Detroit Locker Failure

Jacked her up onto axle stands and drained the oil. Couldn’t see anything abnormal. Just the usual amount of fine metal particles on the drain plug magnet and a lot of milky green oil.
I couldn’t turn the wheels, so assume the axles are okay.
I’ll put the centre differential in neutral and try turning the prop shaft. Not sure doing that will tell me much.

milky oil means its got water in it

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Originally Posted by Red90

Disco 2…..

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pull em to check the internal splines.

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Originally Posted by biggin

Jacked her up onto axle stands and drained the oil. Couldn’t see anything abnormal. Just the usual amount of fine metal particles on the drain plug magnet and a lot of milky green oil.
I couldn’t turn the wheels, so assume the axles are okay.
I’ll put the centre differential in neutral and try turning the prop shaft. Not sure doing that will tell me much.

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Sounds like the locker is broken. You should be able to turn a wheel forward.

Sucks that it is a Disco 2 as pulling it part is a pain.

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Originally Posted by Red90

Sounds like the locker is broken. You should be able to turn a wheel forward.

Sucks that it is a Disco 2 as pulling it part is a pain.

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No matter. I installed it in first place,
so I’ll just put the old diff back in.
I’m not as adventurous as I used to be, so probably won’t miss it.

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Originally Posted by goingbush

And your still driving it ? After the first unusual clunk I'd have had it up on axle stands and dissasembling till I found the problem, each succesive drive can be adding to the repair bill exponentially. But as suggested probably a flange , that would be a bullet dodged. But If you don't know what part the flange is I think your the wrong guy to be on the spanners.

And no, your mate is wrong , replacing the oil wont help.

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Thanks Goingbush, I’m not still driving it, but thanks for the encouragement.
It’s this sort of useless response that must discourage many people from this site.

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Originally Posted by biggin

No matter. I installed it in first place,
so I’ll just put the old diff back in.
I’m not as adventurous as I used to be, so probably won’t miss it.

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I would switch to a truetrac or ashfroft atb. They work well with the traction control. The stick diff is really weak so is a recipe to leaving you stranded.

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Originally Posted by Red90

I would switch to a truetrac or ashfroft atb. They work well with the traction control. The stick diff is really weak so is a recipe to leaving you stranded.

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That’s my plan. I’ve a TruTrack in the front and works well.
Pulled the Detroit apart today, found many teeth broken off internally.
Original diff is installed back in the housing, dialed in and ready for installation tomorrow.
Not a bad job really. Just a bit smelly. At least I’ll be able to get to work on Monday.

Job done, back on the road. Still don’t know what the flange is all about though.
I don’t get many weekends working on the D2 as they are so reliable. Quite enjoyed it.
I know it’s probably only a 4 hour job for the professional, but I like to take my time.

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Originally Posted by biggin

Still don’t know what the flange is all about though.

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The flange check is for axle condition,

in the d1/deefer version the axle end at the flange is a weak point, and in about 40% of the diffs I've seen with the symptoms you've described its a stripped spline stepping over that causes the noise. In the later versions early wear in some instances turn up on the inner side of the axle.

as you've got to pull the axles to drop the diff out you can check them first..

The remaining issue thats not the center itself is the CWP stripping out. With the axles out checking the rotation of the input flange will clue you in as to what else might be wrong BUT, if the axles and flanges dont show damage the diagnostics benefit of knowing if its likely to be the center or the CWP setup really only has advantage knowing what to quote the customer.