Ford 8.8 Locker Install

Heres the Lunch Box Locker in its lunchbox sized box. Our Powertrax No-Slip came from Summit Racing for about $470. Unlike a full case automatic locker, the No-Slip fits in the existing differential carrier. In this case thats a Trac-Loc 8.8 Limited Slip Case. To start we pulled the differential cover and drained the gear oil.

Start By removing the cross shaft retaining bolt and then remove the factory cross shaft from the differential.

Now we can push the axle shafts inwards and remove the right and left side axle C-clips. Use a magnet on a stick, or some needle nosed pliers to get them out of the differential. You will need to re-use these C-clips.

With the C-clips removed the next step is to remove the Z-shaped pre-load spring from between the two side gears. With it out you can turn one side gear and remove both spider gears and their thrust washers from the carrier.

Then each of the side gears will slide out along with their respective clutch packs and thrust washers. Take the non-ring-gear side out first.

Here are the parts that make up the Powertrax No-Slip. Not the new cross shaft and the little baggy with several springs and a machined piece of steel that will come into play here shortly.

This is the coupler. There are two, one for each side. The one on the ring gear side of the carrier needs to be installed with the paddle opening (widest gap in the synchro ring, shown with an arrow) is aimed toward you on the ring-gear side and away from you on the non-ring-gear side. ALso the gaps in the coupler must be lined up with the gaps in the synchro ring. Place the coupler in a vice and and use the active spacer to align them if necessary. Place one C-clip on the ring gear side axle shaft and pull the axle shaft into place.

Shown here is the driver (outside) and one of the active spacers (inside). The paddle on the spacer (black arrow) has to be lined up with the seat in the driver where the extended tooth is missing. The paddle and missing extended tooth of the driver will need to line up with the paddle opening on the coupler, so facing you on the ring-gear side and away from you on the non-ring-gear side

But first you

This is roughly what you should see at this point. The two c-shaped cuts in the drivers (for the cross shaft) should be aligned and the 8 saddle springs should still be in place.

Next step is to install the inner and outer springs between the two drivers to hold the drivers and spacers into the carriers. To do this you will need to rotate the locker a quarter turn inside the carrier to access the hole where the inner and outer springs will live

The inner spring nests inside the outer spring and both fit into the machined recess between the two drivers.

With the first inner and outer springs installed you should see something like this. In order to install the second set of inner and outer springs you

Then pop the springs in place like you did on the other side of the locker. It

Now you can install the other side C-clip and pull the axle outward to seat the C-clip.

After checking that the 8 saddle springs are still in place you can rotate the locker in the carrier in order to install the new cross pin.

Use the factory cross shaft retaining bolt to help hold the new cross shaft as you push it into the carrier and past the 8 saddle springs. You

With the locker installed you can check the gap between the two drivers. The kit comes with a machined piece of steel that will fit between the two drivers in one orientation, but not the other. If the machined piece fits in both ways something isn

That