This thread is a dedicated to a Rubicon axle swap, whether it be front, rear or both!
Tax season left some change in my pocket and as a stupid impulsive decision I got not only one, but two Rubicon axles. For those looking to upgrade their stock axles, do your research and be patient! My impulsive buys were only because they were good prices and I did a lot of digging. Brand new Rubicon crate axles can be found online for roughly $2700 for the front and $2000 for the rear if I remember correctly. For me, I bought each used for a total of $2200 shipped for both axles. The front was purchased with a new set of RCV axle shafts for extra coin.
If and when you upgrade, the best route to take is by using quality components and taking the time to do everything right the first time. I tried my best to follow this route.
My Materials:
1 Rear Rubicon Axle (w/ stock axle shafts)
1 Front Rubicon Axle (w/RCV axle shafts)
2 med. (or 1 Lg) Spool of 18g. Wire
2 Relay boxes
2 Switches
1 Box Female Micro Speaker Connectors (Autozone)
Misc. Wiring connectors / Electrical Tape / shrink tube
2 Timken Hub assemblies
1 Artec Armor Kit
2 sets Synergy Ball Joints
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First thing’s first! Test your E-Lockers! Run a couple leads from the battery over to the axle and use a couple of the speaker connectors to activate the locker. The top black plastic connector is for the locker itself. One is power, one is ground, because the locker isn’t polarity specific, it doesn’t matter which goes where. This is easiest with the cover off to see it function and you’ll also hear the “click” when the locker is powered.
For the axle end, Pull the top black piece, which is actually a plug in a plug. Attach two of the speaker connector wires with wires connected onto the prongs in the top piece, and epoxy those in there. Like shown below. For the indicator plunger, just cut those and attach some slip connects.
Installed they should look like this;
Pictures;
OFF:
ON:
In good shape? Now Jack the Jeep up high enough to comfortably work on it. Best support I found for my two door was by placing jack stands under the front crash bar, and just before the rear lower control arms brackets.
Remove the tires/wheel off of the axle you’re swapping, remove the sway bar links, shocks, drive shaft and track bar. Drain your differential fluid and at this time it would be best to pull the hub assemblies (if working on the front) and axle shafts out.
Once the axle shafts and all other components are off, pull the control arms if you’re replacing or rebuilding joints. If using the stock arms you can leave them bolted to the frame end if the replacement axle is ready for installation.
Now that the stock axle should be completely disconnected from the Jeep, drag it out from under the Jeep and out of the way. With the axle out there is more space to run wiring.
For the wires, I believe I ran two lengths of wire roughly 20’. Because I do not have power windows in my X, I chose the middle of the dash to place my switches. Because I wanted a low profile switch that wasn’t going to get bumped or draw too much attention, I chose some of these black push button LED switches. They are about the size of a nickel.
If using these switches, here is a diagram to show how to wire the switch as well as the LED to function as your locker indicator light. That way, if the locker malfunctions or does not engage, the light will not turn on letting you know there is a problem with either the power to the locker, or the locker itself.
On these switches, the pins on the back are tiny. I took my wire, cut enough of the threas to have the wire fit through the end of the pin. I then used heat-shrink tube over those and lastly epoxied them to ensure they wouldn't move or loosen up. You can see this on the back of the switch below.
Now we can run some wiring. Hopefully this will save you some time! Because I placed my switch location in the middle of the dash, I knew I could hide the wiring easily, and keep it tucked out of the way.
I popped the glove box out, and found two perfect spots to bolt the relays!
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