Question for those who have an ARB front locker.

[xonetruthcrewx]

I have both front and rear ARB lockers. When i have just the rear engaged the compressor will cycle every minute or so. Havent actually timed it, but its a while. As soon as i put the front locker in, the compressor cycles every 6 seconds. I have checked the air line and resealed the fittings and no difference. Is it possible that the leak is inside the diff.? How often does the compressor cycle when your front is locked? I didnt do the install on the lockers, had a shop do it. Anyone with some experience that knows all the connections and possible problem spots?

[bamachem]

you have leaks front and rear.

on the trail, i could cycle my rear locker on 8-10 times before my compressor would cycle on. same for the front. with the rear locked all the time, it was at least 15 minutes before the compressor would come on, if at all.

they can and do leak inside the diff. if it wasn't installed correctly, then the o-ring on the locker can leak.

[xonetruthcrewx]

Hmmm, thats bogus. I definitely figured that the front was leaking, but not the rear. The rear may not cycle that often, havent really noticed it. However, cycling the rear locker 3 times will cause the compressor to run. I do have the compact ARB compressor though. That may be the difference between cycling the rear and the compressor running if compared the the regular compressor. I wonder what the shop will say if i take it back to them and tell them about it, its been about 6 months. Is this something that i could check out myself? Like i said, i didnt do the install and dont know how the air line is connected in the diff.. I am plenty capable of doing any work on the rig, aside from setting up the gears/lockers. But checking it all out wouldnt require removing anything, just pulling the covers right? Or should i just take it back to the shop and see what they say?

[Bighead]

Has it been cycling like this since the install? The leak test that ARB has in the install instructions has a minimum time of 15 minutes with lockers engaged before the compressor cycles again. If you don't want to do it yourself, then maybe take it back to the shop and have them do a leak test.

[xonetruthcrewx]

Wow, 15 minutes with the lockers engaged between compressor cycles. Yeah, its never been anything close to that. I think i am going to go over everything once again just to make sure. Maybe the air line just isnt far enough onto the support tube. I just read that sometimes the air line dosent want to go onto it and the air line needs to be placed into a cup of boiling water to soften it up. If thats the problem i can take care of that no problem. Good thing i have a repair kit. We'll see. If none of that is the culprit, i will head over to the shop tomorrow and raise hell. Can anyone hink of any of problem spots? Is there anything below the support tube that could leak?

[Bighead]

The air line inside the diff could have been compromised.

[xonetruthcrewx]

As in the copper line? If so, that would clearly be an issue of bad installation.

So if i check all the outer lines thoroughly and nothing is leaking, its either a compromised internal copper line,

http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/arb/arb-67.jpg

or the o-rings.

http://www.stu-offroad.com/axle/arb/arb-69.jpg

and really with the lockers only being in the truck for 6 months, if the o-rings were bad, that would be due to a bad install also. Maybe them not lubing the o-rings during initial install? Man, i hope not. This shop came well recommended from Randys Ring and Pinion.

[Bighead]

The copper line in the pic was the one I was talking about. A cut copper line or a twisted or cut o-ring were the two possible internal issues given to me by ARB when I talked to them a few years ago.

Have you thoroughly checked the solenoid and compressor area for leaks?

[BruceTS]

the easy way to test if the leak is inside the diff is to listen to the breathers, you will hear air hissing if there is a leak, the front diff has a tendency to puke oil out the breather.

[xonetruthcrewx]

Alright, i fully checked everything out and i found the problem. When i checked before, i didnt fully check the front at the diff. I didnt feel like pulling off the heavy asz skid plate, so i simply listened for a leak from as close as possible. There i found the problem. I am going to blame this on install though. First off, the compresson nut was kinda loose. The support tube was bent a bit also. The main thing, the line had a small tear. Pretty sure it was like this from the time i picked it up from install. They did a real crappy job of routing the air line also. One thing i really dont like is where they drilled the hole for the air line. Its up too far and pretty much sticks straight out towards the oil pan. They should have put the hole a little further down. Oh well, it will be just fine and i did a way better job routing the hose. It should be good to go now. Tested it out and with both lockers engaged, the compressor did not cycle once in the 25 minutes i waited for it too. Thanks guys.

