Diff Lock

New member, but copious amount of Soave making me feel brave!

How do I know diff lock works?

Appears to go into selection and drives. No diff light, so could just be a bulb?

How do I test?

find a large gravel area, apply full lock and gas it round in a circle with diff locked. if the diff lock works youl feel the front wheels jumping outwards as the truck tries to drive in a straight line.

Of course if he doesnt live in a quarry...he could jack one corner up and see if he can turn the wheel by hand with difflock engaged...

When you put it into diff-lock it doesn't always engage immediately as the collar needs to be able to slide over the two gears, if they are out by a whole tooth then the slack in the system will not be enough to let it slide in - after driving a few meters it will then jump in and the light comes on. Check that first.

To physically test it: do the above or jack a wheel a little off the ground (front or back) enough so it can spin freely and set it up so if you drive off the jack you won't cause any damage, engage diff lock jump in and try to drive off, if you sit with the jacked wheel spinning away your diff lock is not engaging - this test also loads it better than spinning it by hand to see if it has REALLY locked it up properly.

If you can't get it to engage it doesn't mean it is broken necessarily, it could just be the linkage needs adjusted.

The bulbs don't usually fail (they are not on enough) if it was to be electrical then it is more likely the wiring at the switch etc...

storm99 said:

Of course if he doesnt live in a quarry...

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o ye ah forgot about the tiny turning circle:doh:

best way to find out fast, engage diff lock on tarmac, and go to drive in a circle, if the front wheels slip and queel you know its fine. if your doing this do it slow though you dont want to be breaking halfshalfs

ontowtom said:

best way to find out fast, engage diff lock on tarmac, and go to drive in a circle, if the front wheels slip and queel you know its fine. if your doing this do it slow though you dont want to be breaking halfshalfs

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Er.. i'd ignore this advice if i were you.

Cheers Gents

YORKIE_GAV said:

Er.. i'd ignore this advice if i were you.

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why's that then. its not going to do it any harm just to see if its working or not

Anything that has the potential to cause damage is best avoided..i'd have thought..

Because going slow or not ya risking breaking something, or at the very least increasing wear. Why risk it when there's ways of telling risk free?

YORKIE_GAV said:

Because going slow or not ya risking breaking something, or at the very least increasing wear. Why risk it when there's ways of telling risk free?

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driving a defender of any sort isnt there a risk every time you use the thing its gonna break... i know there is with mine!!

Had the same problem, turned out one of the connectors had come of the switch, put back on all sorted, check the easy stuff first.

i'd rather drive it slowly on tarmac to test than drive it off a jack!

as just been said . jack it up if the dif is in then you wont be able to turn the wheels. ive got a provlem with my Diff light. i no the diff is not in but the light is still on

discopaul said:

as just been said . jack it up if the dif is in then you wont be able to turn the wheels. ive got a provlem with my Diff light. i no the diff is not in but the light is still on

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its not windup? you tried reversing to unwind?