Radwaste

Excellent choice. Let us know how it goes. I've had no problems with mine over the years, and I haven't damaged a CV once. I did a write up with pics a few years ago; I'm sure it's somewhere in the archives.

I've been running a Lokka for a while now and no problems around town or off road - manual hubs are a must. The best part is the looks on people faces when I easily pull someone from the sand/mud. I did a write up on here somewhere; a step by step breakdown with lots of pics for those who are wary of the difficulty (it's not!)

Maybe contact these people for more info: http://staangsfab.com/news/ Looks like they developed a SAS kit using coilovers and a steering box from a Durango. They might supply you with part numbers.

Sorry I missed the part where the 99 is an old vehicle and you've moved on to a 2004 without manual hubs. I have no info concerning Precise1's point about front lubrication and how the front cvs play into that for the 2004. That being said, I wouldn't want to drive with a fully locked front end full time. If this is an offroad/snow only truck; then sure.

Looks like you have manual hubs. Just ensure your hubs are unlocked while on asphalt and the road friendliness will remain unchanged. I've tested my Lokka out on pavement with the hubs locked (just to stress it), and you can turn tightly on pavement, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you had to. I can feel and hear the locker functioning. I would not keep the transmission in 2WD and both hubs locked just to have 4WD available in winter driving. While the locker is not stressing the transmission in 2WD, you will still have to deal with driving on pavement with a locked front. I would recommend locking one hub only if you want standby 4WD. While not as great as having both front wheels available, at least it's something. Of course, you being in the great white north...add a couple inches of packed snow, and you might as well be offroad in sand or mud. In that case lock away, just be careful of sudden jerks while the front pulls you left or right. I haven't had the pleasure of navigating thru much snow in the truck. Not a daily driver and not much snow.

Removing your front drive shaft will not prevent the front axle components from rotating. With the transmission in 2WD, there is no motive force on the front drive shaft. The front diff and CV shafts are being rotated by the rotation of the front tires. The manual hubs provide a break between the CV shafts and the tires, and with the trans in 2WD, nothing is pushing the front diff. I'd see no benefit from removing your front drive shaft besides some small weight loss.

No camber adjustments will be necessary. And replacing them shouldn't cause any unseen trouble, unless you plan on running with no front sway bar. Makes turning corners very....fun!

Removing the factory sway bar end links on mine turned into a major P.I.T.A. On both sides, I was unable to remove the end link from the bar due to rust, corrosion, and rounded allen sockets. I ended up removing the bar with the links attached and used a grinder to break the nut off. Ended up replacing them with Moog 2+ yrs ago and they've held up fine.

Have a buddy with a WD and a front welded diff; no problems so far. Says the wheel required more attention while off road due to its tendency to straighten out. There are several more topics covering this, as well as some pics.

You can pull the third member out of a '00-04 Xterra like I did, it's a direct, pretty straight-forward swap. Just make sure you get the gear ratio right.

I do have manual hubs. I have not re-installed the front diff yet, that will be my project for the day.

And here she sits. The cross shaft prevents the two cams from rotating independently. One cam will never rotate faster than the other. So, while going straight, one axle is not trying to go faster than the other, and no axle gear is attempting to slide past any cam. Everything is nice and locked. Now we start turning, and one tire starts to rotate faster than the other. The outside axle wants to go faster, and it starts putting force on the axle gear to slip past the cam. The teeth on the axle gear are slightly beveled, / \ , like so. Once there is enough force for the axle gear to slip a tooth, the cam moves up out of the way and the axle gear plus tire, start to rotate faster than the cams plus the other axle gear and tire, a.k.a...you're turning. Once we straighten the wheel, the faster axle gear slows down and the springs push the cam back in place, where the cam locks with the axle gear. And we are now locked again. Some things I would have different with this installation: 1. You can order shims in different widths. I first went to my local Nissan dealership and they told me 5 weeks. So I called Courtesy Parts and they had some on the shelf. You can get shims between around 60 mm to 93 mm. If you plan on doing this, just order a shim or two now. They're six bucks and it's a pain to stop a project in the middle and wait on shipping. 2. Press the nut into the axle gear. Do it while its out and get it out of the way. The bolt will work once it's installed, but why go thru the trouble. If I think of anything else, I'll put it up.

Insert the 4 pins and springs, then slide the cross shaft in place. A hammer will be required. Ensure the roll pin hole is aligned as shown. Insert the roll pin into the carrier and cross shaft. Be sure to insert thru the same opening you removed it from. Use a feeler gauge to measure the space between the cams. It should be between 0.145 and 0.165 inches. I'm a little tight, but I'm gonna let it ride. The third shim moved me from two far apart to to close. I'd rather be to close, as to far apart will lesson the force of the spring on the cam, possibly not re-seating the cam on the axle gear. Each tooth on the axle gear is 0.05 inches, so there is still plenty of room for one or (unlikely) both cams to lift. Plus, wear and tear will cause the gap to widen over time.

