hey, hows everyone?

I did a search before posting, hoping im not the only one having problems with my PowerTrax Lock-Right. Im not in no way saying its a bad products.. its holding up great in my '89 F250 10.24 Sterling, with 4.56 and 35's BFMudTerain's. The problem i am having is that the locker wont lock. I know it rachets when i turn a corner.. but i had to use 4x4 to get out my driveway.. no snow. It just racheted.. one tire would spin once and awhile.. but times were that both werent turning at all! Now, your wondering, i said snow, i live in Northern BC, Canada.. and right now its -35c (-20'ish F). the locker has been installed by myself, everything went smoothly.. it was a tight fit, about.. 3 months ago. Now.. im wondering.. its never been this cold since i put it in.. would .. could it just be to cold? that its not allowing the springs to hold it together? i hope thats all it is.. I tried contacting Powertrax today, but no luck.. i dont know.. have any of you guys hasd the same problem? or have any suggestions?

ya.. some of you might notice this is a double post. not everyone reads all the forum colums. im just doing it here and in the drivetrains section.

Thanks

 

Hey Man, I had a lock-right in the back of my 95 f-150. I lived in North Dakota at the time, temps pretty close to yours I guess. I never had a problem with it not locking but I also was running synthetic Mobil 1 gear oil in the rear end. If you are running regular gear oil maybe you could switch to synthetic and give that a try. Might help or might not but regular gear oil gets pretty thick in the cold. If you park in a heated garage this is probably not a problem, I had to park outside. I think Power Trax has been bought out by Richmond Gear. I need to call them also because i broke one of the springs taking it out when I moved to Texas. Not much snow here.

 

Ouch.. not good, breaking that spring. Hopefully you can get another.

Ya, thats what im thinking of going to do next time ive get a chance. Pull the cover, swap oil.. and check things out while im in there. Powertrax said that there's no possible way that both side can ratchet at the same time, but i know .. it did. more often then not, it was just one side.. im hoping that nothings wrong.

Also, on a different note, im looking into buying a simular year 1ton, for the drivetrain, swap it all.. tcase, driveshafts, front rear diffs, steering. not keen on regearing the front end.. agian, but the rear i can reuse my 4.56's, and the locker.. so thats coo. has anyone done this? will that .. i think, dana60 in the front fit.. as lonmg as the leafs are in the same place.. i dont see a problem. well.. not a big one

thanks for the reply.. great place for help and info

 

If you do see a one-ton you think you want for the axles, look for the tags on the diffs before you jump. I just bought a very used (189,000 miles) '93 f-350. I was considering lockers for it, so I crawled under and read the diff tags. The front X is clearly Dana 60. The rear is a Sterling 10.25. The 10.25 may be standard on the 350 for a lot of the model years. I am not sure when Ford started putting using the Sterling axles with the 10.5 ring gear; I think it was in the later f-350's and F-250 Super Duty's. I read somewhere that '99 and later rear ends were standard with disc brakes, which should be much be better, but will likely cost a lot more.

I am happy enough with the truck, I didn't have to pay a lot, and it's held up well so far. If I win the lotto maybe I can afford ARB's!