I had a locker go boom and had it replaced under warranty. While installing the new one I noticed the drive side axle had splines that were worn into sharp peaks. One spline was missing about 1/4" chunk too. Could the locker going boom have caused this or something else? I can try to post pics if need be. I was under the impression that the tolerance between splines left little room for slop....but clearly something has happened.

 

If I'm not mistaken, locker steel is tempered to the same hardness as axle steel. I would bet the locker splines were messed up too, which busted your axle.

 

It's not all that uncommon, I've twisted the splines on alloy shafts almost a quarter turn. But snapping the locker is hard on shafts and will often break them.

 

You can on very rare occasions have a locker or an axle that has messed up splines so they can have some slop and let the splines wear. When you replace the locker also replace the axle shaft and make sure that the splines are nice and snug.

 

I called to see if the company would warranty the axle with the locker since its likely one caused the other....but they wouldn't. Unfortunately, Eaton does not have a collateral damage warranty on the Detroit lockers. Yukon does which is ironic because that is what my axles are.

I had to bite the bullet and just buy a new one.