Disco transfer box high low problem

Alright all, I'm having a bit of a problem witha Disco transfer box in a Defender, it jumps out of low all the time and I've run out of adjustment on the lever both ways, so..... i took the selecter rod off the top plate thing on the transfer box, whacked it into low with pliers, to see if it really was just the rod adjustment...... it jumped out of low again, so that told me it wasn't the selecter rod,

I then took the breather off, and then the cover box thingy of the selecter shaft/fork, tried in low again......jumped out..... bummer...

I then had a brainwave about the detent ball and spring maybe being wrong, buzzin, so i whipped out the 6mm alen key plug, pulled the spring out (that was badly miss figured and 6mm shorter than it should be, great... problem found i thought, but I've just bin trying for an hour to get the ball out!!!!!!!! ball ache or what!!!!! is there a trick to get the balls out on them? got another one from another 'box out well easy so its leading me to believe that the detent ball is miss shaped due to being over tight and not knocking over the lip properly to lock into low range, (can feel that with a screwdriver pushing on the ball slightly and moving high to low with my hand) Is this a common problem at all with the detent ball and spring?

Does anybody maybe know if I've done something wrong? or maybe even if it might be something else within the box preventing the shaft from moving its full length?

cheers for any advice

have you adjusted spring so that its wound in to the point shaft jams then back just enough to work,your theroy on ball is poor ,remove sump anmd check low/high selection is comlete check for freeplay in diff bearings ,worn dog teeth

its a rebuilt box, and everything was checked and measured before it went back together (it went back together by the book, step by step)

if the ball won't come out of the hole its designed to come out of, that should be a miss shaped ball?

but have you actually checked its actually going in to hi or low fully ? during or after build ,balls rarely come out of the hole i normally push them out after removing diff, the selector shaft poking out under the 6 bolted housing should come towards front for low ,rear for hi you do need to check engagement first ,it could be loose grub screw on selector etc

jamesmartin said:

but have you actually checked its actually going in to hi or low fully ? during or after build ,balls rarely come out of the hole i normally push them out after removing diff, the selector shaft poking out under the 6 bolted housing should come towards front for low ,rear for hi you do need to check engagement first ,it could be loose grub screw on selector etc

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the selector under housing seems to not go to the point that the ball locks, like the ball is pushing back on it (even with the spring out)

It feels like the ball isn't knocking over the last bit to lock into low gear, i got another ball and spring out of another box using a magnetic screwdriver an it came out really easy, which is leading me to believe the ball is at fault, judging by the spring and how much longer the "new" one is i think the spring that is in the box was compressed that much its miss shaped the ball so it won't slide over into the low lock position, but will get high and neutral no problems, almost like the ball is now oval (hence the struggle to get it out i think) All grub screws in and around where done up with Wurth high tension locktight to be sure nothing could come loose

as you push against ball you should feel notch it drops into further on it will push back as ball comes out of notch hi ,neutral,low

yeah i can feel that in high and neutral, but it feels like its stopping before dropping over into the low position, I've had another box apart to check and the fork can't be off its position cos it wouldn't go back together properly, and i really really doubt the worth lock tight has failed on the grub screw, so it really can only be that ball, from what i have deduced anyway......