Factory JK D44 Rubicon E-Locker Wiring

Axle swap done

Thanks to all the folks who posted info on their Rubicon axle swap and locker wiring on the forum. I kept going back and forth from my garage and the computer while doing my swap to look up various items related to it. I don’t know how I could have done it without that info.
My swap went well, but was much more time consuming than I expected. I think I lost about 5 lbs getting up and down fetching the tools I needed. 3 more axle swaps and I’ll be about where my weight should be. It took me two 12 hr days, but I only had help for about 3 hours installing the new axles and loose fitting all the bolts for later locktiteing and torqueing by myself. I wish I had made a check-off list to ensure that everything was properly fastened and torqued. I missed a rear lower control arm bolt that I only caught when doing the locker electrical hook up as the final step. I also caught a rear spring not seated properly while I was under there. Future axle swappers – do a check-off list so you don’t have to sit and stare at the axles hoping you didn’t forget something.
Following are a few suggestions that might help future axle swappers so you don’t have to search other threads for the necessary information.
1. Disconnect the cables for the hand brake from their brackets to facilitate unhooking the cable. I had the brake rotors off for this step because I think that is necessary for slack in the cable.
2. The red tab on the rear speed sensor pushes sideways to unlock the electrical connection.
3. On the front speed sensor the connection at the axle is impossible to remove or install without bending the splash guard out of the way a bit on the old and new axle. It bends right back when you are done connecting to the new axle.
4. I suggest having the locker wiring at the axles all hooked up with the proper length of wire to reach your switches and routing that wire after the axles are in place rather than having to make those connections while under the jeep as I did. I had the wires routed ahead of time and making the final connections while under the jeep was a pain. I used one common ground from both the actuator and the indicator and one hot lead to each with different color wire. I used the Contra switches wired with the lower light wired to be hot on RUN and the upper light to be controlled by the indicator switch to show when the locker is actually on. Sort of like BADDANDY's wiring diagram.
5. The front axle takes about 1 ½ quarts of oil and the rear about 2 ½ quarts even with after-market dif covers, if the RuffStuff covers on my axles are any indication.
6. If you don’t need to lose weight, having someone just to hand you tools would be a great help. I guess a roll around tool tray could serve that function as well. A heavy duty ½” Impact wrench is not a necessity, but would probably be worth the investment for this job alone if you don’t have one. You need metric sockets from 8mm up to 22mm, a 5mm alan wrench for the front speed sensor, a torque wrench and blue Locktite . A “bull peter”, or spike if you prefer, is useful for aligning bolt holes during re-assembly.
7. I used a fuse tap from the un-used front heated seat fuse position in the fuse box under the hood. I used the rear heated seat position for my LED light bar power. Both of these are only hot on RUN. (see attached photo) The existing locker fuse position is always hot or I would have used that one for the lockers.
8. Other threads show a foam filled hole accessible behind the right and left dash panel end cover that provides wiring access into the engine compartment just under the rear corners of the hood. I used this access to route the wiring into the dash area and to and from the switches and the power and lockers. I cut the stock left A piller cover to mount the switches as shown in the attached photo. There is room for the switches and associated wiring to clear everything if you cut them in as close to the windshield as possible and make sure they don’t interfere with the mounting clip holes in the A piller. My photo shows the Sharpy lines, but they don't show in normal light.
9. The front drive shaft is easy, but the rear requires a drift punch to drive that connection at the axle apart. When reinstalling the rear shaft make sure you have it aligned correctly so the bolts fit through to a threaded hole and not the larger holes there for the drift punch ( I made this mistake). Tie the shaft out of the way during disassembly and you have to compress the shaft by hand in order for it to fit back into the pinion flange.
10. I got wire loom cover at Harbor Freight to protect the locker wiring. Primary wire is fairly inexpensive in various colors at any of the auto parts stores and I used 16 gauge fused at 15amps. Heat shrink butt connectors were used to connect my wires to the factory connectors that I got with my axles from another forum member.
Thanks again to all the forum members who post their “how to” threads for the benefit of us all. I hope this post is helpful as well.
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I am finally getting around to getting a set of Rubi axles from a forum member and have come back to this thread. Tell me how your axle swap went. I haven't picked up the axles yet and any information you can share to make this project easier would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone else who has done an axle swap this way feel free to chime in. Thanks!

