Installing an Eaton E-Locker into an Eagle Dana 30

[The Dark Side of Will]

After seeing & hearing about the way a friend's H3 Alpha w/off-road package works with a dual factory e-lockers, and the fact that it's a 5000# vehicle with an Isuzu 7.x" front diff, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for an e-locker in my Eagle's front end.

I ordered a 19817-010 from Summit. This is an Eaton E-Locker 4 for Dana 30 with 3.54 and numerically lower ratios with 27 spline axles.
I only later learned that it's an E-Locker 4, which means that it has 4 spider gears.
I bet it doesn't work with the Eagle 2.35 gears...

I pulled the cover off the 3.54 Dana 30 I'd *JUST* overhauled (in this thread: http://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=43409.0 ) with zero miles on it and popped the Poodle ring off the left stub axle and pulled it out. I started inspecting things to figure out how the whole shebang would go together. I had known before this that I'd have to remove the bearings from the stock carrier. I didn't think there would be a way to remove them without destroying them, and there wasn't. I'll just have to get new carrier bearings.

Then I noticed that there would be NO WAY to install the poodle ring into the stub shaft once the stub shaft is inserted into the E-Locker. Ooops.

Brother Google informed me that Jeep never used poodle rings or e-clips on the left axle. The Dana 30 was only ever used as a front axle, so it always had steering and front hub hardware holding the left axle in place. Jeep used clips on the intermediate shaft in the right side of the diff, but only as an assembly aid. The intermediate shaft goes to the disconnect box, where the outer axle pilots into it. The right outer axle is retained by the steering and hub hardware just like the left axle is. Jeep eventually altered their assembly process such that they didn't need the clip on the intermediate shaft and left it out.

Ok, so I can safely leave the clip off my intermediate shaft, BUT the Eagle stub axle REQUIRES the clip. Without the clip, the plunge in the inner CV joint could allow the stub axle to slide out far enough to disengage from the splines or the outer bearing or even the seal and dump my gear oil.

I figured out how to take the unit apart. The ring gear flange is split in its own plane. The piece with the right carrier bearing journal is a light press into the main housing. There are a pair of torx 6x1.0 screws that make sure the two halves don't separate. After removing those I noticed two other 6x1.0 holes that did not have mates in the other piece. I correctly concluded that these were for jacking screws to split the two halves.

Once you know that, taking the thing apart is fairly straightforward.

Here's the E-Locker next to my assembly:



Here's the lube hole in the side of the main housing, and through it the tiny gap between the cross-pin block and the side gear.



Here's the "back" of the unit. You can see both the retention screw holes and the jacking screw holes.



Jacking screw operation... easy enough.



First step of disassembly... On the right is the side plate and the side gear thrust washer. The marcel spring that keeps it from locking unless you want it to is at the top of the stack on the left.



Marcel spring and side gear now on the right. On the left you can see the locking collar (darker gold), the four spider gears and the cross-shaft block (lighter gold) that supports the two stub cross-pins off the main cross pin.



A closer look at the locking collar and right side gear



A closer look at the 4 spiders and the cross pin block. You can ALSO see the three pins that push the locking collar into place.



Pulling the three screws in the cross shaft block results in being able to do this:



And now we get to the good stuff.
This is the left side gear. You can see the 8 slots that drive the dogs on the locking collar. In three of them are holes for the pins that move the locking collar. You can also see the four lubrication holes, one of which I pointed out above. Since there are three pins on uneven angles and four lube holes, one of the lube holes does not have pins on either side of it. It's the lube hole on the left in this photo. The cross-pin holes are at the "corners" 45 degrees off the lube holes.



Since there are no pins to interfere with, I can SLOT that hole in order to have access to install the E-Clip into the stub axle.



That's the biggest mod, but not the only one that has to be made.
I also need to cut a counter bore into the cross-pin block in order to allow the stub axle to slide all the way in until the tip of it touches the cross-pin (not the cervix! :wink: ) The cross-pins are the same diamter at 0.680 between the stock and the Eaton. I will also need to have an access notch machined into the cross-pin block in order to be able to remove the clip.

ALSO, I needed new carrier bearings, since I'd destroy the old ones getting them off. CarQuest could get them, but only had BCA. I first did this job with a Timken bearing/seal kit from Yukon, so I checked their website. It didn't look like they sold just the carrier bearings, so being old school I called them. After explaining my situation, the guy confirmed what Eaton part number I had, then told me that the spigots for the carrier bearings are larger diameter on the Eaton. That means it uses completely different carrier bearings, both cup and cone. Summit did *NOT* mention that in their product information. He had the right bearings in stock in Timken and sent me a pair, which arrived this week.

I won't be able to drop this off with my machinist friend until next weekend, so I went on to other projects. The big remaining question is what I'll have to do to be able to get any kind of clip, be it poodle ring or conventional e-clip in between the adjacent spider gears, AND how I'll get it back out once it's in there.

I'm also thinking of putting it back together with an upgraded intermediate shaft, since I'm going to all this trouble to install the locker.

