ARB solenoids and reliability/longevity

[PWJouster]

whats going on with this?
installed an ARB solenoid directly off the 2.5 gallon 150psi tank.

running my Evo MFG On Demand sway bar disconnect.
worked flawlessly for a week, then crapped out.

every time i would engage the switch, the valve would dump air through the exhaust vent on the solenoid. it would deflate the tank to about 75psi and then the air would leak slowly.
the disconnect was not working at all.

today, i pulled the entire solenoid off and took apart what i could, inspected(looked clean) and reassembled.
the bottom of the brass color metal post under the exhaust valve box piece, and the steel color metal on the bottom of the box piece itself, were showing slight corrosion or buildup. not moving parts though....

put the solenoid back together and boom. it works... i didnt clean it much, and didnt apply any lube.

why did it fail to engage, and why did disassembly and reassembly without cleaning solve the problem? unreliable at best so far.

i put the question out there 1000 times to ARB, EVO, and some techs....do you need to regulate the air into the solenoid? could the 15+ times a day of 150 psi bashing the valve damage it?

ordered that blue mac valve in case this happens again.

every failure of the solenoid i see online, people say clean it up, and it works 50% of the time.

[Low_Sky]

Just a quick google suggests you’re feeding it higher pressure air than most. Don’t know what the solenoid is rated to, but I found a survey on Pirate asking about ARB locker pressure, and most respondents were 80-100 psi. If you keep having trouble, I’d put a regulator in.


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[Colibri]

I have arb lockers in my truck front and rear and the same setup in one of my wranglers, and have been using them for more than a decade in the Jeep. I went through so many solenoids in the first 5-6 years that it’s not even funny. The Mac valves are better quality but they shit the bed too.

The only thing that I’ve found to work 100% of the time are manual air toggle switches. They’re so simple and easy and reliable. The only problem is having to plumb things differently than you would with an electric solenoid, so they’re not just a part swap, you have to reroute a little air line.

Clippard makes them. I think I have part numbers in my build thread, if not I can look it up and tell you if you’re interested.

The arb solenoids don’t like higher pressures and don’t like moisture in the compressed air, and are generally sensitive like a menstruating woman. I hate them lol.

Mac valves are made better, if you want to stay electric just switch to them. They’re still prone to shit the bed under the same circumstances, but they’re likely to last a good while longer than an arb

Clippard switches are the bees knees and can handle way more abuse than anything else. In my Jeep I use CO2 and clippard switches at 150 psi to crash lock the diffs under high rpm sometimes. The truck compressor is regulated to 120 psi. Zero trouble with any of the switches ever. And I use a 5th for the front swaybar on the Jeep.

5air switches in 10 years no trouble. Probably 20-25 solenoids dead before switching

[Reloaderguy]

I always get a good laugh when different forums talk about how unreliable the Elockers are and how great ARB airlockers are in comparison. The air systems (not the diffs) constantly shit the bed.

Sorry, not helpful or constructive. Just kind of reminded me.

[Mule007]

2005 have not had any issues, am thankful for that fact!

[Colibri]

I always get a good laugh when different forums talk about how unreliable the Elockers are and how great ARB airlockers are in comparison. The air systems (not the diffs) constantly shit the bed.

Sorry, not helpful or constructive. Just kind of reminded me.

But so damn true lol.

[PWJouster]

I have arb lockers in my truck front and rear and the same setup in one of my wranglers, and have been using them for more than a decade in the Jeep. I went through so many solenoids in the first 5-6 years that it’s not even funny. The Mac valves are better quality but they shit the bed too.

The only thing that I’ve found to work 100% of the time are manual air toggle switches. They’re so simple and easy and reliable. The only problem is having to plumb things differently than you would with an electric solenoid, so they’re not just a part swap, you have to reroute a little air line.

Clippard makes them. I think I have part numbers in my build thread, if not I can look it up and tell you if you’re interested.

The arb solenoids don’t like higher pressures and don’t like moisture in the compressed air, and are generally sensitive like a menstruating woman. I hate them lol.

Mac valves are made better, if you want to stay electric just switch to them. They’re still prone to shit the bed under the same circumstances, but they’re likely to last a good while longer than an arb

Clippard switches are the bees knees and can handle way more abuse than anything else. In my Jeep I use CO2 and clippard switches at 150 psi to crash lock the diffs under high rpm sometimes. The truck compressor is regulated to 120 psi. Zero trouble with any of the switches ever. And I use a 5th for the front swaybar on the Jeep.

5air switches in 10 years no trouble. Probably 20-25 solenoids dead before switching

the fact is, its my swaybar disconnect and not lockers.... if a solenoid works, the disco will work.
so arb or e-locker irrelevant here, but i dont know about crash locking a dif!! i love it

the fact also stands that its tried and true that electric solenoids shit the bed often....whos ready to start an E-air solenoid company?
Mac valve is on the way, but i do believe an air switch is sounding good right about now....

i guess ill start my reading on the air switch, i dont mind freeing up a spot on the spod for a train horn....o wait, ill need a air toggle

[DamageWagon]

Electric solenoids exist. Air solenoids exist. Electric over air solenoids exist. Air over electric solenoids exist.

- good quality, industrial grade components will give you cycle lives in the several million to several billion count

- any air solenoid that is being fed wet air will foul up and seize. Consider having a wet tank, then a condensing unit with auto-drain, then a dry tank. Many pressure regulators can be had with auto drains as well.

McMaster.com

[PWJouster]

good chance there is a bit of moisture in their. it has a port on the bottom of the tank to drain, but is there a way to filter moisture out beforehand?
or filter it before the solenoid? i am in south florida....moisture will always be present

ordered a regulator anyways, to make sure the evo disconnect doesnt impale the sway bar pin/key, and so any solenoid can work more reliably.

im kind of liking the pneumatic directional control valve for this though. it isnt too hard to plumb three lines into the cab

[DamageWagon]

You will get water in any compressed air system. Best simple setup is to have the hose and one ‘wet’ tank contain the untreated air and give it surfaces to cool. Then plumb those through something with an auto drain. You could use your big tank as a wet tank and then put a tiny on as a dry tank, or you could just use the wet tank and something with an auto drain after it that immediately goes to the outbound line.

[DamageWagon]

This simple arrangement does a killer job. Compressor feeds two small aluminum tanks and then 50’ of air line, then into this setup. Air is cool and water condensed by the time it gets here. The fluid level and air pressure cause this to pop off as water level rises.



This solenoid is fed that air and will see millions of cycles.

This is a simple system and smaller versions of these exact parts are probably pretty cheap.

[RustyPW]

Used this stuff in the power plant. This stuff will take abuse.

https://www.valve-warehouse.net/?gclid= ... gIQxvD_BwE

[ramv]

Failed a few. Froze up a few in winter weather while while wheeling. Broke an air compressor due to the body flexing. The lockers themselves have kicked ass. It’s a complicated system to lock them (or your say bar)

[PWJouster]

electronically and schematically it couldnt be easier. the issue is the longevity and reliability of these solenoids with an On-Board Air system.

im going for a clippard manual switch valve if the arb fails again for no reason.
i have it working right now, and disco is engaging with a vengeance.
i have the Solenoid on the SPOD switch which ive made only active with keyed ignition.
its cool to hear the disco engage when i start the truck and exhaust and release when i shut the truck off. scared the hell out of a coworker today haha