I recently installed a spartan locker into the front diff of my eagle wagon. I got my eagle in December and have used this forum on almost a daily basis during the build up of it. Figured I would contribute something back
. You guys rock! This is the most helpful, good natured, and useful group of people and information I have ever seen on the internet.
I used a Dana 35 C-Clip spartan locker in the
front diff. A dana 35 auto locker will fit in a dana 30 carrier no problem. I used a dana 35 locker because no dana 30's came with C-clips/poodle rings (from what I've found) and you need at least one c-clip/poodle ring to keep our front diffs together. I only installed the driver's side poodle ring - the passenger side intermediate shaft should be retained by the carrier cross-pin and passenger side axle flange shaft assembly.
The driver's side poodle ring need to be ground down to make this work - it fits inside of a spacer cup in the locker that has a 1.4" diameter, and the stock diameter of the poodle ring installed on an axle shaft is around 1.44". This can be accomplished with a dremel in 5 minutes. I installed a poodle ring on the driver side stub shaft, removed from the diff, and dremeled it until it fit the cup.
Why the front diff? I read about dana 30 vs dana 35 lockers and the XJ guys are of the opinion that a locked dana 35 will immediately explode if you lock it. That spooked me, plus I didn't want to deal with a locked axle during daily driving. In 2wd on any eagle, an auto-locker in the front diff is almost not noticeable, and with a front axle disconnect it is completely transparent.
Topic: Front axle spartan locker install (Read 1932 times)