Struggling to get out of the yard in the snow, I lifted mid lift and engaged the diff lock. Success. I stopped a little further down the road to turn the diff lock off as I didn’t think it was a good idea to do so whilst moving.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Always a good idea to disengage whilst stopped. Also with it engaged, only drive in a straight line, with a loaded axle and lock engaged it can destroy crownwheel and pinions if turning…
You can drive with the diff lock engaged for lower speeds when in snow etc and once moving disengage it and depress the clutch until you can hear it move out. I used to worry about the same thing but over the years I have found that it does no real harm so long as you are at low speeds, the same thing goes for the twin axle locks we have over here, I often engage or disengage the axle lock while moving during snow storms.
As Pat said disengaging at low speeds is fine
Captain Caveman 76:
Struggling to get out of the yard in the snow, I lifted mid lift and engaged the diff lock. Success. I stopped a little further down the road to turn the diff lock off as I didn’t think it was a good idea to do so whilst moving.Anyone have any thoughts on this?
What does it say in the driver’s handbook?
Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk
Always engage stopped but fine to knock them out moving at low speed
AndrewG:
Always a good idea to disengage whilst stopped. Also with it engaged, only drive in a straight line, with a loaded axle and lock engaged it can destroy crownwheel and pinions if turning…
I use diff locks every day on land fill work never blown a diff in all the years I’ve done it.
Although you have to take a much wider arc to turn
kr79:
Always engage stopped but fine to knock them out moving at low speed
I know you can engage the new shape Volvo whilst moving at a reasonable speed and disengage too, and the new Scania apparently.
I’ve always disengaged the diff lock while moving at low speed mostly because I don’t want to stop or I’ll be back to square one.
kr79:
AndrewG:
Always a good idea to disengage whilst stopped. Also with it engaged, only drive in a straight line, with a loaded axle and lock engaged it can destroy crownwheel and pinions if turning…I use diff locks every day on land fill work never blown a diff in all the years I’ve done it.
Although you have to take a much wider arc to turn
I was lead to believe that it depends on the surface your driving on, if it’s soft and there’s not a lot of grip then you can turn with the diff lock engaged, but if it’s a surface with plenty of grip you can damage the diff. But there again if you’re on a hard surface you should of disengaged it any way.
I was lead to believe this a long time ago so it might have changed.
On old Scanias you could disengage by flicking the switch and lifting of the accelerator, if you kept the power on the diff would remain locked until you eased off. Not used a diff lock for years and long may it remain so.
Ive engaged and disengaged diff locks on the move for years, always in a straight line though and never when there is a hint of wheelspin.
Juddian:
Ive engaged and disengaged diff locks on the move for years, always in a straight line though and never when there is a hint of wheelspin.
Me too. Infact when the 4th axle Eaton crownwheels on our Sed ak 400’s used to shed teeth on a regular basis we drove drive the trucks several miles back to the yard with the diff lock engaged to save towing them and it didn’t appear to do an harm as they lasted many more years. Don’t know about these fancy ‘new fangled’ ones though? 
Pete.