Rickko had been looking for a front locker for some time. He pondered the available options and he knew that without power steering, a front automatic locker would make hitting the trails a real workout! So, it was down to the ARB. Then he heard about the OX Locker!

For those of you who don't know, the OX Locker is a cable activated manual locker that comes with a monsterous new front cover that serves double duty as the housing for the shift mechanism and as a very strong skid plate.

We were fortunate enough to use the hobby shop of a Marine base to do the work.

I'd like to point out that setting up gears should really be left up to a professional. We gave it our all, but Rickko did have to take it to a gear shop to have the backlash adjusted after we got done. (We obviously didn't do it quite right...)

Anyway, with that said, the first step is to lift up the Jeep with the hoist and remove the tires. Rickko's CJ-5 has manual hubs and drum brakes front and rear so this installation is a bit different than that of a Wrangler.

The next step is to disassemble the front hubs. Make sure you keep everything in order and follow the directions in the factory service manual if you have any questions or have never done it before.

You need to buy the special spindle nut tool to get the nut off that is shown in the above picture. Once the hub is off, you need to remove the drum. Then you need to remove the rest of the front brakes.

In our case, since Rickko's brake lines were not long enough, we had to disconnect the hard lines in order to fit the brakes over the spindle. We then used a rubber mallet to break the spindle free front the knuckle. You can then pull the axle shaft out. Repeat for other side!

While Rickko was disassembling the hubs and taking out the axle shafts, I went ahead and drained the oil from the pumpkin.

In order to remove the carrier, we had to disconnect the passenger side of the tie-rod and swing it out of the way.

At this point, we went to work setting up the OX. This includes final assembly of the OX carrier, bolting on the ring gear and tightening everything down. The OX instructions gave wrong ring gear bolt torque specs if you're using your existing ring gear, so use more like 60 ft-lbs instead of 80 if this is the case.

The next step is to install the OX into the housing and check the backlash. Reshim the carrier if required.

Isn't she beautiful?

At this point, go ahead and reinsert the axle shafts, put the brakes back on and reassemble the hubs. The next step involves setting up the shifter, cover and cable.

Here's the cover assembled with the cable.

The next step involves routing the cable. Here is how Rickko has done it for his CJ-5:

Next up, the shifter needs to be installed and adjusted to insure that the locker fully engages and disengages.

Here are some pics of Rickko's masterful installation!

And, posing for the camera!

The OX is one heck of a beefy locker. The cover is 1/2" thick in places and is built to take a real beating!

Once Rickko gets to try it out, I'll let you all know how it works!