GM 9.25" IFS ARB AIR LOCKER

[FellowTraveler]

I've been running an ARB locker for the GM IFS 9.25" since back when they were first introduced for the GM 9.25" IFS DIFF and just did 'O' ring, bearing and seal replacement topped off w/AMSOIL.

With an air locker gear lube will spit out the differential vent when carrier air engagement hub 'O' ring (s) gets excessive wear and leaks air pressurizing the case, there is a purge valve manifold that can be installed to relieve the pressure after 4wd use but replacing the 'O" rings is the only real fix.

I love the true 4x4 of front & rear lockers............

 

[Will L.]

Oh yeah. Just play nice trying to turn with'em locked in.

 

[FellowTraveler]

Oh yeah. Just play nice trying to turn with'em locked in.

Yep, that can be a bi_ch at times but overall one needs to consider that you can't just turn lock to lock and at other times not at all however stuck become less an issue..........on another note w/NP246 it's an issue near full lock turn when is diff is 'unlocked' too I do plan an NP241c that will end that binding when unlocked of the ARB then a Gear Vendor soon.

 

[Will L.]

Good plan, that will be a good combo.

 

[FellowTraveler]

Good plan, that will be a good combo.

The Gear Vendor will give a 240:1 final gear ratio in double over-drive over the 308:1 final of the 4L80e rpm's at 70 mph will be 1,833.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I've got a 241 transfer case in the shed. And do not waste the money on a gear vendors unit. Been down that road, and what a friggen nightmare. It created a HORRIBLE critical speed vibration in the drivetrain that I could not correct. I could move the speed where it occurred, but never get rid of it. The ONLY thing I didn't try was an aluminum driveshaft. When I ran it on stands, I could watch teh driveshaft and exhaust reach a point where they matched in resonance, and you wouldn't have believed how much the shaft and exhauts could vibrate. Broke the rearview mirror off the windshield from it vibrating at 65 when I was on a 5 mile test drive with it.

 

[Will L.]

I've seen that a couple times before. Have the gears in the gear vendor balanced. Took us for ever to figure it out the first time- lucky for us the owner was mega rich and wouldn't take no for an answer. Second time we saw it, tried it first and fixed the problem right away.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I've seen that a couple times before. Have the gears in the gear vendor balanced. Took us for ever to figure it out the first time- lucky for us the owner was mega rich and wouldn't take no for an answer. Second time we saw it, tried it first and fixed the problem right away.

I find it hard to believe 3 different gear vendor units all had the same issue. They sent me 3 units to try, I tried 5 driveshafts, they sent me 4 balanced yokes(slip and fixed), I tried changing pinion angles, and so on, and all I could do was to change where the vibration happened. After I was finally done fighting it, they decided to quit returning phone calls to me for my refund, and that is how I 1st found forums. A post at DP and a FORD powerstroke forum back in 04 when this happened, and within 24 hours my cell phone was blowing up from the owner of the company calling me back wanting to get it taken care of. It's funny how 3 months of ignored phone calls, and no call backs got rectified after about 20 different people and a few links to the message boards came out and was brought to there attention. So you couldn't pay me enough to try one again after how they did me. I did get most of my money back, but I was still out for the driveshafts and all the yokes they had me buy chasing a vibration caused by the instalation of there unit. In that time frame I managed to find one other diesel BURB with a gear vendor in it, and he was selling it because of the vibrations and gear vendors not willing to take it back.

 

[FellowTraveler]

I've got a 241 transfer case in the shed. And do not waste the money on a gear vendors unit. Been down that road, and what a friggen nightmare. It created a HORRIBLE critical speed vibration in the drivetrain that I could not correct. I could move the speed where it occurred, but never get rid of it. The ONLY thing I didn't try was an aluminum driveshaft. When I ran it on stands, I could watch teh driveshaft and exhaust reach a point where they matched in resonance, and you wouldn't have believed how much the shaft and exhauts could vibrate. Broke the rearview mirror off the windshield from it vibrating at 65 when I was on a 5 mile test drive with it.

I call dibs on that 241 I'll pm you.

