Thread: Ashcroft CDL and the SLABS ECU wire cut

well the CDL linkage is connected and the plate riveted back in place.

My hot tips for instillation are:

• Check the CDL spigot on the transfer case moves using a 10mm spanner. Take note of how much it moves and in what direction.

• Be prepared to put the CDL linkage cable on and take it off a couple of times. It really is the quickest way.

• Connect the cable to the transfer case first (cable to spigot first, then the two bolts for the support into the transfer case). Check that moving the lever turns the CDL locking spigot as much as it turned using the spanner.

• Disconnect the other end of the cable from the lever assembly, get under the car and pull the whole cable underneath the car. Then re-route the cable up the drivers side of the transmission tunnel. This will save a lot of hassle later on.

• Check the holes in the new CDL lever are big enough for the cable retainers to fit, mine were not and it took a lot of cussing and grazed knuckles to work out what was happening and everything had to be unbolted and disconnected to remove the lever assembly.

• Use the metal plate that sits on top of the rubber gator on the new CDL assembly to mark out the size of the hole you need to cut. It is smaller than most of the instructions on the internet show.

• Bolt the new CDL linkage into place, then connect the CDL cable and tighten it up - do not forget the small nut on the end of the cable, then connect the high/low cable. If you think this way is hard, wait until you try it the other way around. You really want the smallest cable to be the last one you connect.

• Fight it all back in place and start riveting. It would be useful to have help here as you need to hold the plate in place at the same time you line up the holes and use a rivet gun.

Things I discovered:
1. My 1/2" 10mm socket would not fit the two bolts on the transfer case, but my 1/8" 10mm socket did.

2. My hands were to big and required shaving down to size in order to put on the last cable retainer, which is done by feel because there is no room for light to penetrate into the transmission tunnel by this stage.

Things I'd like to know:
1. How on earth you are expected to tighten the large 15/16ths nuts that hold the cable onto the transfer case when there is no room to move a spanner that big in the transmission tunnel (I'll be attempting to tighten them from underneath tomorrow).

2. Why did 10 of my 13 rivets snap 1/2 way along the shaft not at the rivet head? Was it poor rivets, poor rivet gun (manual) or poor technique.

On the up side all I have to do tomorrow is put the trim back in and find a bit of dirt to test it out on.

Mine is a block of coloured connectors. It's the only block of 5 connectors and is the outside block. Mine is the last of the d2's so they may have gone to new colours for the d2a.its also the only block where the centre connector has a black with blue.