E Locker motor repair

[corax]

Just as an FYI for anyone looking to take a couple broken/inoperative elocker actuators and make 1 good one. Externally they are the same, the housing and the gear that moves the the rack/shift fork are the same. Internally there are differences, so some parts may not swap back and forth. I'm doing this because a new actuator will run >$800, good used ones are near impossible to find, and Downey is no longer in business (no other cable actuated conversions that I know of ).

This is what I started with (see that giant corroded hole on the left one? Gotta love road salt in the winter)

You can start to see differences between the two here. Parts on the left are from the actuator on the left in the pic above. The shafts are different (same length at least), the one on left is a one piece with a smaller diameter pilot bushing on one end. The one on left also only has 1 coil spring (if you stack the 2 on the right, they end up being approx same height). How they operate is the same, on the right, the coil springs are installed opposite each other and engage the shaft directly. On the left, the single spring engages the collar on the stop pawl and handles twisty forces in both directions. None of these parts swap between the 2 styles

There's also a change in the worm drive from the motor itself to the big gear which turns the external gear. The one on the bottom is from the actuator on the left and has finer teeth.

Which also means the motor drive itself has a finer drive mesh on the worm gear

incidentally, the one on the left also had a motor magnet out of place which made it weaker (though the giant hole + 2 cups of dirt + corrosion is what ultimately killed that one)


So I decided to repair the one with the giant hole since the housing is (more-or-less complete). I took everything apart and wire wheeled the bejeezus out of everything to get mud/dirt/rust/corrosion out of there. Glued the motor magnet back in place, lubed it up really good and got it somewhat back together. The motor works, the gear turns and the contacts make good contact. Now I just need to fix the giant hole - I'm trying epoxy putty now. If that doesn't look like it'll hold, I may try 1/4" plate steel (drilled bolt pattern) with a machined bushing welded on for the drive gear shaft to ride in. Luckily, my friend/roomy/landlord has a lathe in his race shop. I'll update as I get frustrated.

[paddlenbike]

Interesting. Ten years ago I put a 1997 4Runner e-locker into my '94 truck. I noticed shortly after purchasing a 2000 4Runner with the factory e-locker that it seemed to lock and unlock easier. I wonder if the finer mesh on the gears is the reason. (I am assuming of course that the finer meshed gear is the newer design.)

[YotaFun]

Hey Keith,
Does it seem generally easy to take apart and R&R the motor?

I am wondering If I should go ahead and do that before I wire mine up to ensure that its clean and in good working order...

[corax]

Yeah, it's generally not that difficult, the hardest part is holding both brushes in while putting the armature back in place. Make sure parts go together the way they came apart, draw pictures or take photos if you have to.

I cleaned everything up with a bench mounted wire wheel (or dremel), including the part the brushes ride on. Made it very shiny.

[Robinhood4x4]

My high pinion one I installed a few years ago seems to lock and unlock pretty quick too.

[YotaFun]

I might tackle this,
I have to get the wiring harness together now that I have wires
Then test

[corax]

I got around to fixing the hole yesterday - used some extra fuel tank repair putty that I had laying around, clamped it to a block of wood (with tape on the wood to prevent the putty from sticking) and pressed the putty in as firmly as I could, later I used the wire wheel to smooth the back side a bit.

The "snout" that goes into the diff was broken off also, so after the putty set I pulled the snout back off and put a tiny bit of JBWeld on the broken bits and pressed it back into place. I clamped it to the diff to make sure that the snout was properly aligned while it set overnight

Finished product and ready for reassembly:



Now I just need to get a gear set for the rear, set it up, modify the housing, swap my front LSD into a 3rd with 4.88s . . .

[YotaFun]

You picked up that third from christain didn't you? Lol

looking good Keith, should be all set for fall crawl then.

[corax]

You picked up that third from christain didn't you? Lol

looking good Keith, should be all set for fall crawl then.

Yeah, I gotta actually swing by next week to pick it up. I'm just not sure I'll have this all set by the end of October - next couple weekends will be in WV cutting a construction entrance through the property and trying to get all that together. I was originally thinking of putting the 4.56 gear from my housing into the e-locker, but I'd still have to get a collar and set everything up . . .

[YotaFun]

yeah, so you'll be residing in WV huh?