Locker Lever Replacement and Upgrade
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:13 am
So, I was out at the deer lease and leaving one of the gravel roads going into some water and muck and decided to lock in one of the differentials. I pulled the middle lever and felt some resistance. So, I did what most of us do, until we know better, and I showered down on the lever. It almost immediately became a free moving piece of equipment in my hands. You could move it with one finger and the locker wouldn’t engage. So, after reading up on this problem, I purchased the replacement parts, took everything a part, performed a post manufacture upgrade, and put the 4x4 lockers back into service. In my case I needed a new center lever and adjoining spacer (the one that contains the push rod connection) and a knob spacer. You will know what I mean after you read the post.
If and/or when this happens to you, hopefully this step by step guide will assist you.
First, you need to remove knobs on the locker levers. To do this take a “spanner wrench” also known as an adjustable wrench or “monkey wrench” and adjust it so that the wrench spans the lever but not the knob. Lightly strike the wrench on the underside and it should dislodge the knob. The knob is held on merely by a metal spacer that goes in between the inside of the wooden knob and the metal lever. Be careful as the knobs pop off and sometimes the spacers disappear into thin air. Thankfully I purchased two and only needed one.
After the knobs are removed, you can then unscrew the four screws holding the plate down that goes over the levers. After it is removed, you can then remove the two screws on either side of the face plate. They are compression screws and at some point the cover plate will lift off of the levers and open up the locker lever assembly to you. This is also where you will find the fluid reservoir, elbows, T and the master cylinders for the hydraulic system. This is a great time to replace these parts while you have the system open and flush the hydraulic system. Berger has two great posts on this and I won’t repeat them. My T looked like this when I got into the system:
Check out Berger’s post. Great information on replacement and flushing of the system.
The lever assembly while still installed looks like this:
Word of caution: when you are taking loose the cover plate with the locker lights on it, be careful. Use a Sharpee Marker to mark which wires go to which lights. Once you take them loose you may have a mess on your hands. It may take a while to sort them out. So, MARK YOUR WIRES first.
Then you can begin the process of taking the lever assembly out. It is held in place by two bolts/screws on either side. Note that there are lock washers with each screw. You will want to hang on to these so be careful when removing them. If you have trouble getting a wrench on them, you can pull the entire assembly out a bit with your hands to obtain enough room to take the bolts out. Just be careful you don’t crack any of the hydraulic lines.
First photo below shows a spanner wrench being used to remove the bolt on the passenger side. The next post will continue the thread.
If and/or when this happens to you, hopefully this step by step guide will assist you.
First, you need to remove knobs on the locker levers. To do this take a “spanner wrench” also known as an adjustable wrench or “monkey wrench” and adjust it so that the wrench spans the lever but not the knob. Lightly strike the wrench on the underside and it should dislodge the knob. The knob is held on merely by a metal spacer that goes in between the inside of the wooden knob and the metal lever. Be careful as the knobs pop off and sometimes the spacers disappear into thin air. Thankfully I purchased two and only needed one.
After the knobs are removed, you can then unscrew the four screws holding the plate down that goes over the levers. After it is removed, you can then remove the two screws on either side of the face plate. They are compression screws and at some point the cover plate will lift off of the levers and open up the locker lever assembly to you. This is also where you will find the fluid reservoir, elbows, T and the master cylinders for the hydraulic system. This is a great time to replace these parts while you have the system open and flush the hydraulic system. Berger has two great posts on this and I won’t repeat them. My T looked like this when I got into the system:
Check out Berger’s post. Great information on replacement and flushing of the system.
The lever assembly while still installed looks like this:
Word of caution: when you are taking loose the cover plate with the locker lights on it, be careful. Use a Sharpee Marker to mark which wires go to which lights. Once you take them loose you may have a mess on your hands. It may take a while to sort them out. So, MARK YOUR WIRES first.
Then you can begin the process of taking the lever assembly out. It is held in place by two bolts/screws on either side. Note that there are lock washers with each screw. You will want to hang on to these so be careful when removing them. If you have trouble getting a wrench on them, you can pull the entire assembly out a bit with your hands to obtain enough room to take the bolts out. Just be careful you don’t crack any of the hydraulic lines.
First photo below shows a spanner wrench being used to remove the bolt on the passenger side. The next post will continue the thread.