A forum member recently sent me his old Rubicon e-locker.
Here is a quote from the owner:
"...when wheeling in tough areas (sand, mud, rocks &tc.) I put the locker in for a while & then take it out, put the locker in for a while & then take it out, repeat. So, I've used it a lot. My Jeep has 105K miles & I'll bet 15-18K of that is off road."

It has seen some good use. The differential and dog clutch show very little wear.
The ring in the 3rd picture below looks quite worn, leaving a small lip at the inner diameter.
That could be the cause of locker ratcheting.
Installing a shim to make up the difference has at least temporarily fixed it in some cases.

Look at this great video to see how a differential works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4JhruinbWc


Here is a look at how the Rubicon e-locker works.

 

Awesome, thanks. I couldn't wrap my head around tapered legs causing higher clamping force from descriptions, now I see it.

 

That E-Locker is holding up great in terms of wear. Are you going to fix the plug and reuse it?

 

I plan to solder some new wires on it, and make an epoxy block over the joint. It will be OK for demonstration purposes.
I wouldn't put it back in service because I have no way of knowing the durability of the repair.

I am thinking of a way to make it cable operated from the cab.

 

That would be pretty trick!!

 

thanks for sharing. This has been helpful to me in diagnostics on a used OEM front locker I bought.

 

I'm glad the thread helped you.

What was wrong with your locker?

 

I bought the locker used from someone out of state and due to some very poor packing it arrived in bad shape with mainly a bunch of surface dings and dents. Here's the thread I started. After having the side bearings removed, I was able to take the magnetic actuator off and bench test it. Your thread gave me an idea of what to look for which is the little collar part that pushes out when turned on. The only thing I noticed is that it doesn't slide back in automatically (meaning it stays in locked position) after turning switch off. Any ideas about this? It will slide back in when you give a little help, or turn the gears a little.

 

There is nothing in the magnet assembly to cause the ring to retract. The force to retract comes from the wave spring, which is between the dog clutch halves.
The wave spring pushes the dog clutch apart, which pushes back on the actuator plate, which in turn pushes the ring into the retracted position.

The problem some people have is the ring will sometimes not want to retract. It is a close fit in the magnet housing, and any burr at all will cause interference.

 

ah, ok, well that makes perfect sense. After looking at your pics above with the dog clutch more closely, I see what you are saying. I'll put the actuator back on the diff and do some more tests. I'll look at the magnetic housing a little more closely and see if there are any little spots that may interfere. thanks