Iveco Strallis 6 wheeler 310 does anyone know how far you can drive with the diff lock on? Ive only used it once to get of a soggy verge, then turned it back off.
Ive got an idea that you cant travel miles with it on, just would like to know thats all if anyone on here knows, which i pressume some will do.
cheers
steve
You can drive a long way in a straight line but why would you want to?
Only experience I had is from the olden days in a F88, I put the diff lock in to get off a muddy farm once I had got down a a main road and made a turn it felt like all my wheels were coming off! So I would say no can’t travel distances with it in…but that was then
I dont want to wheelnut was just wondering how far you can drive with diff lock on and turning aswell, but i take it you cant now then?
That puts my mind to rest
cheers.
If you try to steer with the diff lock in (not on) the tendency will be for the truck to understeer chronically since the purpose of the differential is to allow the driven wheels to rotate at a different rate when cornering, ie the outer wheel turns more, and by locking up the diff you are preventing this from happening.
Some diff locks automatically cut out after a short period I believe, but other than that you could drive in a straight line for quite a distance, although no straight line is completely straight and you would be causing a great amount of wear to the tyres.
thanks for that harry mate…
Keep it to a minimum otherwise it will get stressed (called wind up ).If this happens when you take it out it will stay in and you may have to reverse for some distance to “unwind” it.
disgo:
Keep it to a minimum otherwise it will get stressed (called wind up ).If this happens when you take it out it will stay in and you may have to reverse for some distance to “unwind” it.
disgo, I think thats only true when using engaged four wheel drive and a diff-lock at each axle on a jeep-type vehicle.
A normal single axle difflock has nothing to wind against.
I used to have an ERF unit with a diff lock, some of the farms I went to for grain were tough going and without a difflock you just wouldnt get out of (or into) some of them. If you were ploughing through deep mud you could only go in a straight line, sometimes a bit tricky if you had to go round a bend but once you got a bit of momentum it was usually possible. IMHO I think all units ought to have a diff lock but few do.
On a Merc Actros it’ll go for about two days 
I’ll explain…
At a former company we were on a 4 on, 4 off system and the night before I started work the other driver on my truck rang with some gossip. Just before he hung up he told me that he’d had a problem as for some reason it was having difficulties going around corners. The advice was see what you think and then defect it if I thought there was a problem. He was right, a ■■■■■ and a half! I put it down to having been loaded badly and carried on with the run.
Ater tipping it wasn’t that bad as it was now 30t lighter. Still driving a little different I went to load, sure enough the problem was back. It wasn’t until I reached the next destination and dusting the cab did I find the diff lock knob was turned to the engaged position. Problem solved without any damage. Luckily!!! 