Detroit Locker help
 

I had a Detroit Locker installed in my 99 XJ with the 8.25 29spline rear axle about a year and a half ago. I need to replace the axle bearings but cannot get to the C-clips to remove them. I can't get the center pin out of the carrier to access the C-clips. The guys who installed it "don't remember" how they got it in there. The ring/pinion is 4.56. Eaton said to grind the teeth on the ring gear, but no one I know is comfortable doing that and it sounds like a bad idea to me as well. Any suggestions on how to get the center pin with the square-ish end out of the c-clip access window after removing the allen-head locking bolt? Thank you!

You shouldn't have to take the center pin out to remove the c clips.

My bad I just realized you said you have a Detroit locker.

Does one side of the pin have a flat surface machined into it? Usually the flat passes the gear.

on some axles, you do have to grind down the gear tooth some.....not an issue

Yes, you do, at least on the c-clip axles I've worked on.

Removing the center pin lets you push the axle in far enough to remove the clips...otherwise, they sit in a recess in the side gear....and you'll never get them out.

If they didn't sit in this recess, they'd literally fall out while parked if the c-clip was sitting with the c part down.

The center pin has a large square, kinda tapered but flat on the exposed surface, and it freely moves within once the locking bolt is removed. The large squared end is much bigger than the round pin itself, so it is hitting a few teeth on the ring gear before it is even a half-inch out of the carrier. After reading many forum posts around the internet and also some of the major gear manufacturers website info I'm not as leery of grinding a few teeth a tiny bit to get the needed clearance. It looks to me like as long as you stay away from where the pinion meshes with the ring teeth while grinding and keep the temps low it shouldn't compromise the gears. Anyone have any experience doing this?

Have you tried rotating the pin !/4 turn and push on axles I have seen pins w/flat in center. It begs the question how was it assembled without grinding a tooth?

Grinding the teeth is not at all uncommon. Just grind the tips of the toes down at the pin. Should only take 2 or three tips. You would have to grind a hell of a lot to get into the gear contact points. You can actually use marking paint and run a pattern on the gear to know how deep is too deep

How was it assembled? You would have had to grind teeth to install pin.

I wonder if it has a notched cross pin that needs to be turned with a big flat head in order to push the axle in just enough to get the c-clip out.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...690c811fd6.jpg

Very nice

That's fancy

A notch that big would affect locker performance I would think.

I know the guy who put my axle back together after I destroyed the housing notched the pin to clear the gear teeth, even tho I told him the ring gear was already ground to allow clearance and not to move it.

He notched so much out, the locker didn't work correctly, so I replaced the pin myself, and just ground down some more gear teeth, since he moved the ring gear (not sure why).