hawairish

A company called Harrop manufacturers Eaton ELockers for the Australian market. They appear have ELockers that cover nearly all our diffs. https://www.harrop.com.au/shop/4x4-performance/elocker?page=2 http://www.terraintamer.com/en/4wd-products/elocker From those links, I can determine the following: A9635: H233B 33-spline A9684: H233B 31-spline A11250: R200A 27-spline A11257: C200 31-spline There are applications for 2005+ vehicles, but I'm not familiar with those axles. Like ARB's cross-applications, these can also be cross-referenced to various Nissans. The Harrop website even confirms the A9635 fits R50s. So, there it is: Eaton ELockers exist. Harrop's prices are in AUS dollar, so it's closer to $1050-$1200 USD depending on exchange rates and model, before shipping and duties. The only two authorized Harrop dealers in the US, and a LandCruiser outfitter with ties to Terrain Tamer, confirmed they can order these. One dealer quoted about $1140-shipped for the A9635 to me, but it sucks knowing that Eaton ELockers sold in NA are closer to $700-$800. Still, an $1140 Harrop vs. a $940 ARB plus compressor and accessories for an air setup may wash out. I chatted with Steven (Steeevo) at Rugged Rocks and he was aware of them, but they were more expensive when he last checked. Now, for the technical discussion. The installation is pretty similar to the ARB in that you need to drill into the diff housing for the wires, but obviously, the electrical aspect keeps the actuation part pretty simple: a switch, a relay, and some wiring. There are two types of actuation methods, pin and collar, both driven by an electromagnet, of course. I'm not sure which are used for any of the Nissan applications. They both work by "ramping" the engagement mechanism into a side gear when the electromagnetic is activated. The difference is that the pin type uses ball bearings in a ramped channel to engage a pin assembly, and the collar type ramps pins into a collar that mates to the side gear. Here are some vids on how they work: Pin: Collar: It's more apparent in the 2nd video, but the carrier must rotate about 30°-45° in any direction before it locks, which is a bit higher than ARB. The problem is that it unlocks whenever the carrier rotation changes (i.e., going from drive to reverse). This means that just letting the vehicle roll backwards will cause it to briefly disengage. If you were to punch it from that "reverse-locked" position, it goes from locked-unlocked-locked very quickly. The installation guide says you can't exceed 3 mph or 5 km/h when engaging it, and specifically says damage caused by exceeding this isn't covered by the warranty (and supposedly evident when it occurs). Now, I'd like to think that anyone with selectable lockers will typically not engage them on-the-fly at high speeds (not that 3mph is high), so this is somewhat a no-brainer. But, air lockers won't unlock under normal conditions, so flogging it over a given obstacle shouldn't be a problem for them. I'm sure can flog it with the ELocker once it's engaged (uh, if you want to), but you'd probably always want to ease into it. I've seen very few failure reports of the Eatons, but the few that I saw indicated issues getting replacements and repairs. And those are from US-based customers for US-based applications. I can't imagine this being better for these with an AUS supplier that doesn't have ties and inventories like ARB. Anyway, sorry for the long read. Just kind of throwing it all out there like I usually do, in case this piques anyone's interest.

Nope. The hinge brackets are contoured to the passenger quarter panel, among other reasons.

And good luck, safe travels with the move!

As kdj hinted at, you may find some areas where it may help to turn OD off, just to get some extra revs for uphill, winds, etc. I recently made a long trip with a trailer with severe headwinds, and it required anything I could get out of the engine and transmission...and it wasn't even a heavy trailer. One thing you may observe is that the throttle is very sensitive and may downshift quite often on you. Not much you'll be able to do except ease off the throttle. In many other cases, you'll notice that the revs stay high...I usually have to use the OD button to get it to downshift.

Do they use some sort of gasket?

It'd be a good size, not too far off if you were going to use a 1/4" rivet or so anyway, but I'd probably stick with aluminum rivets for those. Simple, cheap, effective, corrosion resistance. A pack of rivets would be a fraction of the cost for rivnuts and screws.

Tempting...

Pigtail is the right nomenclature. But, keep in mind that as the pigtail's diameter gets smaller, its pitch also decreases slightly on these springs. It makes about 1.5 wraps in the same pitch height as any 1 wrap below it, but even then probably represents a trivial change in the spring's properties since bar thickness and material is unchanged. I can't quantify it using the household objects I have at hand, except maybe by comparing coil lengths in a given pitch, but I'd be pretty confident they'd net out to some degree if in fact it is a constant rate spring as advertised. And you can look at a constant rate spring's specs and predict an answer. It's called Hooke's Law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooke%27s_law http://www.efunda.com/designstandards/springs/calc_comp_k.cfm#calc Perhaps the pigtail has some degree of progressiveness, but if Moog's calling it a constant rate spring, I'm treating it like a constant rate spring. All I'm saying is that my observations are more consistent with OME's numbers than with Moogs.

Has anyone ever slept in the front of their truck? Did anybody know you can recline the front seats to make a chaise lounge with the rear seats? Just gotta pull the front head rests, slide the seat forward, and fully recline it. I tried this the other night with the rear seat also reclined, and it was actually pretty comfortable. I saw a pic of this in an old brochure that was showcasing the rear entertainment package that was once an option.

Yeah, sounds like a bad experience, no doubt. Best of luck with everything and the recovery, of course. So even if I were to, say, supply (and perhaps even install) a replacement OE bumper and such, no dice?

