Monday, March 19, 2007

Locker

I had to burn up some roll over vacation days. Bonus came in just in time so I managed to buy the parts I needed to re-gear and install the electric locker. I went with the 4.88 gears. It should put me right back at stock RPM's with the 33's and make my speedometer accurate again. Weather went bad on me at the end of the week and it took me a lot more running around to get the needed parts then I thought it would.
Didn't get as far as I had hoped last week but I did finish up with the control circuit and the gear install tonight. It worked perfect first try! :victory: Here is the two articles I referenced for this mod: http://carterswebsite.com/4runner/mods/locker/
The control circuit is actually a little bit of a mix of the two main set ups from each article. I felt the control set up of the top link was the better design but I wanted the extra status lights of the second link. I really feel this is important because if you didn't get it fully unlocked you could damage the locker and without a disengage light you would never know.
The Green Status light comes on when fully locked. The red light lets you know that locker is in progress of locking and once fully locked the Red light goes off and the Green light comes on. The Yellow light lets you know that the locker is disengaging and once it fully disengages the light goes off.
I used a momentary switch but the circuit design uses limit switches and once it hits the limit of travel it cuts the power off by interrupting path to ground for the relay trigger. The dash switch triggers the positive. It should be fine with a standard single pole double throw switch. The Momentary (on) off (on) does add a little safety in that if you release the switch it also kills the positive to the coil. Still mulling it over. It would be nice to just flip the switch instead of having to hold till it completes its cycle but it only takes a few seconds to cycle. Tomorrow when I get home from work I will start yanking the axle out from under the truck and clean it up. If The weather holds and I don't have to work late I think I will have it all installed by the end of the week. Might even have time to swap in the front diff as well.