ARB Leak

[TOOLMAN]

I have a problem with an internal ARB leak. Can't tell if it's the ARB itself or the air seal housing.

What I have done:
After I put the whole rear end together, I was testing (turning off and on on jackstands). It seemed to work fine, and after about the fifth test, compressor was continuously on and found there was air coming from the vent. Pulled it apart last night and took the seal housing off. O-rings seemed good. Put it back together and still leaked. Sprayed some soapy water onto it and it seems to leak from where arrow points to in picture.

Called ARB and they told me to check the adjuster nut retainer to make sure it's not binding the air seal housing, and I'll check that again. I don't think that's the problem. That's all they came up with. I need to narrow down the problem so ARB will send me something to fix it. This is my first locker and I don't know what to look for. Any help would be appreciated!

[horseplay]

Check your adjuster for any burrs you can use a knife sharpening stone to check and remove any burrs. That ring that holds the O rings is temperamental. Double check the O rings for damage or rolling. Also if the pipe to that piece is to short it can pull it at an angle and cause it to leak.

[Digger]

You can bring it by my place and we can take a look at it. I'll check to see if I have any more seals for that setup.

[TOOLMAN]

Check your adjuster for any burrs you can use a knife sharpening stone to check and remove any burrs. That ring that holds the O rings is temperamental. Double check the O rings for damage or rolling. Also if the pipe to that piece is to short it can pull it at an angle and cause it to leak.

Thanks for the response...I didn't see any burrs or o-ring damage, but I'll check again tonight. I'll also check the air seal housing and copper tube tonight to see if there's and alignment issues there.

The weird thing is is when I initially installed it, it held the air during testing on jack-stands. The only time the pump would cycle is every other time I turned on the locker. Otherwise, the system seemed to literally air tight (I left it on for about 5 minutes at a time and couldn't get the pump to cycle even once)! After about the fifth test, it failed and the pump just ran wide open. Wouldn't even gain enough pressure to cycle on and off.

[TOOLMAN]

You can bring it by my place and we can take a look at it. I'll check to see if I have any more seals for that setup.

I may take you up on that. Let me go through it tonight to see if there's anything I missed. I can very likely get ARB to send me new parts if I can just figure out which on it is!

[Digger]

Check your adjuster for any burrs you can use a knife sharpening stone to check and remove any burrs. That ring that holds the O rings is temperamental. Double check the O rings for damage or rolling. Also if the pipe to that piece is to short it can pull it at an angle and cause it to leak.

Thanks for the response...I didn't see any burrs or o-ring damage, but I'll check again tonight. I'll also check the air seal housing and copper tube tonight to see if there's and alignment issues there.

The weird thing is is when I initially installed it, it held the air during testing on jack-stands. The only time the pump would cycle is every other time I turned on the locker. Otherwise, the system seemed to literally air tight (I left it on for about 5 minutes at a time and couldn't get the pump to cycle even once)! After about the fifth test, it failed and the pump just ran wide open. Wouldn't even gain enough pressure to cycle on and off.

That's what strikes me as odd. Maybe a defective O-ring that just blew out. Of the 8 ARBs I've done, this is a first. I feel bad it happened to yours and not one of mine.

[TOOLMAN]

Update: I think it's fixed!

Backstory: I went out to the garage when I got home and turned on the ARB. No leak. Strange. Maybe it's an intermittent thing. Turned it off, waited for about 15 minutes and turned it on again. It leaks. Weird.

I decided to pull the ring off and check the o-rings and such. Pulled the adjuster nut lock tab off. Decided to turn it on again to see if it was still leaking...no leak. Then it hits me: the locking tab is pushing the air seal ring to the opposite side, creating the leak on that side. I shortened the locking tab so it does not touch the ring and viola, fixed!

Digger, I think we adjusted/shortened the tab when building ours, but just not enough.

Here's what I don't get...you spend good money ($1000) on an ARB and they can't throw in a shortened locking tab? Anyway, I think I got it.

Thanks for the help, fellas!

[Digger]

That's great!

I totally agree about the lock tab. I remember thinking on mine that I didn't like unbending the tab, cutting it and re-bending it. That's a lot of deformation and fatigue cracking potential.

Maybe a nice machined tab is in order...

[horseplay]

simple solutions are the best solutions

[Jesus_man]

Have you notified ARB? I would think they would like to know.