Brought the jeep in to have an artec truss and gussets welded. The shop did a great job on the work, but now it seems like the lockers are engaged.

Rubicon front axle, but the lockers do not have power running to them. Literally a bare "plug" on the housing. Is it possible that they could engage without a 12v source and for some reason get stuck?

The jeep is still at the shop and they are looking at it, just wondering if the welding could have engaged the lockers, or worse fused something together. From all I have gathered it is a reputable shop so I am hoping they take responsibility and get it straight.

 

Did they take the plunger out of the side if the dif? If so when you put it back in it will permanently lock the axle.

 

It threads in on the outside near the back at the top. It hooks on a ring inside and makes the dash light turn on and off.

 

I have no idea. When you say permanently, you mean truly permanent or is there some sort of correction?

Am I (or they) looking at having to replace the locker?

 

The carrier has to be pulled, to correct it. The plunger goes behind the ring. I had the same issue when I had a shop swap the ring and pinion into my pro rock.

 

This happened to my friend after having his rig trussed up. I don't remember how they got it unstuck but I believe it had to do with sticking in a screwdriver to disengage the locker. I will have him chime in momentarily.

 

Thanks guys for the quick replies. Hopefully the shop can come through for me and fixes this. Wierdly, it makes me feel better knowing others have had this issue after the install.

I think they assumed it came in like this, but there is no way I can drive it on a road in this state. Was scared I was going to snap an axle or the gears the way it was acting. Couldn't get it out the parking lot.

 

Could also be the ground when they welded activated it. I would think using the dash switch rotating wheels then disengaging with the dash switch should pop it free.

 

The axles were swapped into a Sahara so there is no dash switch. No wires running to it as it sits. I guess putting a 12v source to it would serve the same purpose at this point.

 

Witty sent me a text and asked me to chime in. You pulled the plug on the rear lower side of the diff just like I did
Have no fear it can be fixed fairly easily. Drain the diff fluid and pull the cover. You will see a plate on the driver side of the carrier that actually sucks in when you engage the locker. There is a plunger on the top side of that plate that needs to be routed to the other side of the plate. If you have a buddy hit your locker switch you will see that the plate is only partially engaging due to the plunger being on the wrong side. Here is a video we took to show how it works after we fixed it. Only needed a little finesse with a strait blade screwdriver.
http://vimeo.com/93921613 be patient and you will have it fixed in no time