Difflock not working

[ricster]

I've said it before on other threads, and will say it again.... many say that the Patrol difflock is the weak and crappy design..... I look at it this way...I'd rather have the difflock fail than a side shaft or the diff itself. So yeah, maybe there could have been a bit of a better design on the Patrol difflock, but again, chuck in the huge amounts of torque that these difflocks absorb while virtually standard Patrols( usually only a 2" lift ) do obstacles that MOST other vehicles would not be capable of doing without heavy modification, often without ANY damage. Maybe we should look at the cup as half full and not half empty....hahaha.

I think most of that damage is due to engaging difflock on the fly whilst under load quite often ( I'm not insinuating anything ), and over time it has worn the faces to the point of total failure. I know with my Patrol I have to move forward or backward a few meters turning to sometimes get the difflock to engage properly, but I always try to do it an idle speed and under minimal load.

[Wilkie]

You quite right Ricster......how often do we do a obstacle and only when you get stuck do you realise ...AAA difflock ??? you smile hit the sissy switch and get on the load pedal long before that lock has had time to fully engage
and then suddenly there is that crunch and heart stopping noise ........en "OOO donner" runs softly over your lips and you stil stuck
that's my theory and i'm sticking to it

[ricster]

Yeah I think we all have done the first part a few times..... and as we get wiser that sissy switch often turns out to be the hero switch.... cause Patrol drivers only know Ego as the can of stuff the stuck people use to mast the sweaty smell ....

[ChristoSlang]

Patrols( usually only a 2" lift ) do obstacles that MOST other vehicles would not be capable of doing without heavy modification, often without ANY damage.

It took me many years before I realised the locker did not actually engage when I turned that knob. When we took the diff and vacuum bits apart it was obvious that it not worked in a very, very long time.

Just goes to show that proper articulation is better than lockers any day of the week

[Peter Connan]

I am convinced this type of damage only occurrs if power is applied before proper lockup. If it is properly engaged, the locker is plenty strong.

But there are many reasons the locker may not have been engaged, not only driver error.

In fact i suspect Nissan's crappy soleinods and their decision not to fit decent breathers is responsible for most of fhe failures...

[Alex Roux]

Patrols( usually only a 2" lift ) do obstacles that MOST other vehicles would not be capable of doing without heavy modification, often without ANY damage.

It took me many years before I realised the locker did not actually engage when I turned that knob. When we took the diff and vacuum bits apart it was obvious that it not worked in a very, very long time.
Just goes to show that proper articulation is better than lockers any day of the week

In May we went to Moegatle with the Land cruisers.
There was one cruiser (a 60 series with no flex called Veldmuis) that had air lockers on both axles.
One obstacle most were able to do. The old cruiser crawled up with ease while the Patrols were screaming and spinning. Most of us made it up, but the car with lockers and little flex did so with much less effort.

My view is that it is better to be able to rely on flex rather than lockers. For one thing it allows you to retain better balance while doing the obstacle. And requires one to still consider the line you drive.
But there are situations where flex is either not enough, or requires harder work (through momentum and power) to do the obstacle.