Bruce, very good way of determining if the leak is internal. :thumbup:

[Bighead]

The location of the airline is dictated by ARB in the install instructions. Does it look like picture 25 on page 4 of this pdf file: http://www.sonoransteel.com/ARB_RD90.pdf

[xonetruthcrewx]

Yeah, thats looks like it. Just dosent seem like the best location for it. But like i said, all is good and will be fine.

[d0ubledown]

get a 90* fitting in there. thats what i had to do when i installed my front. the location specified by ARB pretty much leaves about 1" of room, and yet they want you to stuff a 1.5" piece of support tube through there?!?! its a pain. it may not be the inner tube/seals, so grab a spray bottle of soapy water and hit that front outer diff connection once you've replaced that original fitting with a 90* elbow fitting...

my compact compressor cycles about every 8-10 minutes, but it doesnt bother me since its only the front diff which is locked for a minute or two max...

[xonetruthcrewx]

get a 90* fitting in there. thats what i had to do when i installed my front. the location specified by ARB pretty much leaves about 1" of room, and yet they want you to stuff a 1.5" piece of support tube through there?!?! its a pain. it may not be the inner tube/seals, so grab a spray bottle of soapy water and hit that front outer diff connection once you've replaced that original fitting with a 90* elbow fitting...

my compact compressor cycles about every 8-10 minutes, but it doesnt bother me since its only the front diff which is locked for a minute or two max...


Thats not a bad idea. If it gives me anymore problems i will definitely throw a 90 degree fitting on there. Right On.

[Cheese]

Wanted to clarify a couple things.

First, when locked, these are closed loops. If all you did was lock the diff, it ought not need to cycle to keep locked. If it does, there is a leak.

I can go half dozen rear engagements before the compressor cycles.

Also, the air has to go somewhere if there is a leak. Hissing from the breather is the easiest place to go, although it could try to push past seals.

[AxleIke]

One must distinguish between the various ARB compressors.

Cheese has the regular.

I have the compact.

My rear locker has such a long line that the compressor must recharge EVERY time i engage the locker. However, once on, the locker stays locked for HOURS without recharge. I can charge my front locker, a much shorter line, about 3 times before recharge. Again, once locked, it does not recharge.

[xonetruthcrewx]

In my 2nd post i stated that i had the compact compressor. :P Rear will cycle the compressor with two cycles of the locker. Front will cycle the compressor after two or three cycles of the locker. I have locked both and waited around for 25 minutes and the compressor did not cycle, so who knows how long it will actually hold pressure. Either way, all is good now. :thumbup:

[AxleIke]

In my 2nd post i stated that i had the compact compressor. :P Rear will cycle the compressor with two cycles of the locker. Front will cycle the compressor after two or three cycles of the locker. I have locked both and waited around for 25 minutes and the compressor did not cycle, so who knows how long it will actually hold pressure. Either way, all is good now. :thumbup:


Sorry, I wasn't clear. I saw that earlier and was not referring to your truck, but rather the estimates of when a compressor should cycle. The larger compressors will take more engagements before cycling. The compact will cycle more often. My point was to aid in trouble shooting. I saw that you have the compact, and wasn't sure if you had it figured out yet. Obviously the six second cycle wasn't right.

Anyway, glad it was worked out.

[Bighead]

Questions like these are why I always keep my install instructions.

[xonetruthcrewx]

No doubt. After we got into this discussion, i went out to the garage and found mine. I guess i should have looked for that first. Haha. Oh well.

[Bighead]

That wasn't meant as a dig on anyone...just an observation. That's where I got the info on the leak test for the old compressor I posted earlier. I was going to ask if you wanted a scanned copy but I forgot.