobnoxious said:

The ones that go under the carrier bearings, between the carrier bearing and the carrier. It seems like the land and journal machined on the carrier for the bearings isn't squared enough (a little round at the base), making the shims stand off the carrier a little. It's only a problem when using set-up bearings...the shims act like springs under there, giving eronious preload and backlash measurements. The press fit of the new bearings has no problem squishing the shims down tightly. Just a heads up on something that's bitten me and my employee once each

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Thanks for the heads up. I know exactly what you are talking about. Ran into the same problem on my true trac up front. I will have to check it out when I get it. Already have been thinking of pressing my good bearings on first to see where I land. I still have my set up bearings I used to do my gears. I could use those but they may cause more grief. If I use my shims that I have in now, press it, and measure my backlash, I should be able to get a good guess the first time. Plus I have a good press at work and good clean jaws. I shouldn't mess my bearings up taking them off.

Dirt Surfer said:

Thanks for the heads up. I know exactly what you are talking about. Ran into the same problem on my true trac up front. I will have to check it out when I get it. Already have been thinking of pressing my good bearings on first to see where I land. I still have my set up bearings I used to do my gears. I could use those but they may cause more grief. If I use my shims that I have in now, press it, and measure my backlash, I should be able to get a good guess the first time. Plus I have a good press at work and good clean jaws. I shouldn't mess my bearings up taking them off.

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Yup, good press and good bearing splitter, and it's no big deal...just takes a bit longer overall

Ordered to OX. If I would have planned this out I would have done the super with 33 splines, but I don't have the $ for alloys right now. I figure I should be fine. When I break a shaft, I'll buy alloys and have the other one as a spare. This should be fine for some time on 33s and 35s later. Thanks for the input guys.

I don't know if it is not PC to post prices. I wound up ordering from TRC Offroad on their sale. They are not giving them away, but I have never seen a lower price. So far so good. If you are in the market, give them a call. Yes cable is included.