Outdoor Adventure USA

The Toyota E~Locker Retrofit......Finally!

http://sonoransteel.com/phong/retrofit_ ... #benchtest

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/electric_locker/





An email to a good friend today telling the start of the mod.....


Hi Mike,

A miracle happened today!

I made contact with the e locker guy yesterday. He still had the locker.

I called Mark at Pro Gear to see if it would fit my truck and could I use my own 4:10 gears. (this 2007 FJ 3rd member has 3:72 gears)......and Mark said yes it will all fit. I did more reading on this and I may need a new inside bearing for my 4:10 pinion.

I asked the seller to prove to me that the little electric switching motor was working. He claimed that he hooked it up to a battery this morning and it worked. But when I got to his house, he could not make it work.

He was asking $125. And here is the deal.

He works at a Toyota dealership. He got this part for free. It was a Toyota warranty replacement item. They have to keep it for three months in case Toyota wants to inspect it. After that, Toyota just throws it away. So he got it from the junk pile for free!

So I offered him $50 since he could not prove that the little switching motor was working. I figure that's a scap metal price. And Mark at Pro Gear told me it's a steal at $125 and he would buy it from me for that if I didn't want it! Kewl!

I got it for just $50 bucks!

The seller today told me these E~Locker Third Members sell for $1,500 new at Toyota.

This is awesome! You know how long I have been waiting for one of these!

Now I need to find a good fair shop to install. Pro Gear told me they have never done the E~Locker Swap. But they may be willing to do it, as he told me they have done many wild things in their time!

I need somebody who knows how to weld good. Has a plasma cutter. And knows how to drill and tap in new stud bolts. And knows wiring, for the dash switch. And how to fix the little electric motor if it's not working.

Ya think we can have a huge SWR party and getter done?

Aloha! Mark........"SWR"

Best mod, I did my own, what a difference.

Score! Good luck with that too. I'm terrified to death to mess with anything on the drive line.

I just found an Awesome Switch that I want to order.

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.ph ... tches.html





Nice parts site too.


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After Three Buses....One Trolley ride and 3 hours today. I was finally able to pick up the SWR!

I actually was planning on taking the Sycamore Canyon bike trail from Poway to Santee and El Cajon to pick up my truck, but we just had two days of rain and the trail would be a total mess. So I took the MTS.

Here is the bike trail! This seems way cool!

http://www.mountainbikebill.com/SycamoreCanyon.htm

I really want to do this bike ride one day. I bet it's not used very much or even well known. And I think I could have made the bike ride on the trail in half the time.

Ever since I bought the Scenic WonderRunner in 2004, I have wanted this mod! Finally the stars aligned!

He kept his word on the price! I would recommend Nick Baldwin to anyone!

Nick said he tooks pics of the mod, as I asked. So when he sends them, I will add. Nick said he talked with all of his local mechanic buddies, and not one has ever seen or heard of this mod. I asked Nick if he would be willing to do this again, and he said yes. So I told him I would do my best to send him customers.

Here is his website.

http://southerncaliforniaautomotiverepa ... index.html

Here is Nick's personal truck that he built.




So far it's working perfect....








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Nice! Do you have any plans on testing it out somewhere?

I'm thinking about testing out at In~Ko~Pah this weekend.

There is a pretty steep hill climb down by the barbed wire fence.


~Mark


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Took some pics today.....

I see some oil drips. Need to keep watch.



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Not happy with the way they left my wire connector exposed. I was able to take the little electric motor shield off tonight and put the connector behind the shield.

I've had my eye on the All Pro Electric Locker Actuator Guard, since I bought the E~Locker in August.

https://www.allprooffroad.com/fjtrailar ... ockerguard




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Connector under shield pics...

Any news on the leak? That looks "less than OK"