[stockman]

Interesting that this pops back up. I was just reading a thread or two on other forums:

http://www.4x4earth.com.au/forum/spares ... -kits.html

This one is pretty interesting with some response from arb:
http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=19548.0

I can't believe how many people are buying the copy lockers off a middle man (jimbo)

[abclarke]

Haha im thinking that someone at ARB is a bit shitty

Funny how they say all these things are different though, wonder if they have actually got hold of a few china samples and done some tests/measurements to prove what they are saying

[ZookFan]

I wounder that too

[SierraDan]

Eh. Run ARB in the rear. China in the front. Deal with it when you have money.

[stockman]

abclarke wrote:

Haha im thinking that someone at ARB is a bit shitty

Funny how they say all these things are different though, wonder if they have actually got hold of a few china samples and done some tests/measurements to prove what they are saying

There is a youtube video in this thread somewhere of the testing.

[bakerboy]

http://www2.pajeroclub.com.au/forum/sho ... stcount=60

counters arb's claim the chinese ones (at least where he got his from) are machined not cast

[Poita]

These cheap lockers are looking more and more attractive...
As stated in that thread, the chinese ones have 92% of the breaking capacity of the ARB which is still huge. Your axles/CVs are going to break before the diff does!

Edit: What would be the front and rear part numbers for a 92 SWB Vitara? Anyone here ordered them before? I checked ARB's website and there is an option for 26 or 22 spline and I have no idea what I have!
Part Numbers are:
Front: RD208 (26 spline, superseded RD72 and RD88) and RD205 (22 spline, superseded RD73 and RD75)
Rear: RD204 (10 bolt 26 spline, superseded RD74)

[ZookFan]

Just saw these exact same chinasong Air lockers for sale at "Ford Holden and 4x4 wrecking"

At Brendale..

$850 each.. for cruisers, patrols.. ect.. no price on zooks yet

[phat]

just ordered f+r for the sierra and a gq front for my brother, i'll let you all know how they go.

[Trypt]

will be getting one of these in a couple of months, for 500 bux its worth a try.
@ZookFan will you be pulling yours apart to compare the gearsets to the arb ones.
i dont think the one arb use in their test is legit but its still more then strong enough for a zook

[ZookFan]

Trypt wrote:

will be getting one of these in a couple of months, for 500 bux its worth a try.
@ZookFan will you be pulling yours apart to compare the gearsets to the arb ones.
i dont think the one arb use in their test is legit but its still more then strong enough for a zook

No I will be getting a Drive line shope to do my diff center, locker install..

But will be pulling the diff out of the car tho...

[abclarke]

Spend the last 1.5 hours reading all through this thread! I think i might get rid of the auto locker i have still packaged up in my spare room and put the money towards a china air locker. For the little bit more i wouldnt mind giving it a go

[mnemonix]

I've had my chinasoong locker installed for a couple of months. Just driving it as an open centre for now.
I've never managed to get the supplied compressor to make enough pressure to activate the locker. It had airleaks in every pressure seal and thread, screws rattling out etc.

[Chop]

stockman wrote:

Interesting that this pops back up. I was just reading a thread or two on other forums:

http://www.4x4earth.com.au/forum/spares ... -kits.html

This one is pretty interesting with some response from arb:
http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=19548.0

I can't believe how many people are buying the copy lockers off a middle man (jimbo)

I just read through all of those, ARB won't go broke anytime soon because of the huge amount of fleet/commercial sales they have but they clearly feel they need to make sure they don't lose some business.
Notice its on a forum like swag where they have huge member base of people with $50,000 plus 4wd's, retiree's with money to burn on kitted out tourers!
They wouldv'e read the stuff on the lockers here in their searches(if being a non member allows it) but they would see the bulk of suzuki owners as tight or moneyless kids.(we all know ben_sierra ain't coz he keeps telling us )
Even though alot on here have second family cars and those moneyless kids grow up and out of the suzuki's as do many people move on.

The reality is people don't have as much money to spend and there ain't any horror stories of them exploding, and in a powerless zook i doubt they ever would.
Still not sure i'd get one yet, but ya never know.