It wouldn't surprise me if Moog's specs were wonky in more ways than one, but these are spec'd as constant rate. A pigtail isn't indicative of a variable rate spring, though. Steel hardness, coil diameter, coil thickness, and spring pitch are all factors of spring rates. There are several variable and constant spring rate lift springs available. These were a no-risk purchase...I can even return them for free. It was a fitment test more than anything, but by the numbers, it should've yielded more than it did (math below). I will still make spring perches and will eventually guinea pig actual lift springs. Even OME springs should be good for about 6" of lift. (Warning: math!) Here's why the Moogs should have yielded more... My OMEs have a free height of 13.75" (spec is 14.17") and an install height of 9.75" (so 4" of compression). If 140 lbs/in is still accurate for them, then 4" x 140lbs/in = 560 lbs load supported per spring. For the Moogs, 560 lbs * in/190 lbs = 2.95" of compression, which means that Moog w/perch should have been 1" taller than OME w/2" spacer. I saw about a .25" difference, which is consistent with OME's OE spec of 150 lbs/in: 560 lbs * in/150lbs = 3.73". If my OME springs are worn (and to some degree they must be if the free height is nearly .5" below spec), then it would have equated to even more visible lift for the Moog setup.

Bummer on all levels. No short-term disability or her supplemental insurance to help out? Can I call dibs on the bumper?

Moog 81045 vs OME 2922: Installed: Upper perch: Lower perch: The body lift spacer isn't my plan; I bastardized it from my bumpstop extension. I think that it could work reasonably well. I got to thinking that I could put Toyota spacers up top, but I'm wanting a no-cut/no-spacer solution.

Well, I installed the Moogs with limited success...with about 1.75" from the spring perch and isolator, the lift amount was only about .25" taller than what my OMEs and 2" spacers produced. Since that's not consistent with manufacturer-provided specs, something is spec'd wrong. OME's catalog says that OE spring rates for the 4Runner were 150 lbs/in, and that seems far more accurate than Moog's spec of 190 lbs/in. Go figure. Still...that's not bad for an OE spring. Overall, fitment was as good as could be expected. The ID of the OMEs were actually closer to 4.9", not 5.05" that R50 Moogs are spec'd, so the upper isolator was looser than expected. The OD of the Moogs do fit within the outer lip of the upper perch, so I don't have any particular safety concerns there. But, I think a poly-vinyl or rubber tube to wrap the ends might be beneficial to fill gaps and avoid the possibility of metal-metal contact. The good news is that this is a more economical lift approach for those wanting about 3"-4" inches of rear lift. Figuring OMEs run about $170 and 2" spacers run another $100, my test setup was about $90 (springs, spring isolator, and the 2" body lift pucks used to center up the pigtail on the axle perch, bolts...the body lift pucks were a temporary solution, though, but I've seen it used like this before). However, I did not give this a road test, so I can't attest to ride quality. But a few jumps on the truck to help it settle, it did feel a little softer than OME...but hard to say of course. For now, I don't have any other OE springs worth trying that get us into that range 4"-6" range. FJ springs seemed like the next best option, but given some cross-references, I think these might be about the same as what I tried. I'll get some pics up later.

1. Slide terminals. 2. I think it's just us and duke90 that have used the rivnut approach. There was a guy last year who did a retrofit, but he only bent up some steel plates and tried to wedge them back there behind the taillight. IIRC, he eventually sold everything off. 4. There's only about maybe 1" room to move the carrier mount up on the carrier frame...not enough to make a difference. You'd probably have to see about cutting the carrier mount and welding in extensions, as you mentioned. 5. If you don't plan on using the plastic hinge covers, that'll free up some space. Definitely won't fit my setup because of the hinge bolts I used. But Kyle, if you still want to try it, I still have the guards.

Update... The poly bushings I intend to use for the trailing arms are a perfect fit. And this poly spring isolator is a perfect fit for the perch and pigtail...

^What he said about gears.

Can't believe I didn't think about doing it that way, too! See, that rivet tool comes in handy, doesn't it?

Well, yes, but different pinion (rack & pinion vs. ring & pinion)

I'll pass. But good luck on the group buy!

Yes, but at the same time wanted it back a little to reduce the angle of the PHB bushings. Also getting the spring perches centered-up and squared so that the springs don't want to push outward. That all said, it actually seems like the ideal solution might be a small increase in length on the lower arm, and a larger increase on the upper arm. Correct, you want to net-out the angles on our driveshafts, since this minimizes acceleration/deceleration that the driveshaft can see. Driveshafts with constant-velocity joints don't need this, though.

For the trailing arms, I'm going to try a set of OE lengths first. The purpose there is to have a stronger set of lower arms. But with the approach I'm taking, I'm also hoping to have an inexpensive answer to poly bushings. They will not use OE-size bushings. But custom length arms go beyond wheel centering. They're also for correcting driveshaft and pinion angles. Lengthening a pair, or even lengthening both (by same or different lengths) may not improve anything. Depends on the link setup. I've not crunched the numbers, but I think we would benefit most by only a longer length upper arm. This would effectively tilt the axle back, center the wheel, and make the pinion and driveshaft more inline with each other. On up-travel, axle would stay centered...doesnt seem like it would, but it's entirely related to where all the link mounts are as the axle travels.

Woodward Steering up in WY. I can give you the p/ns for the joints, but there's a separate shaft which I can only estimate the length for now.

Thanks! There are also a few mounts meant for bikes/motorcycles that use ram/ball mounts. The bracket I used allows for simple bolt on of those mounts, but I found those parts to be a little expensive and bulky. And if not cranked down, the phone will move when off-roading.

My brain's working OT on it...hope to have something nice and comprehensive in the coming weeks.