I have a 2005 F150 4.6L Supercab, axle code 19, 3.55 open diff front and rear. Rear diff is a 8.8
I just put my aussie locker in and I had an issue with the spacers not fitting over the ends off the axles. I solved that problem by filing down the very end of the axles inside the carrier. Anyone else have this issue?
The other thing was the center gap, once installed. It has to be between .145"-.170". Mine is .186". That is without the thrust washers. Ive been running it without the thrust washers for about 100 miles and so far so good its working fine.
My thrust washers were .040" witch is to big. I couldn't get the pinion shaft through with them installed. I bought thrust washers that are .028", and still couldn't get the pinion shaft though the carrier and locker.
Has anyone been running an Aussie for awhile without thrust washers?
Will I be okay being .016" over on my center gap?

 

I think Aussie got bad measurements for the 31 spline 8.8".
I had an Aussie in my sport trac which also had a 31 spline 8.8". I have heard of this problem tons of places.

I had the exact issue installing mine. Physically I could not fit it all in there with the thrust washers. I had to install it without them, slightly over the gap measurement. It was fine for a few months. Then it started to skip and pop every now and then. Within weeks, I had several instances where the drivetrain would spin up and the truck went no where, the gap was too big and the axle side gears were sitting still while the center was spinning. This quickly chewed up the teeth.

I called Aussie and complained and explained the issue and they finally sent me a new one and said I must have missed something. Then they told me I needed to find different thrust washers. You cannot just buy the thrust washers of different thicknesses. I tried everywhere.

When the new locker showed up, I tried cleaning out the assembly lube as much as possible and still couldn't get everything to fit right. I was sitting there with the center pin sticking half way in and not quite enough clearance. By this time I was fed up. I took a metal hammer and started tapping on the center pin, and hammered it right in. It was of course tighter than spec but I put it all together and bolted it up, and filled it with oil.

When I first turned out of the garage, the tires scrubbed for a second and then it unlocked. Once it did it worked perfectly. I never took it back apart to measure it, but after a year it never skipped or popped, and it worked way smoother than the first one. I have heard that other people had to do the same with the 8.8" axle and Aussies.

So that is my recommendation. Take it apart before it chews up the teeth, put the thrust washers in and hammer the pin back in. It felt so wrong when I did it but it worked, and I heard the same from several others.

 

Here was mine with the pin stuck halfway in there. That is when I finally committed and just hammered it in.


Put the thrust washers back in before it looks like this.

 

Thanks for the info. That's what I'm gonna do. I just got a zytainium pinion shaft from lock right so I have to get back in there to put it in anyway.
What size thrust washers do you have in there now?
I guess I should use the .028"

 

I don't remember the measurements. The pictures are from over 2 years ago and I traded the rig for my F150.
If you can find thrust washers with smaller measurements, give it a shot.
Part of me thinks that I just couldn't get the axles pulled out far enough (I had buddies help as well) without weight on the axles. I bet if I pulled the cover again it would have been back in spec.

 

In order for mine to be within the correct specs I need thrust washers between .010"-.015". I did some searching and they don't make them smaller than .025". Anything smaller and the washers would dish out under the pressure. I think your right about Aussie having the wrong measurements for the 8.8 31 spline. There are two measurements you have to check during the install. The first one... You have to put the axle side gears in and put the spacers in without the cam gears. Then slide the pinion shaft through and measure the gap between the spacers and the pinion shaft on both sides. Specs on that are .006"-.020". Mine with no thrust washers is .025", on both sides, Yours with the thrust washers, and the pinion shaft hammered in, is actually touching. But your way at least leaves the final gap measurement within spec. BTW Aussie customer service is incredible. At like 8:00pm on a Sat. I got a tech on the phone. They are still working with me to figure out the problem. When I get in there to take it apart again they want measurements of all the lockers parts, to see if its alright. I'll let u know what happens. Thanks again for the help.
Do you know if anyone makes a lunch box locker for the 8.8 28 spline that will work on the F150 IFS?

 

I'm tempted to dig up the handfuls of threads on various Ranger/Explorer/F150/Bronco forums where people had the same problems and forward them to Bill or whoever is help you. lol
I remember taking the measurements of everything, and swearing that there was no way to make it all fit with the thrust washers. The numbers you are saying sound very close to what I remember. When I called them and told them I put it together without them, they couldn't explain it, couldn't tell me if it was going to work okay or not. They offered zero help. After it got trashed they finally sent one, they still weren't helpful. All they told me was that I needed smaller thrust washers (which don't exist in the thickness I needed, same problem you are having). So like I said, I finally went against common sense and hammered it in and it worked great. I wish I would have taken it apart again and measured. Something tells me that after everything was together with weight on it, and rotating again it went into spec, who knows?
Best of luck anyway, definitely post what happens.

I believe the only lunchbox locker for the 28 spline 8.8 now is the lock right. Similar product but more expensive. Depending on where you live I may be able to talk you out of an automatic locker up front though. I ran front and rear aussie lockers in my sport trac. While it worked awesome off road, I worried about CV joints as the steering was quite a bit tighter in 4x4, and 4x4 in the snow was a different experience. It is drivable in the snow in 4x4, but it likes to go straight when you're on the throttle. I moved from Oregon to Kentucky through lots of snow/ice, pulling a loaded down 6x14 cargo trailer and it got around fine, but if I lived somewhere where it snowed frequently I would go that route again. I'm going with an E-locker up front this time, I think, so the front is locked only for the small time it really needs to be. With the rear locker I rarely found that I needed one up front anyway, but I got it for a good deal and it was fun!

 

This may be a little off topic... I have the same rear end setup as the OP and I installed a detroit true trac a few months ago. Instead of a center pin, the true trac uses a metal puck-type spacer to keep the axles in place. Mine wouldn't fit. I called eaton/detroit and the supplier and both told me that I had the right part and (basically) that I must be doing something wrong. I confirmed that everything was as it should be, so I took the metal spacer to the bench grinder to make it fit. I ground it down, got it in there and it works great. I just had it apart last night again to change the fluid and make sure everything is still as it should be, and it's fine.

My point of this rambling is that I wonder if somewhere somebody wrote down the wrong spec for the axle spacing on the 8.8 31 spline and all these aftermarket companies are building these parts with the wrong spec.