I swapped my front out last weekend. I used jack stands and hands tools, took right at 2 hours to drop and install new one. Real straight forward.
 
I swapped my front out last weekend. I used jack stands and hands tools, took right at 2 hours to drop and install new one. Real straight forward.

Can somebody dumb this WAY down please? I understand how to swap the axles out, but lockers are completely foreign to me, especially electric lockers. I'm picking up a front rubi D44 and looking to use the factory locker in it, but unsure how to wire it. And as sad as this is to say, I used to be an electrician and that wiring digram makes half sense to me. What's the box in the middle with 1-6 on it?:thinking:

Just realized you all are using wire harnesses, I was over thinking this. Sorry.
 
Can somebody dumb this WAY down please? I understand how to swap the axles out, but lockers are completely foreign to me, especially electric lockers. I'm picking up a front rubi D44 and looking to use the factory locker in it, but unsure how to wire it. And as sad as this is to say, I used to be an electrician and that wiring digram makes half sense to me. What's the box in the middle with 1-6 on it?:thinking:

Just realized you all are using wire harnesses, I was over thinking this. Sorry.

I think you're talking about the relay in the diagram.
 
Can somebody dumb this WAY down please? I understand how to swap the axles out, but lockers are completely foreign to me, especially electric lockers. I'm picking up a front rubi D44 and looking to use the factory locker in it, but unsure how to wire it. And as sad as this is to say, I used to be an electrician and that wiring digram makes half sense to me. What's the box in the middle with 1-6 on it?:thinking:

Just realized you all are using wire harnesses, I was over thinking this. Sorry.

I think the box you are asking about in the wiring diagram is the switch and the terminals are 2-3 & 6-7-8. When you see the information for the "Contra" switch it shows the normally open contacts between terminal 2 & 3 that completes the circuit to actuate the locker. Terminals 2 & 6 are shown as 12v "hot" with terminal 7 connected to the indicator switch in the axle that energized a light to show when the axle has actually locked. Terminal 8 goes to ground so that the other light on the switch is on when you push the switch.

There is another way to wire this up so that one of the lights is on all the time that the jeep is running, to illuminate the switch, and the other light shows when the axle is actually locked. I did mine this way and didn't use a wiring harness, but the axles I got had both parts of the connectors at the axles. My previous post shows where I got the power to wire mine this way. Let me know if you want more info about this.
 
locker wiring.jpg

I decided to go ahead and post a diagram of how I wired my locker switches. The internal switch diagram shows which terminals are connected to which light on the switches that I purchased online. Do a web search on 4x4 locker switches. I connected so that the bottom light illuminates "Front Locker" or "Rear Locker" on the switch and the top light illuminates the dif lock symbol to show when the dif is actually locked. Wiring this to a switched power source illuminates the switch so you can see it in the dark. There is no light illuminated when you push the switch as in the previous diagram -- you know when you push the switch. As you can see in the diagram terminal 3 is wired to the locker actuator and terminal 8 is wired to the internal switch in the Rubicon differential. The negative wires from both the actuator and the switch are then wired to ground and terminal 7 is also wired to ground. I used different color wires purchased from Auto Zone -- Red for the 12v positive -- Black for the negative wired to ground and two different colors for the switch and actuator in the differential. Only three wires to each axle enclosed in plastic wire loom from Harbor Freight. There are several ground terminals throughout our Jeeps and I used one under the driver side dash end cover near where I mounted the switches.

