Center diff lock off roading...

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Dartmoor Navigator said:
Not in in the world of professional off road driving, matey.
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Depends on how you define professional.

Been driving off road and getting paid for it for years, but I have not had the pleasure of encountering LANTRA. :)

Myself I always drive off road with no centre lock, just engage if I see a mud hole or a grassy upslope coming, stuff like that. Isnt that why it is made to engage on the move?

I hardly ever use high range off road at all, maybe laning if it was a flat wide surface. Lot of the lanes round here you want to be going slow because you are straddling a massive rain gully!
 
In a Land Rover with a centre diff you can engage difflock whilst moving and disengage it. If you see an obstacle that you need more traction for then engage difflock on approach.

However the general rule is no difflock on hard paved surfaces any surface where the transmission can unwind is fine to use it. So mud, gravel, fields, in rivers or big puddles.
From what I've seen driving without difflock can be more damaging than driving with on possible loose surfaces. The planetary gears in the diff rotate ridiculously fast due to different propshaft speeds and they weld themselves together meaning a whole new centre diff.
 
Hmm, seems I have been doing it all wrong when I crossed Morocco. I hardly used diff-lock or low ratio, only when I was stuck in soft sand. Then to reverse out and then take a good run at it. When driving in the snow here I very rarely need to use diff lock.I was always led to believe don't use diff-lock unless your stuck as per the Land Rover Defender hand book.
 
Clearly opinions vary.

Nobody is saying use low in sand, snow... those are specific conditions you would need high ratio. The OP is asking about a pay and play site and when to engage diff lock.
 
Here is probably the best educational, tutorial, entertaining and informative series of vidoes ever regarding the defender and disco off road driving.

I looked at all of them and must say it's the best I have seen so far...does not get better than this. You understand how the Landy's are built and their pros and cons between them regarding off roading and how to use the high, low ranges and diff lock. The vids are long but very well worth your time.

 
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I herd an interesting coment from Ashcroft transmisions nearly all transfer boxes returned under guarantee had center diff lock seized up they recken it only takes a short while with for dif to sease up if one out put shaft is going a lot faster than other
 
8ha said:
I herd an interesting coment from Ashcroft transmisions nearly all transfer boxes returned under guarantee had center diff lock seized up they recken it only takes a short while with for dif to sease up if one out put shaft is going a lot faster than other
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How can one output shaft go faster than the other when the diff lock purpose is to send same direct torque and same rotational speeds to the 4 wheels...unless I am missing something regarding front and rear diff ratios.
 
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Barbados said:
How can one output shafts go faster than the other when the diff lock purpose is to send same direct torque and same rotational speeds to the 4 wheels...unless I am missing something regarding front and rear diff ratios.
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If the centre diff is in the unlocked position then it enables the front and rear propshaft to spin at different speeds for cornering on the road as every wheel will travel a different speed.
In slippery conditions if you are stuck in mud or snow and don't lock the centre diff it will send the power to the wheel with the least traction.
So one propshaft will be spinning a lot faster than the other. The planetary gears in the centre diff spin like mad and as it's only splash fed by oil the gears get so hot they weld themselves solid when this happens the centre diff will behaved like it's locked the whole time
 
109inches said:
If the centre diff is in the unlocked position then it enables the front and rear propshaft to spin at different speeds for cornering on the road as every wheel will travel a different speed.
In slippery conditions if you are stuck in mud or snow and don't lock the centre diff it will send the power to the wheel with the least traction.
So one propshaft will be spinning a lot faster than the other. The planetary gears in the centre diff spin like mad and as it's only splash fed by oil the gears get so hot they weld themselves solid when this happens the centre diff will behaved like it's locked the whole time
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I was asking about it being engaged and this happening.
 
jamesmartin said:
if its unlikely your going to get wheel spin dont apply it your only adding strain,
can you see the actual diff lock collar moving in/out of lock
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Regarding that box of my mates yea you can see the collar and move it freely I believe he has welded the planetary gears inside by spinning up without it engaged.
Turboman said:
Depends on how you define professional.

Been driving off road and getting paid for it for years, but I have not had the pleasure of encountering LANTRA. :)

Myself I always drive off road with no centre lock, just engage if I see a mud hole or a grassy upslope coming, stuff like that. Isnt that why it is made to engage on the move?

I hardly ever use high range off road at all, maybe laning if it was a flat wide surface. Lot of the lanes round here you want to be going slow because you are straddling a massive rain gully!
Click to expand...
This is what I do. Drive around off road in low, grass mud ect and as I hit something n feel a little too much loss of momentum or know ill need diff lock then I use it. Paul d said to me he puts it in n leaves it in whilst off roading so won't be welding his diff up with too much friction that way..
109inches said:
In a Land Rover with a centre diff you can engage difflock whilst moving and disengage it. If you see an obstacle that you need more traction for then engage difflock on approach.

