Thread: maxi drive locker actuator fork wear

Is this likely in a sal?

Surely in a sal the cast case would have signs of fracture ??
If the axle tubes bent and axle bent with it (unlikely) the locking spilines would be onside of the issue ?

I thought when old sal fails you kinda sorta know it by the pile of busted steel wrapped around the truck and track ???

I guess a bending force may cause the initial problem but

S


S

Originally Posted by Dervish

Brad has just seen this thread and texted me to say that the probable cause is a bent diff case.

Is there an easy way to check the straightness of a sals diff housing and axle tubes? A test I can do at home. More important, how many mm of bending before it would affect the locking dog.

MR Auto suggested to remove the wheel hub with the axle and axle dog to check the splines on all. Damage on dog splines that mates to hemisphere could be suggestive of damage to the splines on the hemisphere. A burr on the axle splines could be resistance for the floating dog. MR Auto were adamant that damage to the dog to hemisphere splines was unlikely but can happen in the most brutal of mechanical mis-sympathy ie engaging the locker at 20 km/h.

In respect of the dog sticking requiring a heave to release, according to MR Auto, could have been the consequence of the dog being forced to engage deeper than the fork would engage in normal use, thus causing material to bind.

I'll check the splines first and a home test for straightness before pulling the diff centre out.

MLD

Originally Posted by MLD

Is there an easy way to check the straightness of a sals diff housing and axle tubes? A test I can do at home. More important, how many mm of bending before it would affect the locking dog.

MLD

There is a test you can do, Brad said to just give him a call. I'll PM the number.

quick update for those interested

Since my last post i stripped down the wheel hub to expose the axle and floating dog. The dog splines were burred up. The axle splines were in good condition. I filed the burred faces on the dog splines that engage the hemisphere and reassembled. The dog still would not engage smoothly under finger pressure.

I spoke with several LR indies and the preliminary thought was a bent housing. So it was down to 2 possible causes, bent housing creating a misalignment of the dog to hemisphere or the hemisphere was damaged.

Since then the diff has been stripped. The hemisphere splines that receive the floating dog are cactus and the floating dog has been pushed out of shape by a margin enough to cause an engagement problem. Add to that the hemisphere spline centre is loose in the hemisphere. New floating dog and hemisphere spline centre are on the way. The hemisphere needs to shrunk and lathed to press in the spline centre.

Likely cause is lack of mechanical sympathy by engaging or, more likely, disengaging under load.

MLD

Originally Posted by MLD

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Likely cause is lack of mechanical sympathy by engaging or, more likely, disengaging under load.

MLD

Or more accurately it is probably due to trying to engage the locker while one wheel is spinning.