hi, wanted to add a tip about clearance problems. Short story (if you dont need the details) is I had to have my thrust washers ground down to achieve correct clearances.
Am installing an aussie locker in the front of a 7.5" IFS (torsion springs) gen 2 4runner, those are a lot like this axle write up (thanks btw!) in the details that matter here;
The side gear thrust washers coming out of my diff (required & reusable for the aussie) were apparently 2nd thinnest spec ( toyota offers approx .005" steps, four possible washers).
The locker clearances (spacer-to-pin, and also locker-to-locker) were both on the tight side. These clearances are adjusted by those thrust washers.
I obtained the next thinner thrust washers (pn 41361-30040 for an 040 max thickness), but these (which were at the HIGH end of thinner range, being .040"), being only about 003" thinner, were still just barely in Aussie clearance spec.
A call to aussie said, regarding the .006 to .020 clearance basically "center of spec range is best , a smaller clearance will be a tight locker (less prone to disengage) and a higher clearance will disengage easier" thus I presume better pavement manners. I have my questions on that since the spacer-to-pin gap only controls the axle gear to pin gap, and not really the cam'ing gear to pin ....but I'll go with that advice for now.
Since my rig is 90%+ street, I want less annoying chirps and grabs, so I didnt want a super-tight or "un-sensitive" locker.
With a limited selection of thrust washers ( ordered unseen, and received high toyo spec) and wanting to target center of aussie spec, I had my new thrust washers ground down by a head shop with a magnetic grinder.
Cost was $35 for both washers. When I got them back, they were VERY slightly potato-chip warped ( probably due to surface stress removed from one face without doing the other ...) but pretty 'flat' ie micrometer said thickness variation was under a few tenth thous ( 0,0001").
Installed and as expected, the clearances opened up to mid range for the aussie spec.
Have not run the diff yet.
These washers dont do a lot but slide between two surfaces ( one of which is not finely machined) and hold a spacing to tolerance, my old ones were quite polished from that slide action, so I dont now worry about loosing some heat treated surface in this application. If I am wrong, I'll hike out of the Sierras and let you know someday. I did lightly sand / deburr the ground side with some wet 600 paper, and I put the fresh ground side against the hardened locker, just in case there was going to be some break-in wear from the "rough" fresh surface.
Basic tip; if you want to target a wider gap target and dont have the correct thickenss thrust washer, try getting your thrust washers ground down.
Anticipating Q?s about excessive UNlocking at high spec clearances, I'll think this through, and assume you may not know how this locker works , just like I didnt before I got my maws on it;
when experiencing straight ahead motion, the differential pin naturally forces itself forward into BOTH the inner gears. Due to the slightly ellipse shape of the bore thru the inner gears, this CAMS BOTH THEM OUTWARD, which force lock-up into the outer or axle gears. Everything acts like a solid axle.
More power transmitted through (ie traction to either or both wheels) equals MORE and MORE lock up force.
So, the gaps don't matter much under that mode.
Its only when the outer / faster wheel (due to a turn, or even a loss of traction) naturally attempts to "over run" the differential, that the camming force is reduced on that faster side, which can allow the inner and and outer gears to slip apart due to the sloped teeth between them. The faster wheel then becomes UNlocked (there is only a small spring force holding them together, without the carrier pin camming them) and the turn can be accomplished without either wheel trying to slide.
Come out of the turn ( wheels again match speed, thus pin tries to drive & cam both L & R gears) and soon the UNlocked inner & outer gears find a mesh and resume lock up. Cool huh?
I have no idea how this will feel under "coast" mode, if there will be continual lock / unlock sensation due the mid-spec gap, but I am doing the front axle and I'll happily heed the "do NOT use 4wd on dry pavement" warning.
If you go wrong with the ground-down thrust washers and dont like higher clearances, it will set you back all of maybe $10 for parts and a couple hours to install some factory fresh ones.
