Soooo **** Detroit Lockers...

Hodgiemoto

Hodgiemoto

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2020
Messages
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So whilst at KOH this year we headed out for a night run up Full of Hate and hit the first major obstacle and heard the noise we all hate- BANG! Had no drive to the left front. Got back to camp and tore it down. Turned out the RCV let go. Got the RCV warrantied at the RCV booth (Kudos to those guys) and put everything back together.

Later that night we hit Turkey Claw and still had no drive to the left front.

Long story short I finally tore it down last night and had chunks in the bottom of the diff. Luckily the chunks didn't get caught in the R n P.

Same thing happened a few years ago when I broke a rear axle shaft. The shock load absolutely destroyed the detroit and subsequently destroyed the ring and pinion as well. Installed a grizzly locker after that.

Now I get to spend another $600+ for a new locker. Dang the luck I guess..

Is this a Toyota thing or have others experienced the same thing?
 
Been a known thing for a while.
Detroit's store so much energy, even more when you are using a fancy axle shaft like an RCV and when those let go that transfer of energy normally damages the Detroit.
The good news Detroit's are pretty serviceable and many places sell parts
 
welndmn said:
Been a known thing for a while.
Detroit's store so much energy, even more when you are using a fancy axle shaft like an RCV and when those let go that transfer of energy normally damages the Detroit.
The good news Detroit's are pretty serviceable and many places sell parts
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Hmm that's good info. So I guess rebuilding it would be a cheaper option then. Something to consider.
 
welndmn said:
The good news Detroit's are pretty serviceable and many places sell parts
Click to expand...

Eaton doesn't sell service parts anymore, so your only hope is finding NOS. That was the biggest driver to ditching my last ELocker.

For the OP, as others have mentioned, it is a well-known issue with Detroits. Grizzly lockers are a lot better at surviving broken axle shafts, but can also have the same failure every once in a while.
 
If you can/do rebuild it, and if it's anything like a d60 detroit, they are easy to take apart and I would highly recommend tack welding all the bolts on reassembly. I had multiple bolts come loose from the factory, then took it apart and cleaned it up, and had it happen again, and after that tacked every bolt including the ring gear bolts. Maybe it's less prevalent on the Toyota stuff, but I was told it's not uncommon for the bolts to come out.

1773071747450.png
 
I’ve obviously heard stories just like this but I’ve personally never ran a locker that wasn’t a Detroit and I’ve broken quite a few axles, u-joints and even an RCV and never had a problem with the Detroit. If I was building today, I would go with the Grizzly, maybe even a spool in the rear fwiw.
 
'84 Bronco II said:
Eaton doesn't sell service parts anymore, so your only hope is finding NOS. That was the biggest driver to ditching my last ELocker.

For the OP, as others have mentioned, it is a well-known issue with Detroits. Grizzly lockers are a lot better at surviving broken axle shafts, but can also have the same failure every once in a while.
Click to expand...
I've read some guys claiming they switched from Detroit to Grizzly and broke 3-4 shafts without destroying the Grizzly, but eventually, same sort of failure as the Detroits can have on the first break. Completely anecdotal...but the consensus does seem to be that it still happens with the Grizzlies....just not as often.
 
welndmn said:
Been a known thing for a while.
Detroit's store so much energy, even more when you are using a fancy axle shaft like an RCV and when those let go that transfer of energy normally damages the Detroit.
The good news Detroit's are pretty serviceable and many places sell parts
Click to expand...
Seems as if I had heard Detroits had no parts available about a year or so ago. Hopefully a bad rumor, but who knows in this day and age.
 
Ive also had the bolts back out that hold that case halves together. Every single one. Luckily I caught it in time. This was a Toyota V6 Detroit.
 
**** part is...a lot of times, there's not much other choice. I wish Grizzly had all the offerings Detroit does. I had to put a Detroit in a "8.4" Toyota diff and my D70U...only b/c Grizzly (at the time) didn't have options for those axles (they now have an 8.4 option).
 
Good luck finding parts. It's a paperweight now. Busted a rear 14 bolt and it took out the Detroit. I put a spool in its place.
Can you get rebuild parts for grizzlies? If so that's what I'll buy for the front when the Detroit in it let's go.
 
Hodgiemoto said:
Yea I'm not gonna mess around with trying to rebuild that POS. Found a Grizzly on Yotamasters for $609. Best deal I could find so far.

Anyone know of any other sources to try?
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East Coast Gear Supply usually has great prices. I got the Grizzly for my Jeep from there and it was half what everyone else was selling one for.
 
Last time I pulled my detroit the case was cracked at the pin. I put a spool in and it sucks but never breaks.
 
mobil1syn said:
ARB
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That’s one of the choices I will never run….ever. I see 10 ARB problems for every 1 Detroit problem. Sure maybe they’re small problems but it still causes the locker to not work. I pulled a rig out of Sledgehammer once that broke a front shaft…seized in the air collar and spun the air line breaking it off. End result, broken/non functioning ARB leaving rear wheel drive only.
 
I was always hesitate to run an air locker due to failure modes mainly due to air supply. I was able to get a used "Comp Zip" from a buddy. It defaults locked, you send it air to unlock. Since putting it in, I haven't had any problems. But I haven't had any problems with air supply to it, so there is that. But if I did, or something gets munched internal to mess up the air, it would lock. Mine is in a front 60. Not sure the availability for other axles, but know it is limited. Mayhaps an option?
 
From the homeland. I believe this was similar discussion. Iirc consensus was grizzly was better at handling shock load.

www.pirate4x4.com

Dana 60 Front-Locker low down- detroit vs spartan...

I'm sure this has been covered, but I sure as hell can't find much info on it, i've searched and searched. If someone can provide a quick link already here i will gladly delete this thread. I'm looking for some comments on the lunch boxer's for the 60. I want some real world experience on...
www.pirate4x4.com www.pirate4x4.com

I’m still of the mind set to run stainless lines with your arb and that solves 90% of the problems. If you pull the carrier out for any reason replace all the seals. Competition lockers are nice a few friends run them.
 
welndmn said:
Been a known thing for many, many, many years.
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Fixed it for you!


Sean said:
I've read some guys claiming they switched from Detroit to Grizzly and broke 3-4 shafts without destroying the Grizzly, but eventually, same sort of failure as the Detroits can have on the first break. Completely anecdotal...but the consensus does seem to be that it still happens with the Grizzlies....just not as often.
Click to expand...

Yes, Grizzlies are much better at handling the feedback from a broken shock.


DesertCJ said:
That’s one of the choices I will never run….ever. I see 10 ARB problems for every 1 Detroit problem. Sure maybe they’re small problems but it still causes the locker to not work. I pulled a rig out of Sledgehammer once that broke a front shaft…seized in the air collar and spun the air line breaking it off. End result, broken/non functioning ARB leaving rear wheel drive only.
Click to expand...

And 9 of those 10 were probably installer error.

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Tech Tim said:
Fixed it for you!




Yes, Grizzlies are much better at handling the feedback from a broken shock.




And 9 of those 10 were probably installer error.

1773171952531.png
Click to expand...
Does it matter? Guess how many Detroit/Grizzly installer errors I've seen? Been stuck behind a lot of ARB "Installer error" trail plugs over the years....lol
 
I broke the housing of a 8" Toyota Detroit a few years ago, the internals were fine just the housing broke. Went into West Coast Differentials here in town and tried to get a replacement part. They said they contacted Eaton and they don't offer replacement parts anymore. Decided to replace it with a Grizzly locker.

IMG_1369.jpeg


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