Here is the installation of the other cam. The first cam will have to pushed to the side to insert this one. Also, this cam will go in last. There will not be enough space to squeeze in the short side cam with the other side already installed. And here it is with the cam gears installed and lined up. That is the 14 mm bolt previously mentioned. It can be used here to help keep the two sides separated when needed. Here is a spring retaining pin. To install this, it would be flipped upside down and inserted up into the upper cam as shown in the picture. The pin will slide into the hole and the spring will sit atop. Pin installed. Spring installed on pin. There is a small recess where the top of the spring slides into. A small flathead screwdriver is a good tool to compress the spring enough to get it in place.

Here is the opposite cam with its retainer. From the picture, the retainer will be inserted face down into the cam. Like so. Here is the short axle side cam being inserted into the carrier. Notice the flat sides on two sides of the cam, that will have to be aligned with the opening to slide the cam in place. The retainer within the cam will attempt to fall out during installation.

Here is the other axle gear with one shim. And both axle gears are now in place. The grease helps keep the top from falling out, as discussed before. Here is the cam for the short axle side of the carrier. The piece at the bottom is what was removed from the side gear. The 14 mm bolt will thread thru it. This can either be pressed in to the axle gear now, or wait until carrier re-installation and use the 14 mm bolt to pull the nut in place. The nut rests within the retainer, which rests within the cam, all facing up as shown in the picture.

This is the empty carrier. You can see where the washers use to be. Here is the new axle gear. Notice the two shims. I had to order an additional shim to get the cam gap closer to required spec. So I have two on one side, and a third on the other. Grease the axle gear before assembly, this will also help hold it in place. The axle gears are identical, so top or bottom does not matter. Here is the axle gear with two shims underneath.

This post deals mostly with Lokka assembly. To get your front diff on the bench and the carrier out, PCoA has a good write up. http://pcoa.org.au/f...ka front#p31533 So here is the carrier on the bench with the ring gear off to the side. First, you're gonna need a quality roll pin punch. A roll pin punch will have a long non tapered nose. The Mayhew set I have has treated me well. Starrett is another excellent choice. Punch out the roll pin holding in the cross shaft here: Be sure to punch thru this side, as there is a very small lip and you will not be able to exit the roll pin thru the side shown in the picture. Use a punch to then knock out the cross shaft. From there, you can remove all the carrier internals: 1 cross shaft, 4 gears, 2 shims and 2 washers. Within the short shaft side gear there is a piece the 14 mm bolt screws into, that needs to come out of the side gear and be reused. The piece that needs to be removed can be seen just above the cross shaft in the first picture. That can be knocked out. The 2 shims also need to be reused.

The shims are off the back of the spider gears, and two will be reused when taking the diff apart. When everything is installed, the two locker cams should be between 0.125" and 0.165" apart. Mine is closer to 0.275" apart, so I've had to order new shims to add to the old shims to make up the difference. Judging by the how-to that was posted earlier, I don't think he required any extra shims. They are not expensive, $5-6, however it is very frustrating to stop in the middle of a project due to inadequate parts; especially when it's already been a year.

It's been almost a year since I've purchased my locker from 4WD Systems, and prices very well may have changed,but I think the Lokka cost closer to $600 than $400. If you can find it for $400 - jump on it. Personally, if I could only choose one, I would prefer to be locked in the front. First, it's semi-selectable with manual hubs; so it's not heard on the asphalt around town. Second, it does a good job of protecting your front end when a wheel is off the ground. Prevents it from spinning up and then undergoing loads of stress when it lands. Third, you're almost guaranteed to loose front traction while going up a steep hill (due to downward force, like stioc said), so this will give two of your wheels back when the front actually occasionally does have the combination of downward force + traction. Without, it's all on the rear. Any increase in off road capability is welcome.

And this is the install article mentioned: http://pcoa.org.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=3623&p=31592&hilit=lokka+front#p31533

Lokka installation is in progress on my rig right now. I am waiting for additional carrier shims from Courtesy Parts to get within the needed spec. I'll let you know how it performs.

Replaced the leaking drivers side valve cover gasket....again. I replaced it less than a year ago, but it somehow became misaligned during the installation and torn during the tightening. I'm becoming an expert on removing the intake manifold. One thing I did do different is I used Detroit Gasket on both sides of the new rubber gasket. I have no desire to be removing the manifold yet again in six months.

Following this closely. Keep us posted, and good luck.

I don't think replacing the strut mount gets you anything unless the original is cracked or damaged in some way. Definitely replace the strut bearing with OEM. Except the struts themselves, of course, those should be the only parts needing replacing.