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Did a burnout and blew up my M226 Locker

10K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  MobMechanic01 
#1 · (Edited)
Was at work and decided to move my truck, was a little frustrated with my company for being open normal business hours and ONLY scheduling employees with children that are young enough to celebrate Easter. So I did a burnout... if you could call it that made it about 1 full second of BOTH tires spinning which it never does without the locker engaged (which it wasn't) and the heard a LOUD bang which could be heard inside of the building then some grinding and other fun sounds. Then back to normal so I parked it. I made it 20 or so feet and popped again and lost power, the engine would free spin in drive. I assumed it was a spider gear issue and that appears to be right. The ring and pinion look good and not like my customers (missing teeth ::smile::)

I just want to make sure I am right with my options. There are no parts available for these diffs correct? I cannot just order spider gears. So I am stuck with the ARB air locker or the Eaton TrueTrac or however thats spelled. Or I can do another OEM unit. My truck is a 2006 but a later build date I believe i was a 6/06. I do take the truck off road a lot but nothing too major I do like the locker feature but seems weak, and don't want to spend the money on the ARB and hesitant to upgrade (or downgrade however you want to look at it) to the limited slip of the TrueTrac. Any thoughts?

I will add that the truck has an automatic transmission, so its not like I was doing a clutch dump off the rev-limiter. I am a little saddened that it broke that easily. I have sprayed cars out of the hole on slicks for years and never broke a diff.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
A lot of guys are regearing their diffs these days. Keep an eye out for someone who is installing an ARB and just buy their old carrier. It will also be a good time to replace all bearings, races and seal while you're at it.

Also the Xterra off road/ Pro 4x models have m226 w/elocker too.

Sent from my HTC EVO with AutoCrash mobile app.

I just picked one up for $100.

Sent from my HTC EVO with AutoCrash mobile app.

Do a bit more research but a carrier out of a titan diff might work too.

Sent from my HTC EVO with AutoCrash mobile app.
 
#3 ·
A little wheel hop and or a spin and grab... Yep, that will do it :)
 
#8 ·
Is it really that easy to blow a diff on this truck by just burning out??? I have broke the back loose many times, usually 1 wheel, and never had an issue. Am I attempting fate everytime I gun it from a stop?

Did your truck have a Tune or WOT restriction removed?
 
#9 ·
No tune and I just sold my bullydog. I can't believe it was that easy. It does normally do a 1 wheel peel but that day it did two. I do have the Austin mod but the locker was not engaged. Stock engine, stock street tires, stock height, led light bar on the roof.
 
#10 ·
The early 2nd gen m226s with lockers had 2 side gears and where later upgraded to 4. Same as the front diff, when the side gears go, bad things happen. And as far as replacement, I think a junkyard axle is in your future. Whether its a replacement or parts.
 
#14 ·
I had read that the late model 2006 trucks got the 4 gear setup and I can confirm that mine did have the 4 gear. I dont think my failure had anything to do with that but just trying to provide info for anyone else with this issue.

After a while of searching I think I found a donor. Came from a 2013 with 1300 miles!
 
#17 ·
Not very many 4 spider gear axles have blown up. A whole ton of the early 2 spider axles went kaboom though. Interesting for sure.

And I believe most of the 226's have the 4 bolt flange. I know mine does.
 
#18 ·
Finally got the truck back on the road! NO MORE BURNOUTS!!! I found a low mileage differential from a 2013 (1300 miles) and basically ended up with all the internals shipped to me for $500 no housing. I figured I can sell any extra parts off of it and recoup some money. I did want to confirm that my later production 2006 had the 4 spider gear setup and my gears were in good shape. This piece is what broke and its hard to tell from the picture but it has the one very large crack as well as 4 smaller cracks as well so I wonder if this was all from the burnout or if it has been ongoing. I guess I'll never know!
 
#19 ·
I put the TruTrac in my Titan, with 4.11 gears... Lasted about 6 months, then this happened:
 

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#20 ·
Too much pressure from the weight of that truck, when accelerating, on the ring & pinion...
Put another new ring & pinion on it, then blew that one up 5 months later.
Switched over to 4.56 gears, and it lasted 3 months.
Bought a whole axle from a wrecking yard, and went back to stock, which lasted till I sold it, 2 years later.
If I had it to do again, I woulda bought a bolt-on Dana 60 from Currie, and been done with it!
But it was a beautiful truck, while I had it :)
 

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#21 ·
Of course, I didn't know the tooth was going, I just knew when it finally went!
Bang! Thunk thunk thunk...

And if you look close, those cracks go pretty deep between the teeth! So chances are, it was building & building until one tooth finally let loose...

Which is probably very similar to the way it happened to yours!
 
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