I've heard of this vibration problem before and have seen driveshaft fixes but never from anyone who had the bad experience themselves. I have to do more digging into this and wonder if a divorced unit would be better suited for a Burb.

I've seen on Burb w/a divorced unit & NP246 and added circuit to prevent operation of gear splitter when autotrac is engaged that was an eye opener since back in the day Gear Vendor stated they would not even make a kit for the N246 or claim a divorced gear splitter would work w/the ABS interface just claimed it was too much a liability to do it......

 

[FellowTraveler]

I've seen that a couple times before. Have the gears in the gear vendor balanced. Took us for ever to figure it out the first time- lucky for us the owner was mega rich and wouldn't take no for an answer. Second time we saw it, tried it first and fixed the problem right away.

Interesting planetary gears balanced what does that take & how deep a pocket needed? Would another x-member help, or?

 

[FellowTraveler]

I find it hard to believe 3 different gear vendor units all had the same issue. They sent me 3 units to try, I tried 5 driveshafts, they sent me 4 balanced yokes(slip and fixed), I tried changing pinion angles, and so on, and all I could do was to change where the vibration happened. After I was finally done fighting it, they decided to quit returning phone calls to me for my refund, and that is how I 1st found forums. A post at DP and a FORD powerstroke forum back in 04 when this happened, and within 24 hours my cell phone was blowing up from the owner of the company calling me back wanting to get it taken care of. It's funny how 3 months of ignored phone calls, and no call backs got rectified after about 20 different people and a few links to the message boards came out and was brought to there attention. So you couldn't pay me enough to try one again after how they did me. I did get most of my money back, but I was still out for the driveshafts and all the yokes they had me buy chasing a vibration caused by the installation of their unit. In that time frame I managed to find one other diesel BURB with a gear vendor in it, and he was selling it because of the vibrations and gear vendors not willing to take it back.

Man, what a bad experience I suspect if their install shops do the install it's on them or do they even have install facilities anymore? I do see install pricing on their site well over a G note for my Burb.........Anyway, you have me seriously rethinking the whole idea of a Gear Vendor after reading this maybe a simple under & or over gear box between the t-case and transmission will be better I just don't know and little or no info is available to really know.

 

[Will L.]

I agree 100% of their customer service is about the worst you can imagine. I spoke with my brother in law who was my old business partner owning that truck equipment shop to make sure I was remembering right- I wasn't. The two that we had bad, one had an imbalance of the input shaft. The other was an output yoke that was the cause. We were an installer for the local vendor when they got overloaded with work. Back then they said they had never seen a bad one.

We installed about 10 units over 2 1/2 years, and had 2 bad ones- almost back to back. QC problems I believe. They sell a lot that people never have problems, but when they do it is always just like Ferminator's situation-a frigin nightmare. Such limited competition that they don't care when they piss off people.

Yes we always added a crossmember, so did the local vendor on their installs.

If you do put one in, have it installed. They worm their way out of warranty any time they can. I'm betting Ferminator- did you install yours yourself and they kept blaming everything you did?

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

They didn't blame me for doing it myself(probably because at the time I still had my ASE certs and DODGE certs for all areas of vehicle repair, so couldn't say I was a weekend warrior when I was a certified tech), they ended up saying it was my trans causing it after months of them blaming my drivetrain. I finally got a fixed yoke bolted onto it, left out the rear driveshaft, locked it in 4X4, and took it for a drive. It STILL vibrated, so I said enough was enough. They wanted me to fab up my own crossmember and mount to try before they would refund me, but I was already out so much in driveshafts and everything else I was done with it. I did get it to where I could run up to 68(shook me to death at 70 though), and ran for a few miles like that. My milage at 68 without the GV was 18, with it was just shy of 20, so there really was no reason to keep it in as I wasn't seeing a fuel savings with it.

 

[Will L.]

A crossmember would not have fixed your vibration problem.

One customer came in with one he mounted himself that had a bad vibration from pinion angle, first thing we did was throw in a crossmember - as an outfitter we had a pile of them, so it was about 25 minutes for us, and free metal. Made it worse, which means he would have probably cracked his trans down the road from vibration.