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I'm getting ready to do this swap on my '13 Sport Unltd. I have the dual LED sPod that I will be using for wiring up my new lockers... Is it possible to make it so that the upper lights on the sPOD switch are only on when the lockers are engaged? Sort of like an indicator?

I see what you all have done when going directly to the Contura switch... but can you do the same with the sPOD?
 
At it's most simple, to activate the locker, is it just one prong from the top plug to the positive battery terminal, and the other prong from the top plug to a ground? Just trying to get to the very basics of the many wiring diagrams I'm seeing. Much obliged.
 
At it's most simple, to activate the locker, is it just one prong from the top plug to the positive battery terminal, and the other prong from the top plug to a ground? Just trying to get to the very basics of the many wiring diagrams I'm seeing. Much obliged.


Yep, that's pretty much it. Obviously you should run with at least a fuse. I have mine wired with a relay through my own fuse/relay panel. I use a OTRATTW switch with the upper light indicating that I've activated the locker and the lower (bar) light indicating that locker engaged.

Number 1 is the locker and number 2 is the sensor.


locker.jpg
 
This thread has some useful info in it, thanks. I do have a few questions that maybe you guys can help with.

In that last image showing the connectors, # 2 is labeled as the sensor. Is there anyway to test if that sensor is bad or the wiring back to the switch on the dash?
 
This thread has some useful info in it, thanks. I do have a few questions that maybe you guys can help with.

In that last image showing the connectors, # 2 is labeled as the sensor. Is there anyway to test if that sensor is bad or the wiring back to the switch on the dash?

You would need to put the jeep on blocks (all four corners). Then put it in 4LO and lock the front diff. If the sensor is working, it will close the switch at the diff. If you have a multimeter in set for resistance (ohms) then it should read a closed circuit by placing the multimeter probes on each of the prongs on the sensor.
 
Yep, that's pretty much it. Obviously you should run with at least a fuse. I have mine wired with a relay through my own fuse/relay panel. I use a OTRATTW switch with the upper light indicating that I've activated the locker and the lower (bar) light indicating that locker engaged.

Number 1 is the locker and number 2 is the sensor.


View attachment 135120

Thanks @Jedg. Just got the new Rubi axle swapped in, so now it's time to learn a thing or two about wiring...
 
Thanks @Jedg. Just got the new Rubi axle swapped in, so now it's time to learn a thing or two about wiring...

No worries. But, credit where it's due. This forum is where I got 100% of the information for the wiring. That picture included.
 
Here's another question:

I'll be wiring it up with female connectors and the like, not using the harness. How do people usually waterproof/solidify the connections to the actuator and indicator? For the actuator, I feel totally comfortable epoxying the heck out of the cavity, because if something ever goes wrong or I need to remove it, a new plug is $20. For the indicator though, that plunger can only be removed (if I understand correctly) by pulling the carrier, which would be a huge pain. If I epoxied in the connections to the indicator, that would be a little too permanent for my liking. Any other suggestions?
 
Here's another question:

I'll be wiring it up with female connectors and the like, not using the harness. How do people usually waterproof/solidify the connections to the actuator and indicator? For the actuator, I feel totally comfortable epoxying the heck out of the cavity, because if something ever goes wrong or I need to remove it, a new plug is $20. For the indicator though, that plunger can only be removed (if I understand correctly) by pulling the carrier, which would be a huge pain. If I epoxied in the connections to the indicator, that would be a little too permanent for my liking. Any other suggestions?

I am doing this install right now and I just use RTV to hold the pins in the connectors
 
Ok I have put in rubi axles in my sport and they came with the connectors on the axles but they were cut about 3 feet off the axle. My questions are, can't I just solder the wires to 1 ground and 1 power? The other question is if I am using a dbox do I even need the second wires off the axle that shows it's engaged? If my switches turn the power on and off that should be all I need right?
 
You are correct. There is no need to wire anything to the engagement indicator switch. I think it is handy to have indicator lights wired to that switch, but it isn't necessary.
 
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