Rubicon Front Locker

What does the owner's manual say?

Are you in low or high range?

I have on 05 rubi. I rarely engage the front lockers, but when I have in deep soft sand, mine have never started blinking once they are locked in. I believe it should only blink when engaging or disenaging. I would take it to the dealer.

Low range. It just keeps flashing will not lock in.

Do you hold the button until the blinking stops? When I push it twice both come on flashing and after a few seconds the rear stops flashing the front continues to flash unless I get it in a bind like in a turn then it stops flashing until the bind is released. May never use it but just seems odd. Thanks for the reply. Don

To activate the lockers, you must be in 4 Low. The locker switch on the dash works by pressing down or pulling up.

Press down once to activate the rear, then press again to activate the front. Pressing down should turn the front locker on and off. Pull the switch up to disengage both lockers.

The Rubicon locker has a switch that mounts through the diff case. The switch has a plunger that hooks through the locker actuator plate. A picture of the switch can be found here:

down to the bottom of the page. When the locker is engaged, the plate pulls the plunger on the switch toward the center of the diff. This causes the dashboard light to stay lit.

The light could stay flashing for a number of reasons.

1) an open circuit in the switch or switch wiring 2) low or no air pressure to the diff. Measure with a gauge. Rubicon lockers use low air pressure. You can compare with the rear. 3) locker plate could be jammed, but this would probably cause lots of noise

Don't remove the switch from the diff case. It is tricky to get back in place without removing the diff cover. However, if you do remove the switch, you can test the locker by inserting a 1/4 socket extension into the diff, and pressing on the locker plate. Lift the driver side front tire with the tcase in neutral. Turn the tire to check the locker. Unlocked, the tire will turn. Locked, it won't. In between, it will make nasty popping sounds (that's normal).

If the front lockers are working, you would know it. A Jeep with the front end locked has extremely poor steering. I can't imagine that you would not be able to tell if they were locked.

Paul Nelson

in article snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com, Don Hamilton at snipped-for-privacy@excite.com wrote on 10/4/06 7:16 PM:

Don, sounds like you might have an air line that is leaking on the front axle. Crawl under there and trace it back to behind the transfer case to the little air pump.

Avoid sharp turns and hard pack while using the lockers. Don't be afraid to turn them off/on while navigating sharp turns.

I believe you have to be going 1-3 mph to get the lockers to engage, this could be your problem. Maybe even try stopping, then inch forward until the blinking stops.

The other poster was right. If your front is locked you will know as you cant steer.

Push down for rear, push down again for front. Pull up to disengage lockers.

Sometimes it takes 30 or 40 seconds to lock-in on my Rubi. I found that if you push the axle lock button to lock the axles, then move forward a few feet, then backward a few feet, they usually lock right away.

Tom

No, don't hold the button. Push button once to lock the rear. Push button again to lock the front. If you push the button a third time, you will unlock the front only. Each time you push the button after that, you will toggle the front ONLY on and off. To unlock both, pull the button backwards towards the rear of the vehicle.

If the front or rear light is flashing, then that axle is not locked. Gently drive forward a few feet then backward a few feet. That usually gets them to lock right away.

Tom