I want to thank Charlie Brown for letting me take pictures as he worked on the Jeep, and to ask forgiveness from all the members of my Jeep Club who are seeing this writeup for the first time after having to struggle with their own installations!
Park the Jeep on a level surface and set the parking brake. Chock the
rear wheels before jacking up the front of the Jeep (the higher the better). Support the
Jeep using jackstands placed behind the control arm mounts on the frame rails. Remove both
front tires. You will also have to disconnect the tie rod at the drivers side to improve
access for removing the differential from the housing.
Remove the drain plug and remove the differential cover. Sometimes it's difficult to pry off the cover with a screwdriver or metal spatula. You may be able to get the cover to move by either prying through the drain hole with 8" socket extension, or tapping sideways on the cover with a rubber mallet. Take your time and remove the RTV sealant with spray gasket remover and a razor blade.
Remove the front brake calipers by removing the two caliper bolts with a 13mm wrench, then prying at the top edge of the caliper using a screwdriver. Rest the caliper on the lower control arm to prevent damaging the brake line. Using a 12 point 1/2 inch wrench remove the three bolts that hold the hub assembly onto the steering knuckle.
You should be able to pull the axle out along with the healed hub and brake dust shield. You will be surprised at the amount of dried mud that it inside the axle tubes!!!
Next remove the bearing caps and cap bolts. Be sure to note and keep seperate the passenger side and driver side bearing caps, and to mark which end of each cap goes up and the bolts that secure each cap. There is a certain degree of wear-in between the bearing races and the caps. If the caps aren't reinstalled in their orignial position, the bearings will be subject to abnormal wear.
On the Dana 30 with 3.73 gears the thickness of the ring hear prevents removal of the cross pin without first removing the differential carrier from the housing. According to the factory service manual a specialized "differential spreader" tool is used to spread apart the housing and release the carrier. For us weekend mechanics a stoud prybar behind the carrier, just inside of the bearing races, and a BFH (Big F***ing Hammer) will pop the carrier out with some effort. It's OK to pry against the spider gears, since they will not be reused. Don't pry against the ring gear or bearing races.
Place the carrier into a vice and remove the bolts that secure the ring gear. Lift the carrier free of the ring gear.
There is a roll pin that secures the cross pin into the carrier. Use a long drift punch to remove the pin. Now, the cross pin can be removed using a punch to drive it out of the carrier.
Here's all the original parts after they fall out of the carrier. You can throw away the side gears and spider gears, as well as the contact-lens shaped thrust washers.
Use medium weight grease to assemble the EZ-Locker. Place grease into the geared faces of the side gears and inner clutch plates, the outsides of the side gears, and into the small holes on the inside (non-geared) surfaces of the clutch plates. Place one of the supplied small metal dowels into the the oblong holes (not the circular holes) in the inside face of the clutch plates. The grease should keep them in place. Next, insert the EZ-locker side gears into the passenger and driver sides of the carrier. These gears came with flanged washers that covered the machined outside surface of the shank. Put these aside since they do not fit into the TJ Dana 30 installation.
Line up each half of the EZ Locker such that the cutouts for the cross pin are aligned. There should be a 3/8" gap between the two halves. Use a steel pick to push the steel dowels from the oblong holes across the gap and into the neighboring circular hole on the other side. Next shove one of the supplied plastic caps into the end of one of the four small springs that are also supplied. Place the spring into the oblong hole (the capped end goes against the dowel), and deftly push the other end of the spring into the oblong hole. Be careful...if you lose a spring you're screwed!
Reinstall the crosspin, being sure that the end withthe hole for the roll pin matches up with the corresponding hole in the carrier. Reinstall the roll pin. Reinstall the ring gear, torquing the bolts to 80 ft-lbs.
Next, clean out any remaining gear oil from the inside of the differential casing. Remove any dried mud from the axle tubes. I used a broomstick to loosen the dirt, and compressed air to blow the dirt out the ends.
Reinstall the carrier by placing it into the housing a tapping lightly with a non-marring mallet. I also used a 4X4 against the bearing races to drive the carrier into position. It isn't necessary to get the carrier precisely into place. Reinstall the bearing caps and torque them to 80 ft-lbs. That should seat the carrier into the correct position.
Lay a bead of blue RTV sealant on the flange of the diff cover and allow it to set up for 10 minutes. Reinstall the axles, taking care to keep the cleaned splined end from dragging through the bottom of the tube. Wiggle the axle to get the splines to slip into the carrier. Complete the reinstallation of the hubs and brake calipers.
Check to see if the locker works by rotating one axle against the other. A prybar or long screwdriver between the wheelstuds should provide enough leverage. You should hear a racheting clicking sound as you rotate one axle while the other is fixed.
Reinstall the differential cover and bolts, torquing them to 30 ft-lbs. Fill with 1.65 quarts of gear oil. Reinstall the tie rod and wheels.
And that's it!!! Take your Jeep for a test ride in some twisty stuff and see how your new locker works!
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