I have a locker type 9" ford rear axle,in my Pete & Jakes 32 chassis. Not shure of the brand,the name Moser was used when I bought it. I know the clicking noise on sharp turns is normal. The other night,while making a wide left turn through a big intersection(8 lane devided,each direction),I heard a loud BANG from the rear axle. Every thing seemed normal after that(35 miles home). Could this be the "locker" unlocking?
Detroit Lockers are now under the Eaton name. Moser uses these. In a turn the inside wheel drives and the outside wheel ratchets until both wheels attain the same speed, such as the inside wheel begins to slip or the turn straightens out. There are various tension springs available that make the ratcheting softer if desired.
You would be correct. Happened all the time in my Jeep that had Detroit locker in the rear axle. Never had any issues with it in the 40K miles I had it in there.
They use a dog clutch, and on sharper sweeping turns they sometimes unlock like that. Wait till you drive it on a slick road, now that's scary.
There are very aggressive 'lockers' avaiable and will do as you describe. They are not generally used in 'street' type rears as posi units work about the same with less racket. You might want to investigate - be a major pia, but i would want to find out exactly what is in there befor summer comes. Agressive lockers are very expensive and kinda rare on the street. I use them when tubbing a street legal car that has several hundred hp and a fat tire, but a traditional hot rod? it would be an unusual combo. People will claim to have a 'locker' when they have a high-grade posi. An aggressive locker will tighten your sphincter when going around a corner (like a ramp) when it is raining as there won't be enough friction to work the innards and let the wheels work independantly. That is why i would be looking in there.
This car came with a 3.89 gear and this locker,a 392 Hemi,and a modified auto trans. It was a real pain to drive on the street. I had the gear changed by a trans shop to 2.90,and that tamed the car down a lot. For some reason the builder set the car up like this,then finished the build as a modern street rod. I have the car in Florida now so it gets driven a lot more often.
I had a 9" make some nasty clunking noises once. I had changed an axle bearing and used new gear oil. Turns out the gear oil was not compatible with "posi type" rear ends. I went to Napa and bought some gear oil that was compatible and noise was gone. My point is this ... because you didn't build the rear end yourself (or have it built), there is a chance you don't really have a true "locker" ... you just might have a "clutch" type unit that needs special lube. Change out the oil for a known gear oil that will definitely work with "posi" rears ... might just be as simple as that . My car was a tubbed Nova that I did not build ... it did have a posi/locking rear and (obviously) required the special gear oil.
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