Center diff lock off roading...

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Turboman said:
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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Yeah, one thing in isolation means almost nothing when so many factors come together.
 
The vidoe I posted above covers so much.... plus more, covers everything and gave tons of off roading guidelines and tips.

The beauty is, all of a done by defenders and discos mostly.
 
I use it when it's needed ( helpful answer! ), I won't drive around off-road with DF engaged if I can do it without, even if surface conditions will allow it - i.e won't cause wind up.
More damaging than wind-up is to be stuck in your tracks, wheel spinning wildly to get traction and DF not engaged, this can lead to the welding of gears scenario as others have mentioned.
 
I guess if the center diff lock welds itself so easily when disengaged in slippery conditions, its better to use it when in slippery conditions.

Would be a win win situation, you get better traction and no center diff welding.
 
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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the center diff gears arent that weak if your welding them up its on poor or little oil,and a fool to sit there and stand spinning for a considerable time, the planet gears will be spinning at twice the prop speed, ive seen plenty of worn and broken diffs very few seized,but obviously youd apply diff lock prior to reaching such ground
 
Barbados said:
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 like watching the Vince Cobley vids every now and then. It's good to remind yourself of the basics, we think we know it all, but unless you do that sort of thing everyday the simple things are easy to forget!
 
jamesmartin said:
the center diff gears arent that weak if your welding them up its on poor or little oil,and a fool to sit there and stand spinning for a considerable time, the planet gears will be spinning at twice the prop speed, ive seen plenty of worn and broken diffs very few seized,but obviously youd apply diff lock prior to reaching such ground
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Lad who owned this box says he thinks he was in diff lock but it had low oil so the more I look into it on the web the more I think it's friction welded. Will they we welded solid and duff or can they be split
 
jamesmartin said:
the center diff gears arent that weak if your welding them up its on poor or little oil,and a fool to sit there and stand spinning for a considerable time, the planet gears will be spinning at twice the prop speed, ive seen plenty of worn and broken diffs very few seized,but obviously youd apply diff lock prior to reaching such ground
Click to expand...
continuing on from this...
"If you are off road on snow or ice and you get wheelspin from one front wheel, what will happen is the rear prop will not be moving, the front will thus be going double speed, this means the small centre diff gears will be spinning like fury and after a matter of only a few seconds the plant gears will friction weld to the cross pins and the gears will fail etc"
Taken from the Ashcroft website, with a pinch of salt. A few seconds is a bit of an exaggeration, but, if you're stuck, you should at least have diff lock engaged, preferably before you reach the situation !
 
You can feel the difference in cornering with diff lock engaged/disengaged- the car tends to understeer with diff lock engaged. My general rule is leave it off by default, engage it before you hit an obstacle or slippery-looking patch. And obviously, don't sit there spinning a wheel like mad.
 
bluedog333 said:
continuing on from this...
"If you are off road on snow or ice and you get wheelspin from one front wheel, what will happen is the rear prop will not be moving, the front will thus be going double speed, this means the small centre diff gears will be spinning like fury and after a matter of only a few seconds the plant gears will friction weld to the cross pins and the gears will fail etc"
Taken from the Ashcroft website, with a pinch of salt. A few seconds is a bit of an exaggeration, but, if you're stuck, you should at least have diff lock engaged, preferably before you reach the situation !
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it is a big exaggeration,and yes you should
 
jamesmartin said:
the center diff gears arent that weak if your welding them up its on poor or little oil,and a fool to sit there and stand spinning for a considerable time, the planet gears will be spinning at twice the prop speed, ive seen plenty of worn and broken diffs very few seized,but obviously youd apply diff lock prior to reaching such ground
Click to expand...

If they were to fail that easily, Land Rover would have been shipping these out daily. There are guys here who have rally discos and defenders which they race every season...their center diffs would have all been dead by now.
 
to clarfie my point further go on to ashfords web site get into section dealing with difs and rear boxys and you will see him explaning why most transfer boxys that come back under guarantee have the third diff seized because over heating I think sone of you have missed my point
 
8ha said:
to clarfie my point further go on to ashfords web site get into section dealing with difs and rear boxys and you will see him explaning why most transfer boxys that come back under guarantee have the third diff seized because over heating I think sone of you have missed my point
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one would wonder why so many returns have seized diffs,when it is very uncommon occurrence
 
I might be missing the point here but I have seen (and heard) quite a few AXLE diffs bust and half shafts, but really can't remember anyone stuffing a ctr diff while trialling. Some of these folks were novice drivers and it was quite common for them to just floor the loud pedal if they were stuck, until they were told why not.
 
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