D44 ECTED with Hub Conversion vs. Eaton E-Locker
 

A little background. I ordered a G2 Dana44 front axle from 4wheelparts in store. The vehicle the axle is installed on is currently my daily driver. At the present moment all driving is done on pavement.

When ordering the axle I told the sales person I wanted an Electric Locker in the axle. I specifically stated I wanted it to be an open diff when not engaged and locked with the flip of a switch. "He said yeah its selectable"

When the axle arrived and installed I was told that the limited slip in the front kept the steering tight so it might be a "little different" from normal. I asked what was installed and was told it was an Auburn ECTED. They didn't claim any error, but they were quick to offer to install a d44 hub conversion kit only charging me their cost for the parts.

I have not been told what the cost of the kit will be yet, but after looking at some of the suppliers they mentioned buying from I would suspect it to be in the $1000 range.

Now from a financial stand point I would say that my best option is to remove the ECTED and install an E-locker at no cost to me.

But my question here would be is the ECTED superior to, or to better state, is it superior enough to the e-locker to warrant paying the $1000 to have the hub conversion installed.

What setup is currently on the outers on the axle. I don't quite understand how they built a D44 without hubs unless they use a newer Jeep/unit bearing outers.....
If they are talking about the Warn conversion 1000 is not a great deal...I beleive it runs about 12-1300 right now, and install is hardly worth anything.

Anyway, I would dump the ECTED in a heartbeat, but I've made my opinion of that unit pretty clear on here a few times:ponder:......

ECTED cons...gotta send out to get rebuilt, not a "True" locker, and above all I would never want anything but open in the front for snow (I get about 120" a year here).

The axle I have uses my previous Dana 30 knuckles and rotors. the hub conversion for my axle I have found being sold for $1000 shipped from different vendors on pirate4x4. The guys at 4wheelparts said they would try and get a better deal and install it for free charging me only for the cost of the parts.

It sounds like from a cost and preformance stand point I am better off with an e-locker.

could i ask why you say that? not to hijack but i drive in a lot of snow in the winter and i was considering a front locker and i wanna know why you think otherwise...

and to the OP, to my knowledge the ECTED when in action acts merely as a much tighter ls that eventually loosens up and finally ceases to be any traction aid thus making the driver install a new one. as the guy above me said it isn't a "real" locker and if you want maximum traction then it wouldn't really be the way to go up front. but then again i'm not very tried in this sector of drivetrain knowledge so i'm not positive on what the best choice would be.

When locked, the front will want to go straight when you want to turn. My Rubicon is no fun driving locked (though the shorter wheelbase does not help), and my old No Slip in my 01 was not very snow friendly.

I just don't like anything but open when crusing in snow b/c it is much more predictable than lockers and even LS. I know people on here are going to say auto lockers are fine and they had no problems, but I'd rather not chance the locker doing something I don't want it to do on a turn in snow doing 60mph.

Yeah , it uses a dana 44 setup, with the 30 outers, <----- which ends up being the weakest link. the hub not the knuckels....

I paid $700 for the front kit and am not happy with the fact that the lifetime warranty limits you to 32" or smaller tires, and the fact that I have to send both back to warn so they can send them to Randy's (who now own's the contract on the warn hubs) for a warranty problem instead of only sending the broken one to them, or (in the old days they would send me a new pair and I would send them the bad set back later) Now the Jeep has to be out of comission for weeks at a time due to the shipping of the parts....

However the joys of getting 18 - 20 mpg when I should be getting around 12 like everyone else offset some of the anger....

In my opinion its not $1k superior to the elocker... I'd be pissed.... tell them you'd rather have them install an ARB in the front than have the manual hubs.... It's got the open diff that you want and its usually more expensive than the ected... and they can get some of their lost cost back out of selling the Auburn unit...

Dump the ected and put the e locker in.
The ected is going to make the steering tight all the time but never fully lock. The e locker will remain open and not effect steering until you flip a switch, then it is 100% locked.

I have foudn that there are two hub covnersion kits one for larger than 32" and one for smaller.

This is pretty much what i wanted confirmation of.

I'd go back and get the locker. I like the ARB idea better than the elocker. But the elocker is already paid for.

Can't wait to see some pics of the new setup.

Given that I stated an E-Locker when I ordered the axle I think I have a better chance of getting it for free than an ARB. that and the wiring is already done all they have to do is install the locker itself.

/end thread. That sums it up

The only question I would have at this point is wether to go with an ARB or the E-Locker. G2 sells Dana 44's with the ARB's installed. The Eaton E-Lockers are not an option from them. If I have a choice between the ARB airlocker and the Eaton E-Locker should I go with the ARB? My only thoughts about the ARB is the air tank and the additional components and space availabe.

The ARB has a hell of a reputation for its reliability and strength, but you'd have to deal with air lines and a compressor.

The Elocker has a crap warranty IMO. Anything above stock tire size voids the warranty. I haven't had any big problems with my Elocker though.

If you have the choice between the two though without a huge price difference then I'd go ARB.

ARB requires air source, Eaton is easier with 12v.....have you looked at OX locker?....just to throw another wrench out there!:raincloud
I loved the simplicity of the Eaton when I had it on the old Ranger, the unit was SOLID.

There are two Warn kits, one uses the smaller hubs that are only rated to 32" other kit uses the full size hubs (which you can even get the hub fuse for) but you gotta go with a 5.5" pattern.

I am only running 33" tires and I have no plans to go larger (maybe 35's) or buy new wheels. So I would want to stay with the 5x4.5 bolt pattern. I don't wheel at all really yet. I am over building the rig as it is but did so because the cost of re-gearing wasn't far off from what the axle was and I din't want to dump any money into the disco Dana 30 I had on originally.

I'd have no worries with the lesser Warn kit then with 33"....some guys run it b/c the hubs are the fuse and are simple to fix on the trail.

I'd still not take the deal and go Elocker though.....

I think i will go with the "Give me what I ordered, and you said I would get" argument. if that doesn't work then I iwll tell them i want to return it for an G2 D44 with an ARB.

Yeah, the two different sized kits make it 5 x 5.5 vs 5 x 4.5 and I didn't want to have to buy new rims again after just getting some...

As far as the air source for the arb, its a little ass compressor thats smaller than my battery, and I have the larger sized compressor... doesn't take room that I was using for anything else, and I ran hose from the unit to a coupling so I can air my tires up and what not, but the length of hose allows more volume for the pump allowing it to only turn on when it loses alot of pressure...