Those with Air Lockers...Question

[Seattle206]

Those with ARB or TJM units...

Do you guys ever unplug the airline from the diff and air out any potential moisture/gear oil before hitting a trail or as routine maintenance? Asking because I have read(not on this forum) that people would unscrew the compression nut from the bulkhead and run the compressor for a couple minutes before plugging it back in.

I did this the other day, found and smelled no gear oil in the airline when I had it running.

Just curious to know what would cause gear oil to get into the airline; bad o-ring seals on the carrier or a bad solenoid on the compressor?

 

[wfo9]

Those with ARB or TJM units...

Do you guys ever unplug the airline from the diff and air out any potential moisture/gear oil before hitting a trail or as routine maintenance? Asking because I have read(not on this forum) that people would unscrew the compression nut from the bulkhead and run the compressor for a couple minutes before plugging it back in.

I did this the other day, found and smelled no gear oil in the airline when I had it running.

Just curious to know what would cause gear oil to get into the airline; bad o-ring seals on the carrier or a bad solenoid on the compressor?

My rear will get a little gear oil in the line over time when I'm using it often. The front never does...

I just clean it out twice a year and have never had an issue besides some oil mist blowing out the solenoid once when I did not clean it for a long time.

Once it starts.. the activation starts acting as a pump of sorts. The gear oil won't hurt anything unless it gets to the solenoid and even then it will most likely keep working. Just makes a mess.

If the o-ring was bad... it would most likely leak air (mine never has). I'm not sure what causes a little bit of gear oil to get in there. Cleaning the line is easy... Once I started cleaning it.. I have not seen it blow out the solenoid again, but there is some oil residue that comes out when I clean it. I usually run some alcohol through the line when I clean it.

 

[Jetboy]

Usually gear lube in the line means the o-ring has some sort of problem. It may be bad or starting to go bad. The o-ring is supposed to keep oil OUT of the inside of the ARB, and air inside. Have you confirmed that the locker is in fact working and you're not just pressurizing the axle housing? Second double check your breather to make sure it can exhaust pressure. Sometimes just the heat of running can build enough pressure internally to cause oil to seep into the ARB carrier. IIRC the rule of thumb is if your compressor is cycling more than a few minutes - you'd better plan on servicing the o-rings in the near future. If it's less than that it's acceptable leakage.

 

[Seattle206]

I haven't had any issue with my ARB yet. It cycles just once and holds pressure and keeps the rear locked. Once in a while, especially when I haven't used the locker or during cold frigid temps the compressor will cycle for a few/several seconds to maintain pressure. I unscrewed the airline from the diff because I was curious to see if I had any oil in there and found none. My ARB has been entirely reliable and probably of the most useful "off-road" mod I've done.