engaging diff locks question

the diff lock is hydraulic, but has a spring so when you activate the pressure builds up and when the castellations pair up spring releases the locker. G wagens dont have as many castellations as, say an ARB locker on a landrover, so it will take longer to activate. it doesnt matter if you are stationary, you can engage prior to any attack on the terrain, the locker will come in once its paired, dont rev the nuts off it as when it does lock it will put strain on the teeth and break, which is expensive.

Its as russ has explained but you can go fast as long as the terrain under foot it soft, ie snow and mud etc. if for instance you were rock crawling, then thats different, you crawl :!: as the more grip you have the more stress you put on drive train, the lockers are designed to drive the wheel that is spinning,as well as the one that isn't, once out of trouble disengage.The stress is exaggerated once you start straying from a straight line, sharp turns put more stress as locked wheels travel at the same time, when you start turning, with lockers "out" the inside wheel will travel slower than the outside wheel in the turn. When lockers are in the inside wheel is fighting,hence why on solid ground its difficult to steer, with front locker in on solid ground its almost impossible. The drive train is very strong on a G, but having done much extreme off roading I have learnt a lot about when its right to engage and when its not. But for flying up a snowy hill with lockers in thats fine. What I have found with lockers on the G its a case of planning ahead, allowing for the delay in the activation of this type of locker. With say an air operated ARB its almost instant. So when you see potential trouble I would engage say 10-15ft in advance and vice versa.

hence why I said the more grip you get the more stress you put on the drive train, depends on how fast the wheel is spinning when it hits dry land ! and when is the right time to engage and disengage. We can give advice but to know how to do it with as less stress as possible its good to understand how the whole thing works. Understand your vehilce, training is a must I believe, I never had any, but the experience i have had, good and bad was a learning curve, seeing many half shafts broken in the Land rovers we off road with ARB's fitted compared to the G wagen I use to off road. Tony has broken many shafts but that was down to lots of BHP ! and mostly in the front, full lock, nose down. The worst things is when the front end becomes airborne, with front locker engaged and then hits the ground stopping the wheel, something has to give. We can all have 4x4 and think they are indestructable, but if you dont know how it works and whats involved, be it on your own head :wink:

Tells us more russ, what happened.

Defender, i was waiting for you to say that !. When on a challenge some 4 years ago we were crossed axled in a hole in a TD5. Told Paul to engage rear, wouldn't move, so he engaged the front,let up clutch and bang, one rear and one front half shaft went at the same time,and we werent even moving at that stage !, now he has strengthened shafts fitted as we have gone through so many. But std LR's shafts are much weaker than the G's anyway. We have seen the difference with the new up rated shafts.

no not at all, but only when off road,engaging centre on road will cause wind up in t/box