E-locker failure on 392

[Alid83]

I have a 2023 Jeep 392. Currently has 2500 miles on it. It’s been sitting in the garage for the past couple weeks and hasn’t been driven due to the fact we put a 3.5 inch rockkrawler lift on it and my appointment for the alignment isn’t until next week. Anyways my husband pulled it out of the garage today so he could freely work on his truck. He said he noticed when backing it out of the garage it was acting weird. He put it in drive and turned the wheel to drive it down the driveway to park it and when he did that he said there was a loud noise in the back end. He drove it down the driveway and parked it. Couple hours later he got in it and put it in reverse and again it was acting weird. He parked it in the garage and then came and told me. So I went out and got in it and backed it up and immediately noticed it seemed like the rear locker was locked and when I put it in reverse i heard metal against metal. I immediately put it back in the garage and told my husband to pull the rear diff cover off. To my surprise this is what I saw ??‍

How the heck does this even happen if the rear locker has never been used.
I’d also like to mention that my Jeep is the 20th anniversary so it has 4.56 gears.

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[driventoadventure]

Is it just me, or does that look bone dry - like never has had any gear oil in it dry...

 

[Alid83]

Is it just me, or does that look bone dry - like never has had any gear oil in it dry...

because this picture was taken hours after we pulled the diff. It definitely had enough fluid.

 

[Alid83]

Is it just me, or does that look bone dry - like never has had any gear oil in it dry...

this picture was shortly after pulling the diff cover off..

 

[driventoadventure]

this picture was shortly after pulling the diff cover off..

Ahh, I just am used to seeing much more oil everywhere...

 

[Alid83]

That's reassuring, I just am used to seeing much more oil everywhere...

im just at a loss on how this even happened. ??‍ I don’t know what it is about the 2500 mile mark but on my 2019 JLUR I had before this one the oil pump went out at 2500 miles lol.

 

[Jeep Wick]

im just at a loss on how this even happened. ??‍ I don’t know what it is about the 2500 mile mark but on my 2019 JLUR I had before this one the oil pump went out at 2500 miles lol.

My advice, put it all back together, fill it up, flat bed to the dealer and tell them it made a bad noise and needs an alignment.

 

[aldo98229]

?

 

[Gorilla57]

That’s not a locker failure. That’s a ring and pinion contact failure. Those marks in the carrier are from the pinion eating away at it. It could be from the pinion bearing failing, loss of the pinion nut, something allowing the pinion to contact the carrier. This is wrong on so many levels. Likely gonna need a whole new rear axle.

Here is what it should look like.

(for anyone looking at this pic, the gears are set up wrong, bad wear pattern, don’t copy this wear pattern and think you've set up your gears correctly)

 

[MountainRigged]

Fill it up with the same fluid, bring to dealer. Don't tell them you removed anything and try not to make any marks around there with your tools, or they may not adhere to their warranty terms.

They're notorious for not honoring them, as you may know.

 

[Beachcomber72]

Is it just me, or does that look bone dry - like never has had any gear oil in it dry...

Just you, there’s at least 7 visible signs in the picture that clearly show it had oil in it. And more importantly a proper level of oil…

 

[driventoadventure]

Just you, there’s at least 7 visible signs in the picture that clearly show it had oil in it. And more importantly a proper level of oil…

The original picture looked a lot cleaner, didn't even look to have oil residue on the wiring which in my experience is the last thing to clean up. The current picture is plainly obvious as you mention.

 

[mskillen]

Looks like the pinion gear might be loose, that the only thing I can think would cause that damage.
I'm interested to see what is wrong with it.

 

[6.2Blazer]

As mentioned, the failure really doesn't have anything to do with the locker. The pinion bearings either failed or the pinion nut came loose...based on where the pinion was contacting it I would say the pinion nut came loose which allows the pinion to back into the diff and make those marks. Definitely could have a factory defect where the part was not built right. Just to verify, the pinion nut wasn't accidently removed or loosened when installing the lift? Was it fine prior to installing the lift? The reason I ask if it would be unusual if there were absolutely no issues driving it, you then installed the lift and parked it in the garage, and the next time you drove it it looked like that. Not even sure that just backing it down the driveway and back into the garage would cause that much damage??? Almost looks like it was driven more?

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