That is really funny, BucklenutZ. I've been running mine for several years all year round with no issues in PA. This past winter, however, I've been spending a fair amount of time on trails in Sproul State Forest and I've started having problems with more than my fair share of popping and banging. I was running 31x10.5x15 BFG AT's, sometimes with one set of chains and sometimes with chains all around. On a lot of the trails, there was between 8-12" of often hard-packed snow (from snowmobile traffic) and I also got stuck in 15" of virgin snow on the top of one of the mountains. With the snow packed that deep, getting anywhere often required a lot of wheelspin, even with chains. A couple of weeks ago I started to notice a lot of unpleasant noise coming from the rear when the wheels were spinning. I currently run an NP242 with a hack-n-tap setup. I get the noise and horrible clunking in 2wd, AWD, and 4wd, so I don't think it's the transfer case. I have an ox locker in the front axle and it works great all the time. I'm getting the rear clunks and bangs with or without it being locked, which is my primary reason for even mentioning it.
It suddenly decided to be spring here about a week ago, so I put on my fair weather (meaning my chains don't fit them) set of 33x10.5x15 BFG KM2's. They are a little heavier than the AT's. With these tires, the annoying problem has grown into a serious worry, because when I hit the gas in the snow now, I'm hearing noise almost constantly, and it sounds like the locker is almost completely failing because I hear a click click click noise when it doesn't simply bang which to me makes it seem like the pieces are ratcheting even under driveline pressure, which is the energy that is used to actually keep the system locked. I've tried going easy on the gas and I've tried going hard on the gas pedal to see if I could force it to lock up with increased torque to the cross pin, but it doesn't matter, the result is the same.
If all goes well, I will be going over the drivetrain tonight to determine if the issue I'm having is actually caused by a malfunction of the Aussie locker. Who knows, it may be something else but it really sounds like the locker to me.
If it is, it looks like I'm a minority among those who run these in their rigs. I can say that it's been a very faithful companion and although I love the ox locker, I don't have the money to install one in the rear as well. If I'm unable to determine where the noise is coming from, I may reinstall a Powertrax No-Slip that I used to use when I had an NP231 transfer case (because it was less harsh when driven regularly in 2wd--I drive almost exclusively in AWD now on-road). If I still have issues, I may have to dig out the spider gears and go open for a while.
I will report back when I find out what the issue is with my setup. I will check the various gap dimensions, look for obviously worn or broken parts, etc. If I have to replace the locker I will run the same kinds of trails and see if I still have the same problem. All in all, though, I have been very pleased with the Aussie locker and I'm hoping that it is not at fault.
--wavingpine11