[JrZook]

Chop wrote:

stockman wrote:

Interesting that this pops back up. I was just reading a thread or two on other forums:

http://www.4x4earth.com.au/forum/spares ... -kits.html

This one is pretty interesting with some response from arb:
http://myswag.org/forum/index.php?topic=19548.0

I can't believe how many people are buying the copy lockers off a middle man (jimbo)

I just read through all of those, ARB won't go broke anytime soon because of the huge amount of fleet/commercial sales they have but they clearly feel they need to make sure they don't lose some business.
Notice its on a forum like swag where they have huge member base of people with $50,000 plus 4wd's, retiree's with money to burn on kitted out tourers!
They wouldv'e read the stuff on the lockers here in their searches(if being a non member allows it) but they would see the bulk of suzuki owners as tight or moneyless kids.(we all know ben_sierra ain't coz he keeps telling us )
Even though alot on here have second family cars and those moneyless kids grow up and out of the suzuki's as do many people move on.

The reality is people don't have as much money to spend and there ain't any horror stories of them exploding, and in a powerless zook i doubt they ever would.
Still not sure i'd get one yet, but ya never know.

ROFL too true!

[Highway-Star]

For yee people who can't be stuffed sorting through the dribble of my car's thread.... I sort of killed one


Dead crown wheel, and one the end cap bolts still bent and stuck in place:


The teeth marks left on the locker by the pinion:


The "self clearancing" the heads of the crown wheel bolts had to do due to the diff running out of alignment:


And not so visible in the picture is the damage to the side gear and spider gears from running out of alignment:


Still don't know what to do.... putting it back together open just means having to pull it apart and do it all over again.....


Anyway I pulled the rear end apart.... ALL the end cap bolts were loose again, but it hadn't reached the point of the front end..... thank goodness. So I put it back together, with proper bolts and locking tab washer things.....


Above bit nicked straight from my other post...

The mechanism of destruction was mostly my fault, but the china locker is not 100% innocent, I'll explain. When I changed the side gears to 26 spline, the crappy little locking tab washer things on the 8 bolts that hold the end cap on fell to bits, so I didn't re use them (your not supposed to re use ARB ones either, but they are far better quality, and can be re used once if your careful. Chinese ones are uber crap!!!). Anyway, because I didn't re use them, I just put thread lock on the bolts. ARB use both thread lock and the locking tab washer things. The bolts and washers from ARB are cheap enough too, just buy them people!!!! (ARB bolts and China bolts have different heads, get the ARB ones to use their washers....) cost me $35 for 16 of each

Anyway, the locker held up well I guess considering the hell that was going on in my front diff, I don't know wether a genuine job would not have cracked like the chinese one did around the lip for locating the end cap? Note the end cap on this locker is actually a genuine ARB part, as the chinese one got damaged in post, and I replaced it with a real one. The end cap has a few "chunks" taken out in places, but no signs of cracking....

[abclarke]

Damn thats bad luck! How do you think it would have held up if you used the locking tabs? Would have just held fine?

Any one else got any other reports on these lockers?

[Highway-Star]

abclarke wrote:

Damn thats bad luck! How do you think it would have held up if you used the locking tabs? Would have just held fine?

Any one else got any other reports on these lockers?

I'm fairly certain the diff would not have failed, and it would still be going. That said the state of the Chinese locking tabs it came with, If I had of re used them I am also fairly certain they would have come off the heads of the bolts and done pretty much the same thing.

[abclarke]

Ah thats all good then, as you said before, im sure the $35 to chuck the bigger tabs in would be worth it!

[ZookFan]

abclarke wrote:

Damn thats bad luck! How do you think it would have held up if you used the locking tabs? Would have just held fine?

Any one else got any other reports on these lockers?

X2

[DMAC]

Still under test.
So far so good. Half a dozen off road trips. Only about 1000 kays of daily so far.

Will continue testing today.

[ajsr]

Highway-Star wrote:

abclarke wrote:

Damn thats bad luck! How do you think it would have held up if you used the locking tabs? Would have just held fine?

