Seized Up Diff Lock

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John-Ellis

John-Ellis

New Member
Posts
74
Well WD40 won't shift it, so I got this industrial strength lubricant called PX40, through work.

I got underneath and gave the whole thing a damn good spray, got a good covering myself.

Then I went and removed the gear knob for the low range box and gaiter, I got my stanley knife and cut away the sound proofing.

Then I got to the rubber covering, almost like another gaiter round the gear leaver, I took the stanley and cut a hole in that too, finally I could see the mechanism.

So I gave the whole lot a good spray again with the PX40.

It goes into low range and back again with no problems at all, but it will absolutly not lock the diffs.

So my thinking is that I am going to have to cut out a section of the plastic next to the gear lever so I can see the whole thing and perhaps get a tool to it like a spanner or screw driver.


I had some advise last week to hammer it with lubricant then get a jack handle on the gear lever and give it a good tug.

Any other thoughts on how I can get access.

Cheers

John
 

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you should haver removed consol and done job properly the diff lock part seizes were shaft goes through aluminum end cap on lhs of housing,opposite spraying in the center next to stick wont help that
 
As James says, do the job properly. Remove the console, drill out the rivets holding the gasket, disconnect the levers from the operating shaft and then remove the top of the housing for the diff lock / low range lever. Take the seized mechanism to the bench, soak it in penetrating fluid...WD40 is not a penetrating fluid, hit it with a hammer, dis-assemble the mechanism, clean it and then reassemble with copperslip on moving parts.
Do a search on here, it's been covered plenty of times before, some of it (such as removing the centre console, may be more) is covered in Haynes
 
In addition to using WD40 you could also gently warm the alloy casing with a blowlamp (alloy expands with heat quicker than steel) then give the steel sliding rod a sharp hit with a hammer and punch to free it off - don't forget to lube it all all up with grease before refitting ;)
 
John-Ellis said:
Then I got to the rubber covering, almost like another gaiter round the gear leaver, I took the stanley and cut a hole in that too
Click to expand...

Oops.. I had to replace my rubber gaitor, because it had a split in. Driving the car in the rain meant that water was coming in through the split. The whole area was soaked..
 
Hi, Took the gear stick, handbrake assembly out to expose the diff lock mechanism. It was siezed solid undone the boilts that hold it on and put it in a vice. Warmed it up, applied WD40 and used a 9mm drift to tap it out.
Cleaned and greased it and now it works perfect.
Heres a tip: I cut a half moon hole through the carpet on the passengers side and drilled a 12mm hole through the tunnel adjacent to were the shaft is exposed to the outside of it's fixing.
Put some duck tape over the hole and pushed the carpet back into place.
Now all I have to do is unplug the hole and spray with WD 40 occasionally to stop it siezing.
 
growlinbear2013 said:
Hi, Took the gear stick, handbrake assembly out to expose the diff lock mechanism. It was siezed solid undone the boilts that hold it on and put it in a vice. Warmed it up, applied WD40 and used a 9mm drift to tap it out.
Cleaned and greased it and now it works perfect.
Heres a tip: I cut a half moon hole through the carpet on the passengers side and drilled a 12mm hole through the tunnel adjacent to were the shaft is exposed to the outside of it's fixing.
Put some duck tape over the hole and pushed the carpet back into place.
Now all I have to do is unplug the hole and spray with WD 40 occasionally to stop it siezing.
Click to expand...


if you had the console off it would have only been 4 bolts to take the unit out, you could just put it in diff lock once a month, you dont want the rod further down seizing either.
 
All I did was spray all the linkage underneath with wd40 and then with a piece of wood I leveraged it between the linkage that moves when you select diff lock and chassis (think) and it just broke loose.
I put mine in diff lock once week to keep linkage moving.

Or maybe your has corroded I don't know, mine ok though an its p reg.
 

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Richard Martin said:
As James says, do the job properly. Remove the console, drill out the rivets holding the gasket, disconnect the levers from the operating shaft and then remove the top of the housing for the diff lock / low range lever. Take the seized mechanism to the bench, soak it in penetrating fluid...WD40 is not a penetrating fluid, hit it with a hammer, dis-assemble the mechanism, clean it and then reassemble with copperslip on moving parts.
Do a search on here, it's been covered plenty of times before, some of it (such as removing the centre console, may be more) is covered in Haynes
Click to expand...

I'm fairly confident WD40 is a penetrating fluid.
 
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