[eaglefreek]

Wow, that's a lot of work. I remember Mick in Wyoming used a modified Dana 35 locker up front somehow. There were Dana 30 rear axles. Volvo had them in quite a few vehicles and they were also available in some Jeep Commandos and some 80's Ford Aerostars.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Wow, that's a lot of work. I remember Mick in Wyoming used a modified Dana 35 locker up front somehow. There were Dana 30 rear axles. Volvo had them in quite a few vehicles and they were also available in some Jeep Commandos and some 80's Ford Aerostars.

Is there a build thread here?

//

I got the carrier and cross-pin block back from the machinist.





The stub axle goes all the way in to touch the pins now.
The gap is still the only space available for a clip. I will probably have to widen it to fit a clip into it. I did not have the chance this weekend to get in there with a feeler gauge to find out how much the gear or the block or both will have to be faced in order to open up enough room for the clip to go in.

I'm also thinking that I'll have to notch one tooth on each spider gear to open up a path for the clip to go in. I already knew I'd have to mill a notch in the side of the pin block for tool access to the clip.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Here are a couple more photos

The outboard face of the groove is just a smidge proud of the inboard face of the gear, so I could pull the stub out that little bit in order to seat the clip against the gear.



The stub would also have to slide outboard just a little bit from the cross-pin block in order to have the inboard face of the groove flush with the face of the cross-pin block.



So I really need to get some feeler gauges into the groove and get some clip dimensions from McMaster-Carr.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Excellent! I think McMaster 98808A405 can work for this application.

[eaglefreek]

Is there a build thread here?

One of those things that got lost in the Big Delete.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Umm... well that sucks?

//

Step by step modifying the e-Locker to accept the E-clip for the left stub axle.

Here's the clip in place:



Had to face down the annulus previously shown on the pin block:



And add a spacer ring to the side gear. This required boring the ID of the annular ring on the side gear just a little bit. The gear is forged and thus that internal diameter had some draught to it which prevented a constant diameter ring from being pressed in.



The gear on the stub:



Gear, stub and clip installed into housing:




Next step: Tool access notch in the pin block, slight expansion of the slot in the side of the housing, cutting slots in the spider gear teeth (!) for the clip to slide through.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I finally got OnShape customer support to find me a workaround for a bug I found (that they won't admit is a bug) and was able to model this up.
Because the pin block is very hard, milling this won't work, it'll have to be EDM'd.

[amarshall]

I have no idea what half of this means, but I’m still fascinated!  Looks like you are making some progress, keep at it.

[The Dark Side of Will]

It might not be super obvious to follow.
Evolution of the pin block:
The pin block is the thing in the middle with the three screw holes across the face





The back side, without screw holes used to be flat, but then I did this:



Here's how it fits the end of the axle... since you can't see the groove for the clip, some material needs to be faced off the bottom of the block



Here is the bottom side after having some material faced off.



And here you can see that there is now enough clearance to install the spring clip.



Here's the next step, although only a rendering for now. The notch in the edge of the part will give clearance for a tool to remove the spring clip.

[Vgrizzw]

Good work! I’m following! It seems at this point an e-clip with a “tongue” would let a tool grab it. Maybe a tongue with a hole so it could be hooked. Then it’d clear the pin block and spider gears. Also, once all this is complete, let me know where to send my locker to have it modded! 

[The Dark Side of Will]

So the prototype machinist recommended I have this EDM'd because it's hardened.

The machine shop sup at work said he had a cutter that could do it, but he'd just need some time when the boss isn't around, etc.
7 months later it was still on his desk.
So I snagged it and took it to the EDM place.
Two weeks later, tada.
Ooooooh, shiny!
The surface finish in the cut is REALLY good... but that's what EDM does. Per my model, the minimum distance from the notch to the pin bores is only 0.025 or so... pretty good fixturing to cut that without screwing it up.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Here's the tool notch... can just barely see the "tang" inside the poodle ring.



Here's the edge of the poodle ring, all the way up (stub axle pushed all the way in)



And all the way down (stub axle pulled all the way out)



I was able to use a hook tool--a cotter pin puller previously modified for something else--to reach in through the access slot in the housing and pull the poodle ring out. That was my goal, so... AWESOME!

I then carved a slot through one of the spider gears until I was able to slide the poodle ring through it. That slot turned out a lot bigger than I had been visualizing... so I'm coming to terms with that before I carve up another one next weekend.

[The Dark Side of Will]

ACKSHULLY... I was sitting on the can this morning--which is where all my good ideas come from anyway--and remembered that older VW stuff (like MkIII and the 02A transmission) uses an expanding taper plug to lock the output flange into the transmission. I'd have to drill, bore, ream & slot the splines on the output flange, but that may be a cleaner alternative than slotting the gears. It would still require some of the lathe mods I did to the pin block, but would not require the tool notch. And I have to make a taper plug. Interdasting.

[vangremlin]

I don't understand all that you are doing but I am certainly impressed by it!  Keep up the good work!