Diff lock not engaging!

[Scotty85]

99 Defender 110 TD5. So I'm currently away camping up the beach. Pulled over to let the tyres down, then went to engage low range before going onto the sand. Put it into low with ease and the diff light came on as per normal. Went to take off and nothing! No movement, just sounded like it was in neutral. I repeated the process several times with the same result. So next I tried High range. It clicked in and I took off about 1/2 a meter and then High popped out. Again, I tried this several times with no luck. So I made it up the beach in just normal drive. Does anyone know what the issue might be or a possible solution? I took the defender to a LR specialist a couple weeks ago who stated that he did a full inspection and test drive and everything was good, minus a few oil leaks (standard ) and shot shocks.

P.s My friend is driving up the beach with a toyota pardo... had it in low and got bogged 😁 whist mine made it through in normal drive haha. Love my defender!!

[Scouse]

If it pops out of high range, what's 'normal range'?


Lever to the left for diff lock, regardless of low or high range.


If you have no drive, you have selected neutral in the transfer case (between low & high postions).




Once you have it in low or high, drive forward for a metre or so then re-engage the lever to make sure it's fully home. If you don't do this, it can pop out like I think you've discovered.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

They do go bang when they pop out!:D
sounds like the previous owner used it as a shopping trolley.
Centre Diff Locks in that model (just like mine) are a use it or lose it thing.
You can engage it at any speed on a LOOSE surface, just remember to disengage while still on that loose surface.
My Rossi used to like a bit of clutch engagement when moving to low or high to help it lock in.

[DazzaTD5]

In addition to what has already been said...

Engaging either the centre diff lock or low/high range is the moving of a dog gear (collar) by a selector (shift) fork. On the centre diff the selector fork has a spring, so your lever in the cab can be moved to the "engaged" position, the detent (a spring and a metal ball) engages into a groove in the selector shaft, and then as the gears line up the centre diff will engage.

The range selector work directly on the selector (shift) fork, if the gears on the dog collar and the gears on the hi / low range gear set arent lined up, the detent has also not engaged into the selector shaft, it doesnt engage and stays in neutral or jumps out of the range selected with a bang.

What does happen on a Defender is the shift linkage between the range gear stick in the cab and the arm on the transfer case can be bent if a driver applies too much force when shifting, it then becomes very difficult to shift between high and low range.

As most old Land Rover owners know....
*Engaging the range selector (high or low) while moving slowly forward will assist in complete engagement.
*Having minimal load on the driveline while changing assists in a smooth shift. in other words, select the range before you tackle the hill or sand.

Regards
Daz

[Scotty85]

Thanks guys for the help. I'm now back home and have battery life! And a chance to reply. Couldn't get it into low at first, but as was suggested, a bit of force and a bit of movement, in it went and away we went :) She was still giving me a few niggles here and there. In the end I didn't need to use low range as my landy didn't find the sand too soft... can't say the same for my friends prado! I think I'll need to get it checked over before I go on a big trip. Thanks for the help :)

Cheers,

Scotty

[JDNSW]

Actually, I suspect that the problem may be that the transfer lever rarely gets used - worth exercising it from time to time even if you don't use it. As I found with the overdrive lever on my 2a recently - overdrive is rarely used, and the lever would not move when I wanted to use it. Took a week soaking the pivot in penetrating oil.....

John

[Didge]

Also possibly gear linkage slop if it had been used a fair bit previously

[peter_yqm]

I agree with Didge, I had too much movement in the plastic sleeved pivot and quick fit clip assembly making shifting into diff lock somewhat vague, even though the linkage and adjustment was optimal and there was no issue with the transfer case mechanism.
I solved it by removing the 8mm pivot pin on the long vertical crank lever (grind off the two welds with a Dremel tool and knock the pin out) and the using the original nylon bearings replaced it with an M8 stainless bolt, stainless washers and nyloc nut. Tightening just enough to stop the vertical lever twisting made the shift lever positive and now engages positively without trouble.

........peter

[Didge]

Well you tidied that up nicely Pete :BigThumb:, I just tightened mine with some washers and a bit of force :)