A crossmember makes everything more solid, and will move any issues, not cure them. The torsional and horizontal loading was our concern.

 

[FellowTraveler]

They didn't blame me for doing it myself(probably because at the time I still had my ASE certs and DODGE certs for all areas of vehicle repair, so couldn't say I was a weekend warrior when I was a certified tech), they ended up saying it was my trans causing it after months of them blaming my drivetrain. I finally got a fixed yoke bolted onto it, left out the rear driveshaft, locked it in 4X4, and took it for a drive. It STILL vibrated, so I said enough was enough. They wanted me to fab up my own crossmember and mount to try before they would refund me, but I was already out so much in driveshafts and everything else I was done with it. I did get it to where I could run up to 68(shook me to death at 70 though), and ran for a few miles like that. My milage at 68 without the GV was 18, with it was just shy of 20, so there really was no reason to keep it in as I wasn't seeing a fuel savings with it.

I thought after reading many of your posts you had all the skills & then some & in light of your information on the under/over I'm in a total rethink mode now.

 

[FellowTraveler]

A crossmember would not have fixed your vibration problem.

One customer came in with one he mounted himself that had a bad vibration from pinion angle, first thing we did was throw in a crossmember - as an outfitter we had a pile of them, so it was about 25 minutes for us, and free metal. Made it worse, which means he would have probably cracked his trans down the road from vibration.

A crossmember makes everything more solid, and will move any issues, not cure them. The torsional and horizontal loading was our concern.

I've seen double u-joint assemblies spaced close together on extreme angle driveshafts think anything like that could be a fix, or? Anyway, I'm somewhat apprehensive about the GV now & rethinking the whole idea.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I've seen double u-joint assemblies spaced close together on extreme angle driveshafts think anything like that could be a fix, or? Anyway, I'm somewhat apprehensive about the GV now & rethinking the whole idea.

I pretty much ruled out driveshaft issues of any kind when I left the rear driveshaft out, locked it in 4X4, and took it for a drive and it STILL did it. It was at a different speed, but it still happened. They blamed my transfer case until I came up with receipts showing I had just replaced my rear case half, then it was me until I sent a copy of my certs showing what I was factory trained to do, then finally it was trans and I needed to build a crossmember to support the weight. That was when I put it up on stands, spun the tires up to 55 where it was doing it at the time, set the cruise, and crawled under it to see what it was doing(I know not smart, but I was at my wits end with it). When I crawled under it you could see the exhaust and driveshaft matching resonance, and they were both shaking along with the frame rails in a few spots. So tha was when I was done with it. I had already tried different mounts, poly and rubber, and everything else they could suggest to throw at it, so I just wanted out of it. I've used them in other vehicles with no issues what so ever, but never again in a vehicle with a shorter 1 piece rear driveshaft will I try one again.

 

[Will L.]

I've seen double u-joint assemblies spaced close together on extreme angle driveshafts think anything like that could be a fix, or? Anyway, I'm somewhat apprehensive about the GV now & rethinking the whole idea.

The problem is that each time I have heard of anyone solving a GV issue, it is never the same, and always a nightmare to deal with the company. Seriously either don't do it or just pay a shop, with a credit card that you can reverse charges for lack of service incase they have issues and cannot solve them.

 

[FellowTraveler]

The problem is that each time I have heard of anyone solving a GV issue, it is never the same, and always a nightmare to deal with the company. Seriously either don't do it or just pay a shop, with a credit card that you can reverse charges for lack of service incase they have issues and cannot solve them.

I'll most probably not do the GV seeing other nightmare stories on the web and I don't want to be just another one of those fail stories.

 

[FellowTraveler]

OK, been out of pocket for awhile so now back to finishing the front differential.
The axle flanges that go into the differential have metal c-clips to hold them in place I went to GM/CHEVY dealer for the clips and the only ones they stock are .072 thick however I have one that was installed being .092 thick for the drivers side I suspect this thicker one is to prevent the axle flange from slipping out of the differential while driving which is what happened on the way home from AZ. and the bump stop kept it from slipping out more.

Any of you versed in why different thickness c-clips?