diff engagement

hallo people, i have a Tdi Defender, n the last time i used diff lock was about 2months ago when i got stuck in a mud puddle, 2weeks ago when i was travelling, the vehicle engaged itself on diff-lock on a dual carriage way, i was doing about 120kph, and all the wheels locked making me loose control and skidding hard on the tarmac. so i tried disengaging, reversing but no luck. i had to remove the front prop shaft and now engage diff-lock which now the vehicle would move on 2WD instead of 4WD. after the problem was fixed later on, just last Friday i was again on the highway and the vehicle engaged itself again on Diff-lock, luckily i was able to control the vehicle. am now confused and sad that i might fix the vehicle but am not taking my chances again, i might die the next time the vehicle engages itself.

Hi Leon,
Is the Diff Lock not on a manual gearstick?? How did it engage??
Ian.

Hi Ian thanks for reading my thread. the diff-lock is on a manual gear stick. and when the diff-lock engages itself, the diff-lock gear stick is still on its normal place at High range. i took down the transfer box 2days ago and we found that diff-lock gear in the transfer was broken, i've now replaced it with a new one, but when the vehicle starts moving the whole dashboard and steering vibrate on first gear, but other gears are fine. problem now that i have is from downshifting from gears 4,3,2 and 1, the interior vibrates. clutch is new, fork is fine, release bearing is new, front prop shaft is new with universal joints. but even the mech's cant tell what makes the dash and steering vibrate when downshifting.

Have you the correct front propshaft.... sounds like over-run to me.

Hi Leon,

Why did the diff lock engaging cause the vehicle to skid? Did the wheels lock up as in my incident [see scary monent posting].

JonM

Hi Jon, i found out that when i dissengaged the diff-lock after using it, it did not fully disengage, so it was half disengaged, thats why. my mechs say that i should be servicing the transfer box at leat once or twice a year, especially when am using both low range and diff-lock.