E-Locker Disaster!

[adkinsadam1]

I had an e-locker retrofit done by RTI in Denver, and it worked great.

I had not used it for a couple months and recently needed it and it would not work, but luckily I had somebody tow me out of the bog. I still could not get it to engage days later and tried all the tricks but it wasn't working. I called RTI and brought it in and they fixed it. They said that there was rust in the actuator and they cleaned it out and re-sealed it. They gave me the car and the button was unlocked and so I started driving it and when I turned onto the road, the car seized up on me and I realized it was still locked. At this point I was driving straight down the road and pulled to the side and pressed the button to lock it and unlocked it again and heard a click. I assumed then that it was unlocked and turned on the music and drove the 100 mile journey home. The car felt weird sometimes but I didn't really think there was a problem. Then when I finally got back to my neighborhood I rolled down the windows and heard my tires squealing all the time, and I went around one turn and the car started to seize and I saw big black tire skids. I pulled over and realized the locker had still not unlocked. I fooled and fooled with it to try and get it to unlock, but could not. I was very upset that I had driving so far and at 80mph with it locked and wearing out my tires and the components. I finally managed to get it unlocked and called RTI. They told me to try and lock it again to see if it was just stuck and if it was working now, and it locked, but then it wouldn't unlock again. Now it is just stuck in the locked position again. I do not feel comfortable driving it locked. I don't want the wear and tear. Obviously it is going to need to go back to RTI but I don't want to drive it there locked, and I can't keep driving back and forth up there for 100 miles one way! I am so frustrated. I have a big mountain trip coming on Friday and the car is not ready. What should I do? Should I have it towed back to RTI? Has driving it on the freeway and all over the place with the e-locker locked been bad for components? I am very careful with my car, and this makes me crazy!

 

[BrandonF]

The only time it will put extra stress on your drivetrain and tires is when doing tight parking lot or city driving turns. Highway won't matter. Get it fixed but I wouldn't be worried about possible damage from running it locked for a little while.

 

[the great him]

take it back to them, have them redo it again, the guys are RTI are good guys, i know they know their stuff. i am surprised that this issue reoccured, but sometimes bench testing things is different than duty testing...

as far as it being bad or hurting your truck, dont worry. plenty of guys drive around will full time lockers in the rear, at most you might have worn off 1k miles of tire wear, at most.

 

[adkinsadam1]

take it back to them, have them redo it again, the guys are RTI are good guys, i know they know their stuff. i am surprised that this issue reoccured, but sometimes bench testing things is different than duty testing...

as far as it being bad or hurting your truck, dont worry. plenty of guys drive around will full time lockers in the rear, at most you might have worn off 1k miles of tire wear, at most.

Thanks for the response. I like the guys at RTI as well. I just think this was an unfortunate couple of mistakes. The only thing I wonder is how water got in there in the first place. Maybe it wasn't sealed right or maybe there was water in it when it was put in. I just don't know but I'm sure they're going to do me good and fix it so this doesn't happen again I am currently driving back up there right now.

 

[the great him]

Thanks for the response. I like the guys at RTI as well. I just think this was an unfortunate couple of mistakes. The only thing I wonder is how water got in there in the first place. Maybe it wasn't sealed right or maybe there was water in it when it was put in. I just don't know but I'm sure they're going to do me good and fix it so this doesn't happen again I am currently driving back up there right now.

talk to dylan if you can, he knows whats up with our 4runners and will do you good. i have a feeling that there was already water in it before they got it. there are not high tolerances in those actuators so there is room for water to work around in there and create rust. also those actuators are not that strong so it does not take much to jam them up, so a little bit of debris in there will do it. so if it rusted, and then they started manipulating the motor back and forth as well as the arm and everything else it could of just been disloging debris and yeah. it probably bench tested fine but the moving around of it from installing and then being driven on could of jammed it again and prevented it from unlocking.

 

[Brique]

Mind if i ask how much that retrofit set you back? My wife's family lives in Denver and i might be interested in getting one done someday when wet road trip out there...