I finished rebuilding of my rear axle, put things together, go for a test drive and I found that I have strange behavior - under tight turns I have loud metallic knock in rear axle and it feels like jeep is driving with rear locker on, and sometimes (mostly under left tight turn) the rear locker light is blinking, when I straight jeep it is going off and jeep drives ok,

I double checked rear locker in garage, it is engaging on and off properly and lights are on and off as they should, I know that I did not bent plunger, it is working well,

my rebuild of axle included putting apart and cleaning carrier, installing new gears, installing new axle shafts and new long arms suspension - a lot of components and the trouble shooting can be complex, I wish I followed old rule 'one change in a time',

any idea what I should check?
can force during tight turns make locker engaging (re: blinking locker light)?

 

well if you are actually hopping wheels in turns then I'd say it is locked....but if you are just getting a horrible noise, could be a bad gear install....the blinking light is a common problem post gear install for those that do not observe the correct procedure installing the assembly with the plunger switch in the appropriate position...generally the locker indicator light will remain lit, but the locker will not actually be engaged....so yes, there could be a few things causing this....but I doubt your locker is actually engaged...time to tear apart the axle again and have a closer look at what you did

 

the wheels are hopping, and the pressure builds and than I have noise, one metallic loud 'ding' and after things are ok till next turn, sometimes before 'ding' locker light would blink, so I guess it shows correctly that locker ring moved towards carrier,

it sound for me like locker get engaged under some kind of force (not by electromagnet) and while pressure builds during turning it disengaging and that's the sound,

I am sure I install plunger correctly, triple checked that during install,

agree that I need to pull things out and inspect what I did.

 

Try disconection the plug from the locker and see if it still does it? If it stops engaging then it will be a wire problem, and if not then it will be a install problem. A easy way to see befor youopen up the diffs again.

 

definately a crappy deal, I would park it for before serious damage occurs until you figure it out, good luck

 

I drained and removed rear diff cover and checked inside,

it looks for me that locker plate is not pushed out by the spring which is inside carrier,
that spring should push out plate when it is not engaged,
plunger is properly installed and holds upper side of the plate but bottom of the plate is loose and during turns can swing a bit, it is enough to randomly engage (partially) locker,

I must pull whole carrier out and get inside to check that spring, I must install it incorrectly while cleaning spiders inside carrier,

... more to come

 

Take some pictures of the inner workings, and post 'em.

 

I know that problem well. you have the indicator switch installed wrong. I t can only be installed prior to installing the locker into the housing. If you tried to install it after the fact it will engage the locker. Look at the switch and you will see that it fits over the ring not in front of it.

 

plunger/switch is ok, installed correctly, I was aware about that problem and triple check during install,

I found what I did wrong - while putting together carrier I placed spring on the wrong side of internal washer, so it wash pushing spider gear versus locker plate,

and the only reason I put it apart is to clean from grinded old gears, in normal case (i.e. upgrading gears) you do not have to do that,

now it is only a lot of breakcleaner and I am putting things back together .. hopefully this time will work

 

Glad you figured it out. Hope it goes smooth getting it back together. On my gears I got a good mesh pattern on the 3rd try. I took the pinon in to get pressed but theycouldnt get it done. I will pick it up in the AM. I did paint the rear diff and got the front axle almost out. not I can disassemble it and move to phase 2