How many have fragged an ARB in some way??

Well, I think I somehow managed to kill my ARB. I've never even wheeled it 'cause I don't have gears in the front end, which is why I'm absolutely dumbfounded.

We got about 3" of snow/sleet today so the roads were slippery. I was in a parking lot trying to drive up a mild hill with no running start and was having to give it some juice when all of a sudden the spinning tire caught(not hard, but definately found asphalt, no lurching 4' or anything). It made this nasty whirring sound right after it caught and then was fine again after that. I came home and went back out a few more times and didn't notice anything, but then as I was pulling into the parking lot this last time I noticed that it was acting like the rear-end was spooled up. Well since I never even got the compressor installed, I knew it couldn't be because the locker was engaged, so I figured something was amiss. Then as I was trying to park, with the wheels cranked to one side to get into the spot the back end starts sliding and then I start getting a NASTY clunking sound coming from the rear diff and the Jeep starts jerking/jumping in coordination with the clunking.

The snow isn't supposed to stop till tomorrow night and it's not supposed to be "nice" till Sunday, so I'm not gonna drive it until I have a chance to pull the cover. Any ideas on what I did?? Thanks

Ary

P.S. 8.25 29 spline

That sure doesnt sound good.Do you recall how many spider gears that unit uses?

what hill?

Who installed the ARB? The only ARBs I have every herd of blowing up where incorrectly installed or SERIOUS abuse, not peeling out in a parking lot with 33s.

I believe the ARB uses a total of 5 spider gears. One on each axle shaft, 2 on the carrier and then a 3rd one on the carrier. At lest this was the case on my Ford 8.8 ARB.

AARON

FitchVA said:

what hill?

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It's honestly just a gentle slope that goes down into a maintenance entrance for the engineering building(I'm drunk, and the name is escaping me at the moment :angel: )

Aaron, I BELIEVE it has 4 spiders, but I could be wrong, I really don't recall, it's been a while since I looked inside it.

Thanks

Ary

Ary'01XJ said:

Aaron, I BELIEVE it has 4 spiders, but I could be wrong, I really don't recall, it's been a while since I looked inside it.
Ary

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According to ARB's site: http://www.arbusa.com/ARB_air locker_differential_demo.htm

Its got 5 spiders but each diff might be different. I know my Ford 8.8 had 5 spiders.

AARON

I've seen one get fragged on the trail, it was an internal break, dunno exactly what it ended up being. The only other thing I remember hearing is that if it's a D30 ARB they have a tendancy to loosen the case bolts that hold both halves together (older ARBs). When this happens both halves of the case rotate & trash the internals. They have fixed the problem within the last year or so, but it's still a possibility. From what I was told, this problem only happened on D30 ARBs.

I fragged an 8.8 ARB, one of the old 2 side gear/2 pinion models. It had 4 years of serious abuse.

I broke a couple side gear teeth off, doing stupid shiat at high speed.

If you killed an 8.25 ARB in parking lot, open, something was wrong with the ARB, or your 8.25.

You may have broken a pinion tooth off of your 8.25 and had it wedge in the ARB case?

I drove mine with a couple of broken teeth floating around for about a week, and it made some nasty popping noises.

CRASH

Andy, I knew you had done that, I was hoping you'd chime in. Did ARB do anything about it? I thought I remembered something about them sending you the parts. I bought the locker more than a year ago, but it's only been installed since August.

BTW, it drives fine in a straight line, no jumpiness, like what I would imagine would happen with a broken pinion gear, only lurches when turning.

Ary

Yeah, that sounds like a broken side gear or pinion gear.

Nice, school parking lot carnage.

And I always thought the East Coasteers didn't get it.

ARB gave me the option of upgrading to the new, stronger model for $475, or replacing my broken parts (2 side gears and 2 pinion gears) for about $150.

Mine was WELL out of warranty, though. I bet if you explained the install date, they would be happy to warranty it. They are going to want to look at the parts, though. That SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. It's akin to breaking an open diff, on the street, which happens only under sever overloading conditions. Could be a bad forging.

Something else that may have gone wrong is the cross pin retaining the cross shaft may have backed out, allowing your croos shaft to flop out. Get under there and tear her open!

CRASH

It seems my Jeep has fixed itself I had to move the Jeep to get it into a dry parking spot so I could pull the cover, and it continued making the sound and bucking as I backed up, but when I started going forward it stopped. This surprised me so I tried to replicate it again by backing up and it won't do it anymore. I went for a short test drive and it's still not acting up again. Since I drove around in a circle for quite a while and hit a couple icy patches and spun only one tire and it still didn't do anything weird, I think I can eliminate the possibility of it being the spiders. That leaves me to believe I lost a pinion tooth. Gonna pull the cover this afternoon or tomorrow morning and have a look.

Ary

Yummy. Try driving in circles, if it pops, it's the spiders.

the 8.25 strikes again.

CRASH

Ary'01XJ said:

Since I drove around in a circle for quite a while and hit a couple icy patches and spun only one tire and it still didn't do anything weird, I think I can eliminate the possibility of it being the spiders.

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CRASH said:

Yummy. Try driving in circles, if it pops, it's the spiders.

the 8.25 strikes again.

CRASH

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My feeble brain skipped right over that. Sorry.

CRASH

CRASH said:

My feeble brain skipped right over that. Sorry.

CRASH

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S'ok, we all have those days, I was just trying to make sure I wasn't the feeble minded one

Has the ARB never been engaged? It is one of those things that should be used every once in a while to keep everything lubed. Other than that, most failures I have seen were the orings.
Dustin

Speaking of blowing up ARB's how durable are they? Like can they hold up to hard launches at a drag strip or being stupid with the gas petal? By the sound of it, Crash you have the most experiance with the Ford 8.8 ARB

Ary, sorry for the Hijack.

AARON

I broke a cross shaft in my old 44.
Paul

The old ones were stout. The new ones are way stout. The cross shafts are 7/8", the case is two piece instead of three, and it should hold any 31 spline shaft made. In other words, they tested the new generation ones with alloy axles (popular with the straight line, 1/4 mile types), and the axles were breaking before anything else.

The guy at ARB told me that the Mustang guys are running 750-800 hp, through ten inch slicks, and not having problems.

Four years of my right foot may have been an even bigger test.

CRASH

Andy, or anyone else, is it possible to break a pinion tooth and have it NOT be caused by a bad setup?? My gears have been noisy since day one, but I got 'em used from Dave Nay and he told me they were noisy, so I just figured it was normal. If it turns out that I did break a tooth, can this only be caused by bad setup? or can other things cause it too? Thanks

Ary