Alright guys heres my problem. about 4 months ago i purchased the new Auburn Gear ECTED electric locker/ limited slip. It worked fine for about a week and made it through one trip in the mud. about 3 days afterward only on right turns i expirenced a clunking sound from my rear diff that i can only describe as a slipping sound/vibration. I took it back to the 4x4 shop that did the install and it turned out that my limited slip was not engaging but the locker worked no problem. after negotiating for a week with the people at Auburn gear, then sent me a new replacemnt part for free once i sent the old part in. When i got the part, had the same 4x4 shop do the install, they found mud in the diff ans they suspected that the mud caused the limited slip to fail. also, the found that i had some bad berings including the pinion gear being loose. I paid for The berings and a master install kit and thought i had things fixed. Well today its back in the shop with the sane exact problem, and i havent been offroad since the second install. Im waiting to hear what they say the problem is this time, but im loseing money here. has anyone heard of this problem before? i inspected the ring and pinion for any teeth missing and didnt find anything. if anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

If you spent some time in the mud and sucked in any dirty water into the rear axle (the mud you mentioned) thru the vent hose it would explain ALL of your problems. The axle will have to be completely disassembled, cleaned, and ALL new parts installed including the ring & pinion. They have all been heavily damaged by the initial dirt and the steel particles broken loose from all of the worn parts. In other words the axle is totally trashed. Installing new bearings would not fix the problem. I am afraid that kind of damage is not covered by warranties, it is considered abuse. You can't drive into mud or water that is deeper than the vent hose and even then you want to avoid splash into the hose. Your vent hose is probably contaminated and full of dirt also. To drive in deep mud or water takes special prep work on the vehicle. Just installing a locker won't cut it. Your front diff may be trashed also.

 

so anytime i go into the mud and get some contamination my whole axle is shot. give me a break, i can understand this if afterwards it was never cleaned out properly, which is kinda where this guy is from his explaination. but in general just because you get some stuff inside doesnt mean the axle is bad, just need to go through everything after each outting. this should be done to both axles .
late

 

No, you do not have to got new axle components everytime you go in the mud. You do have to make sure everything is up to par when you do go into deep goo. You have an axle vent on the housing that allows air to expand inside the axle and escape so it does not cause leaks. This is one place where dirt can get into the axle. If this is not above the water/mud line, you can have bad problems. Most four wheelers run them inside of the truck for nice clean air. All of the seals need to be good on the axles as well or they will let water in. You need to check these as a source of the contamination.