Thread: Wheels wont move when diff is engaged

when you say wheels won't move, do you mean car jacked up, all wheels off the ground ... or are you doing one wheel, or axle, at a time?

Originally Posted by AK83

when you say wheels won't move, do you mean car jacked up, all wheels off the ground ... or are you doing one wheel, or axle, at a time?

One wheel off the ground, but just having it on the ground as if to drive normally they wouldn't move exept if cdl was put in neutral.

Originally Posted by Markrobb97

One wheel off the ground, but just having it on the ground as if to drive normally they wouldn't move exept if cdl was put in neutral.

Cdl in neutral to get wheels spinning?? That's bizarre are the shifter arms/links all good? I don't see how they could go but I'm just thinking outside the box here lol

Originally Posted by LRJim

Cdl in neutral to get wheels spinning?? That's bizarre are the shifter arms/links all good? I don't see how they could go but I'm just thinking outside the box here lol

From what i can see they are working fine, i haven't check to see if they spin or not though

Not the answer to this question however somewhat related. Dont try forcing hi and low.

I was out getting muddy one day, selected low gear a bit too hard and broke the selector shaft inside the transfer case.

Had to pull it totally down, weld the shaft then back in.

Point being there not that strong atleast in my experience. A bit heavy handed and a lot of work to repair.

Originally Posted by DAMINK

Not the answer to this question however somewhat related. Dont try forcing hi and low.

I was out getting muddy one day, selected low gear a bit too hard and broke the selector shaft inside the transfer case.

Had to pull it totally down, weld the shaft then back in.

Point being there not that strong atleast in my experience. A bit heavy handed and a lot of work to repair.

Cheers, yeah i dont have to put any force into changing to hi low goes in pretty smoothly

Originally Posted by DAMINK

Not the answer to this question however somewhat related. Dont try forcing hi and low.

I was out getting muddy one day, selected low gear a bit too hard and broke the selector shaft inside the transfer case.

Had to pull it totally down, weld the shaft then back in.

Point being there not that strong atleast in my experience. A bit heavy handed and a lot of work to repair.

Thanks for sharing that, might start being more gentle.. don't wanna make that mistake also

Originally Posted by Markrobb97

One wheel off the ground, but just having it on the ground as if to drive normally they wouldn't move exept if cdl was put in neutral.

Not being rude here .. just trying to get the correct terminology set straight!

CDL = centre diff lock
T/C = transfer case.

using the lever for CDL is locked or unlocked(not neutral). move the lever left(locked) or right(unlocked). On the road in daily use it should be to the right(unlocked). Move it to the left(locked) for off road situations.
using the lever for T/C (ie. gearing) is Hi(back) and Lo(forward) and in the middle position is Neutral.

So it seems that what you're saying is that if you lock the centre diff(ie. not put the Hi/Lo transfer case gearing in Neutral) you can't drive the vehicle(ie. as in off road) .. ie. it won't move?

So assuming that your use of the term Neutral = transfer case gearing(ie. not centre diff), if you put the lever in the centre position for Neutral, you can move the wheels by hand if jacked up?

I'm thinking, for example, that if your handbrake is stuck on(at the drum, not the handbrake lever, it will 'lock' the wheels to a degree.
With diff lock set to unlock, to the right(normal road use position), it really only locks the wheels on the rear axle only. If the CDL is set to locked, to the left(off road position), then the handbrake also locks the front axle too.

Even so, reason for all that is just to describe that the T/C and CDL can be a complicated system to test.

But going by your first post, I'd say you've suffered some destruction in the centre diff(CDL), causing it to jam up.
Many years ago when I had my RRC(LT95, ie. integrated transfer case and CDL) basically as you described. A 'CDL' diff shaft had broken into pieces causing it to lock solid internally. That is not lock up as in CDL locked for off road use .. lock up and RRC was rendered (almost undriveable!).

What I tried, back then, was to drive in reverse in low range... try not to turn at all where possible, it seemed to free up whatever inside the gearbox and I then drove home. Every time I had to make a sharp turn(as in Left or Right hander 90°) the car juddered badly with transmission wind up.
On curves it was OK tho. Drive home was about 10km but eventually got there.
I don't really remember any bang noise before the transfer/CDL got jammed, but on reversing it did 'let go' with a slight bang .. like a hammer hitting the gearbox.

I had it towed to my mechanic, stripped and found some diff cross shaft part in many pieces. I have no idea exactly what caused the lockup, but I guess that some loose piece had jammed up in a gear or something like that.