4x4mike's e-locker retrofit

[Robinhood4x4]

Oh that reminds me, one pitfall I had was not grinding enough of the notch out the first time. This resulted in not being able to unlock the locker because the shift fork would hit the housing.

[4x4mike]

I wasn't going to use the template as a guide to drill the holes. I was going to use it to get in the ball park and them slap the 3rd member on there. Then I was going to use the job as an excuse to buy some transfer punches. The punch will be the size of the hole in the 3rd member and have the dimple maker in the middle. Punch it and drill the hole for tap being used, I'm surprised other people don't do it this way.

[YotaFun]

^^^Hey, didn't I send you an elocker gasket to use or am I thinking of someone else?

you did, but I was already at the shop and hour a way doing the Homer D'OH!
and since it started to ice outside and the only other vehicle that was drivable at the moment was a 97 M3 I was like yeah....

I wasn't going to use the template to drill the hole like everyone is saying not to do, I was just going to use it for the cutting part, but again, I forgot it at home.

Lucky you on the leaks chris...
I have had one stud pop out already and another on its way, I practically have the bottom of the diff and motor covers in sealant that has held the leak back for now, But i hate it and I drive the truck like a ticking time bomb now till my DD gets back on the road

[Robinhood4x4]

That's exactly the way to do it and the way I improvise with drills instead of transfer punches. It would be even better to make a sleeve that guides the drill bit when you drill with the 3rd member bolted up.

[slosurfer]

I think I tried something similar. My holes seem to be centered fine, but seemed to not get it completely drilled straight since I wasn't using a drill press and nobody to let me know if I had the drill angled at all. I still got them close, but that one stud is really long, and therefore accentuates it even if you were just barely off on the angle.

[4x4mike]

I'm not all that jazzed about using my drill press. It's a nice press but the table is small and I'd have to build something to bolt on to the table to hold the housing. I'm thinking some level jack stands and my 1/2 drill that has a level in it. Nice and slow and hopefully straight. I did buy some rear diff armour though. It's flat on the outward side so I'm thinking that if I can weld it on straight I can lay the housing down 3rd member side up and it'll be flat and level (maybe brace the ends with some 2x4's)

[4x4mike]

Question for those of you that have done this swap. Was the gasket template accurate for the notch that had to be cut out? I put mine on, traced it and cut on the outside of the line so I knew I would have ground out enough. Problem is The amount actually needed was twice the amount I traced. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'm in the process of drinking my weight in beer. Bottom line I had to grind hella and it wasn't fun. I lit 2 t-shirts on fire (had them stuffed in the pumpkin) and used about 3/4 of a grinding wheel. It seems to be enough now but I'm not totally sure. I kind of only want to do this once so I thought I'd ask. The diff is a bit heavy to hold half way in for a measurement but the fork does clear, I just had to remove a lot of material (more than about 1/4" more than the gasket called for.

Pictures



Before the grinding. In the end the final notch went past the tapped hole about a 1/16".



Another question I had was how much to weld in.


It looks like quite a bit if I want the entire 3rd supported (that's a bit more than just the sealing surface). Does anyone have a picture of theirs after welding without the 3rd in?

This was on the floor (notice burnt shirt pieces)


This was on the magnets I had inside the housing (along with burnt shirt)


and the rest is in the housing, my table and on the work bench

I had to do most of the grinding with the garage door closed because I myself hate the sound of angle grinders grinding (so I'm sure my neighbors do) but also because there were some elders making their rounds and I wasn't in the mood for listening although I like offering them beer. Now I've got to purge this beer and hope the shirt fumes didn't screw me up for my ride in the morning.

[4x4mike]

So it looks like the guy everyone thinks is God didn't add much weld.

http://www.sonoransteel.com/phong/housing6.jpg

http://www.sonoransteel.com/phong/housing7.jpg

Should I be good with something like this? I was going to add more plus it looks like I ground out a lot more of a notch than he did. I'm worried it won't seal well and I don't want any leaks. Could the fact I'm using a Tacoma diff make any difference?

[Seanz0rz]

for the notch for the ring gear, i didnt do enough and now cant get my third out of the housing with out divine intervention. i also welded the area between the two welds he did, although im not positive its needed.

i used a taco diff, they are identical from taco to 4runner, though the housings arent (bracketry difference)

[slosurfer]

I don't think I had to remove as much metal as you did for that notch, I think mine looked more like that in the SS pics. Also, in his pics, that's how much I welded on mine. I made sure to put a healthy amount of RTV on when I installed it.