I went wheeling the other day and when I engaged the front locker the air compressor cycled around every ten seconds. Normally it only comes on every few minutes. Then I could smell gear oil so I stopped and checked it out. Sure enough, I have air leaking out of the breather tube.
I've searched posts on here and looked at some diagrams on ARB's website and I'm thinking it's the o-ring seal in the locker that's probably failed.

My question is has anyone on here actually removed, repaired & reinstalled their locker? How hard is it to replace the o-ring?

 

I have never repaired an air locker, but I did install one in my Sahara 2 weeks ago (along with regearing). To replace the O rings you will have to pull the carrier out.

When you pull the carrier out you will want to ensure to keep the bearing caps and shims on their correct side. Keep the ring gear side shims and bearing cap in one bin and the non-ring gear side in a separate bin.

I did not need a case spreader to remove/insert the carrier on my dana 30, but it depends on how much preload it was installed with.

The O rings are kept inside of the "seal housing" which slide onto the ring gear side of the carrier (A gentle twist on/ twist off will get the seal housing on or off the carrier). The seal housing is what the copper tube attaches too (can't miss it). With the seal housing off of the carrier you can inspect/replace the O rings.

Get you a copy of the ARB Air Locker install instructions and you will see how it's put together (fairly simple from an install standpoint).

...Or take it to a shop to repair.

 

...before you attempt to create a solution make sure you have found the problem.

I would first take off the diff cover and pin point the leak before getting my solution in place.

 

sounds like those guys already got you headed in the right direction...
ripping the locker out is the easy part...putting it back in will be a little more painful...a couple tips for you...the shims are gonna drive you nuts during install...keep the thinner shims on the outside closest to the housing shoulder and the thicker ones on the inside closest to the locker, or if you can sandwich the thin shims between thicker ones that's better because those thin shims are really suscepitible to getting bent when your beating the locker back in....I used a little grease to hold the shims against the side of housing because I didn't have 15 hands to do it all...make sure you are PERFECTLY true and aligned when installing the locker assembly, once you've got 'er starting to slip in between the shims, give it a good few wacks with a rubber mallet to send her home...don't use the bearing caps to pull the locker back in...that's about the best I can help you without you getting yourself a case spreader...but you shouldn't need one

 

Thanks for all the tips!

I plan on pulling the cover tomorrow and pin pointing the leak before removing any internals. Hopefully it'll be something I can fix without too much trouble.

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