Home made POSI LOCK write up

[AuroraJeep]

I just got done with the home made Posi Lock because the vacuum unit went out, which I am sure a lot of you know how that goes. I tried finding a detailed (idiot proof) write so here is mine, for us idiots.

First the parts:
-NAPA 9ft Locking Cable, part 731-1104
-1/4" Compression Union
-5/8"x2-3/4" Compression Spring
-Zip Ties
-Piece of Metal 2"x3" roughly
-Rivets or Screws
-Gasket Maker


Tools
-Socket Wrench
-Various Sockets
-Various Box Wrenches
-Jacks and Jack Stand
-Drill
-3/8" Drill Bit
-7/16" Tap
-Various other drill bits
-Rivet Gun

1. Jack the front passenger side up. Place on jack stand. Take off tire.


2. Loosen and remove 4 bolts on front axle fork cover (in red). Release weather pack (in blue). Pull off vacuum lines (in green). Place oil catch under working area.


3. Remove whole assembly, be careful with the gasket so you can reuse it with a little gasket sealer. See picture for whole assembly.


4. Drill a 3/8" hole one the left side of assembly. Hole size may vary with compression union.


5. Tap whole with 7/16" tap. Again tap may vary.


6. Drill a small whole in the fork, as small as you can get. Mock up whole assembly. Screw in compression union center, place in spring, place brass ball washer and nut on cable (don't tighten the nut onto the brass ball washer real tight until later). Place spring in and bend the cable wire slight. Test the locking cable by pulling the t-handle, make sure in shifts correctly.


7. Take it all apart now.

8. Find a place to mount the t-handle. I placed mine to the right of the steering wheel with diamond plate. You can mount it any where you want. Rivet or screw down plate. Screw down handle to plate. Thread the cable through the fire wall. I drilled a small whole through the main wire loom gasket.


9. Thread the cable around the back of the motor and zip tie down. I place mine on the heater hose because if I need a few more inches of slack its there. I have a ton of slack down near the axle so i doubt I will ever need this slack. I may move it to another location after some 4x4ing. You can mount anywhere you like. Route cable down to passenger side of axle.


10. Place the cable locking assembly back together. Tighten down the compression nut with the brass ball washer make sure the cable is in there nice and tight. Bend the cable wire and make sure it does not slip.

11. Place the cover back on insuring you have the fork lined up with the axle shaft collar. Put some gasket maker on the gasket. Tighten down bolts. Reconnect weather pack, vacuum lines to make it pretty. Place some gasket maker on the end of the compression union around the cable. Zip tie the cable to the axle make sure you have enough slack for articulation.


12. Check your work by chocking the wheels, turn the Jeep on, place in neutral, place t-case in 4wd, and engage the posi lock. The passenger hub should not turn. If it does check your slack in the cable or the shaft collar and fork.

[Smithy]

wow. Very detailed

[JGC_FAN]

If I didn't already have a Posi-Lock I'd definitely try this.

Hey Mods...

I think he deserves a membership for the write up!

[johnboy68]

AuroraJeep,

Thanks for the write up!!!!

I'm all over this. I'm doing a rebuilt at the moment and have been contemplating something like this in the back of my head since the start of my project. Especially since my vacuum hoses didn't come of "clean" when I was working on the front end.

Did you get your compression union and spring from Lowes/Home Depot?

[chupacabrah]

nice write up! it's about time someone did another complete one.

Did you get your compression union and spring from Lowes/Home Depot?

yeah, where did you get that? that's a pretty good idea, i've been looking for something similar, that would be perfect

[Jeeeeeeeeeeeeep]

Nice work!

[AuroraJeep]

I bought the compression union from auto zone actually, but you can get from anywhere. I saw some at NAPA.

[timatoe]

Nice write up. Like the cable ..........

[AuroraJeep]

Originally Posted by timatoe

Nice write up. Like the cable ..........

Ok have to give credit were credit is due, I stole that from you.

[doug_1994]

Originally Posted by AuroraJeep

Ok have to give credit were credit is due, I saw stole that from you.

Honesty....nice.



Great thread.

Doug

[yjcrawler]

ive been considering this mod seriously, but it seems like a lot of people say its not worth it. How reliable are the posi lok setups.

[laybackman]

Originally Posted by yjcrawler

ive been considering this mod seriously, but it seems like a lot of people say its not worth it. How reliable are the posi lok setups.

The POSI-LOK's are fairly rugged in construction and should hold up no problem. This particular DIY setup appears to be a very good one also. Needless to say the weak link(s) in a DIY set up will always be how you attach it to the fork and how robust is the cable itself. Using a brake cable for a bicycle would be asking for trouble, IMHO, as an example.

[AuroraJeep]

The way I see it, is that it took seriously like 1 minute to pull that whole assembly out, if the cable slips off the fork it's an easy trail fix. Still half the cost of a new vacuum unit that is also prone to breakage. I plan on running a d44 soon, so this was a cheap, easy, and easily serviceable mod that fixed a problem. This NAPA cable wire was real thick, I am confident in it.

[johnboy68]

Out of curiosity and not seeing the cable, how did you attach it to the fork? Maybe if I had the cable it would be self explanatory...

Originally Posted by AuroraJeep

The way I see it, is that it took seriously like 1 minute to pull that whole assembly out, if the cable slips off the fork it's an easy trail fix. Still half the cost of a new vacuum unit that is also prone to breakage. I plan on running a d44 soon, so this was a cheap, easy, and easily serviceable mod that fixed a problem. This NAPA cable wire was real thick, I am confident in it.

[timatoe]

Originally Posted by johnboy68

Out of curiosity and not seeing the cable, how did you attach it to the fork? Maybe if I had the cable it would be self explanatory...

The cable doesn't come with any kind of a stay for the inner cable. Look at the end of the cable in this link... http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS/762888/10002/-1/10313 and you'll see the type of stay I used, I forget what they're actually called, but Napa has them hanging on the shelf. I put one on each side of the actuator.