However the general rule is no difflock on hard paved surfaces any surface where the transmission can unwind is fine to use it. So mud, gravel, fields, in rivers or big puddles.
From what I've seen driving without difflock can be more damaging than driving with on possible loose surfaces. The planetary gears in the diff rotate ridiculously fast due to different propshaft speeds and they weld themselves together meaning a whole new centre diff.
Click to expand...
This is why I asked the question. I've been off roading weekend after weekend and what I do works I just wanted to ask how others do it
8ha said:
I herd an interesting coment from Ashcroft transmisions nearly all transfer boxes returned under guarantee had center diff lock seized up they recken it only takes a short while with for dif to sease up if one out put shaft is going a lot faster than other
Click to expand...
This is what prompted me to ask the question. As well as seeing my mates fooked box and realising that it could be welded together very easily maybe I should just lock diff lock and drive whenever I'm off tarmac
Barbados said:
How can one output shaft go faster than the other when the diff lock purpose is to send same direct torque and same rotational speeds to the 4 wheels...unless I am missing something regarding front and rear diff ratios.
Click to expand...

We are talking about the center diff in the transfer box. It works like the diffs in your axle sending the power to the output with least resistance so if u take just one wheel off the ground it will send the power to the property that has the wheel off the ground. Then the diff in the axle will do the same. Least resistance so the one wheel off the ground will spin and spin and spin. Locking the center diff makes both props turn equally thus giving more traction. If you have two wheels spinning and one is a front wheel and one is the rear wheel then the diffs in the axles do their job and you don't get anywhere. Usually cross axles when someone has dug a nice couple of ruts off road.
 
IamRobbie said:
Regarding that box of my mates yea you can see the collar and move it freely I believe he has welded the planetary gears inside by spinning up without it engaged.

This is what I do. Drive around off road in low, grass mud ect and as I hit something n feel a little too much loss of momentum or know ill need diff lock then I use it. Paul d said to me he puts it in n leaves it in whilst off roading so won't be welding his diff up with too much friction that way..

This is why I asked the question. I've been off roading weekend after weekend and what I do works I just wanted to ask how others do it

This is what prompted me to ask the question. As well as seeing my mates fooked box and realising that it could be welded together very easily maybe I should just lock diff lock and drive whenever I'm off tarmac


We are talking about the center diff in the transfer box. It works like the diffs in your axle sending the power to the output with least resistance so if u take just one wheel off the ground it will send the power to the property that has the wheel off the ground. Then the diff in the axle will do the same. Least resistance so the one wheel off the ground will spin and spin and spin. Locking the center diff makes both props turn equally thus giving more traction. If you have two wheels spinning and one is a front wheel and one is the rear wheel then the diffs in the axles do their job and you don't get anywhere. Usually cross axles when someone has dug a nice couple of ruts off road.
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I dont wait for loss of momentum, I push the gearstick across 10 metres before the bad bits! :)
 
Turboman said:
I dont wait for loss of momentum, I push the lever 10 metres before the bad bits! :)
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Same. Unless it's worse than I actually expected ie boggy water in ruts but usually drop it in and out as I'm driving. Never realised how much traction you lose until I fitted my arb in the rear. Two dales for example. Real good Lane can crawl up it even in the wet and think you didn't slip at all, drop the rear locker on as your going up it even if you don't need it on it still feels like someone is pushing u from behind. Really good
 
IamRobbie said:
Same. Unless it's worse than I actually expected ie boggy water in ruts but usually drop it in and out as I'm driving. Never realised how much traction you lose until I fitted my arb in the rear. Two dales for example. Real good Lane can crawl up it even in the wet and think you didn't slip at all, drop the rear locker on as your going up it even if you don't need it on it still feels like someone is pushing u from behind. Really good
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With locking axles you dont need to use centre diff as much, sometimes not at all. And their is more risk to the trans by driving on hard surfaces in difflock. Quite a different drive to open diffs and takes a while to get used to.

I try and avoid boggy ruts, they arent good fer yer motor, issues round here are mostly to do with traction, the surface just turns to grease after a lot of rain on the clay! :(
 
Thought I'd chip in here .. Can't recall the conversation, but yes, generally if I'm green laning then I usually use diff-lock most of the time, unless it's a dry farm-track type lane. Most times though, we're in muddy/woody/grassy situations and I just use CDL so I don't need to think about it if/when I get stuck!

Dry conditions, mostly high box, no CDL ... Wet/damp conditions, mostly low box, CDL engaged ...

As always it does very much depend on local conditions at the time, but it seems to me that CDL should be employed before getting stuck or cross-axling, rather than fumbling about in the middle of a section!

I think this discussion will come around again sometime .. and again ... and again .. and again ... '_
 
Paul D said:
Thought I'd chip in here .. Can't recall the conversation, but yes, generally if I'm green laning then I usually use diff-lock most of the time, unless it's a dry farm-track type lane. Most times though, we're in muddy/woody/grassy situations and I just use CDL so I don't need to think about it if/when I get stuck!

Dry conditions, mostly high box, no CDL ... Wet/damp conditions, mostly low box, CDL engaged ...

As always it does very much depend on local conditions at the time, but it seems to me that CDL should be employed before getting stuck or cross-axling, rather than fumbling about in the middle of a section!

I think this discussion will come around again sometime .. and again ... and again .. and again ... '_
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Wouldnt disagree with any of that.:)
What works for the individual is best, I guess. There are so many variables, terrain, soil type, weather, and driving style, some people carry more momentum in, or lose it quicker, than others, and some people take quite different lines.
 
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