Any one else got any other reports on these lockers?

I'm fairly certain the diff would not have failed, and it would still be going. That said the state of the Chinese locking tabs it came with, If I had of re used them I am also fairly certain they would have come off the heads of the bolts and done pretty much the same thing.

unlucky

how may kms do you estimate the locker had done mate? it obviously gets worked hard. (ive seen your trip pics )
the reason I ask, is the rest of the locker from what I see in the photos looks to have been running very nicely with no visible wear.splines etc look good as do the rest of the spiderers and cross shaft

what type of thread locker did you use as there are many grades of the stuff and perhaps it was not the right one for the app. the reason I mention this its affected both lockers. Ive always found contact cleaning the bolts and threaded holes with contact cleaner ensures the thread locker does it job.

[Highway-Star]

ajsr wrote:

Highway-Star wrote:

abclarke wrote:

Damn thats bad luck! How do you think it would have held up if you used the locking tabs? Would have just held fine?

Any one else got any other reports on these lockers?

I'm fairly certain the diff would not have failed, and it would still be going. That said the state of the Chinese locking tabs it came with, If I had of re used them I am also fairly certain they would have come off the heads of the bolts and done pretty much the same thing.

unlucky

how may kms do you estimate the locker had done mate? it obviously gets worked hard. (ive seen your trip pics )
the reason I ask, is the rest of the locker from what I see in the photos looks to have been running very nicely with no visible wear.splines etc look good as do the rest of the spiderers and cross shaft

what type of thread locker did you use as there are many grades of the stuff and perhaps it was not the right one for the app. the reason I mention this its affected both lockers. Ive always found contact cleaning the bolts and threaded holes with contact cleaner ensures the thread locker does it job.

Km estimate; I'd guess about 1000km-1500km for the rear diff, maybe a tad less. Front one would be under 100km, as it only gets used in 4wd. Both Diff locks were put in the car about September/October last year.

Threadlock is loctite 262. Same one I use on crown wheel bolts, which have never been an issue.

[ZookFan]

DMAC wrote:

Still under test.
So far so good. Half a dozen off road trips. Only about 1000 kays of daily so far.

Will continue testing today.

Where

[roxyjess493]

Can someone please contact me who knows lots about airlockers...
I'm having troubles with mine
Thanks

[jimbo_jones]

mine has been in the rear of my zook for about a year now I pull it out just recent to replace the pinion bearing and locker is fine all bolts are tight and wear visable Id say Ive done over 10000km on it buy now.

[stockman]

jimbo_jones wrote:

mine has been in the rear of my zook for about a year now I pull it out just recent to replace the pinion bearing and locker is fine all bolts are tight and wear visable Id say Ive done over 10000km on it buy now.

How many have you sold all up? Had any issues at all?

[jimbo_jones]

stockman wrote:

jimbo_jones wrote:

mine has been in the rear of my zook for about a year now I pull it out just recent to replace the pinion bearing and locker is fine all bolts are tight and wear visable Id say Ive done over 10000km on it buy now.

How many have you sold all up? Had any issues at all?

Ive sold a shit load no warranty issues so far (tuch wood) Ive had a couple of damaged compressors from couriers being ruff with the box's during transport but thats it no ones claimed waranty and some of my customers are running them in comp style riggs like GQ's

[ZookFan]

jimbo_jones wrote:

stockman wrote:

jimbo_jones wrote:

mine has been in the rear of my zook for about a year now I pull it out just recent to replace the pinion bearing and locker is fine all bolts are tight and wear visable Id say Ive done over 10000km on it buy now.

How many have you sold all up? Had any issues at all?

Ive sold a shit load no warranty issues so far (tuch wood) Ive had a couple of damaged compressors from couriers being ruff with the box's during transport but thats it no ones claimed waranty and some of my customers are running them in comp style riggs like GQ's

What prices do you offer???

[roxyjess493]

I have a problem with my china soong airlocker...
could someone please help me...i've used my locker 4 or 5 times...the locker is still engaged but yet there's no airlines attached...
does any one know what it could or does it sound familiar...