Locker won't engage

My locker stopped working a few months ago. I push the button, hear it click, but it doesn't engage. I have the locker anytime mod done, and used it off and on for years in 2hi, 4hi, and 4lo. Now suddenly it sounds like the actuator isn't moving far enough to lock in place.

One day I jacked the rear up up, crawled under the rear axle and had the wife push the button. I could hear me relay click, actuator move, but no click of the locker engaging. I even turned one wheel to help the gears line up.

I repeated this a few times to see if it would help, but then I stopped hearing the actuator engage. No noise from the locker despite the wife pushing the button several times.

I don't even know where to start looking at this point. Fuses are good, it seems to be getting power.... I though there was a way to manually advance the locker until it engaged (2 screwdrivers sounds familiar), but I haven't been able to find that again.

Any ideas?

 

Sometimes mine can be a bit hard headed.
There are times it pops right in and other times in takes a few feet of travel before it will engage.

 

sometimes mine takes a while to engage and disengage. go back and forth a little bit and see if that will help kick it in.

 

Thanks guys, but I've been using it for years. I know how it engages.

That's why I got the rear tires off the ground and spun 1 tire to allow the gears to lineup. I suspect the locking mechanism is not moving far enough to lock the differential, but I don't know how to manually adjust that.

 

What's the age of your truck? Could be just gummed up and needs to be disassembled and cleaned.

 

It's a 2006 with 130k or so on it. So that's quite possible. Unfortunately my Haynes manual seems to have very little info on the locker itself. I've been unable to find much of any info online either.

Part of me wonders if it'll get sorted out when the dealer tears my truck apart to replace the frame....

 

I have an '06. Mine was so horribly gummed up that a full dismantle cured the problem. Theres a good forum here on the full assembly It took maybe 30min when I did mine.


http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/202810-rear-differential-wont-lock-2.html

 

Somewhere in the world of tacoma, is a writeup on how to remove the actuator and clean it up.

 

link added

 

Thanks.

I found this post too. I'm going to review the links later. Maybe try some this weekend. Below freezing temps are not fun to work in outside, but I'd like to get this working again before winter.

 

Will this give me A-TRAC?

 

If you're in the rust belt it may have rotted out. The cheap pot metal got corroded on mine and the whole thing basically fell apart. Not cheap to replace.

 

I do. That's why they're replacing my frame.... I heard it moving so I'm hoping now, after seeing a few pics of it, I can just clean it up a bit and get it working again. I'll see about pulling it off this weekend since it's supposed to get up above freezing, and see how things look. That at least gives me a good starting point. The haynes manual doesn't cover shit about taking it apart.

 

Found the issue. I have a hole corroded in mine like others have had. Got everything off, freed up, and moving again. Unfortunately once I had it bolt back onto the truck it wouldn't engage. I suspect the motor needs to be cleaned out or replaced as well. Since I snapped the 2 small screws on the cover, I didn't bother trying to get the motor assembly apart to clean out.

The gear was turned when I connected power, but that wasn't enough once I got it bolted back on I guess. Oh well, project for another day and maybe I can take a walk through a junk yard for one since I can't find them online anywhere. Ebay had one, but it wasn't a complete unit.

 

did the motor still operate but the locker didnt engage? thats an alignment issue.

 

No, the motor spun the gear while hanging off the axle. Once I bolted it tight to the truck it stopped working. I didn't hear the motor turn so I suspect my hole patch pushed against the plate on the large gear once I torqued the bolts down, and thus stopped the motor.

The cover had a hole in it, I couldn't weld it, can't find parts to fix/replace it online, and had already snapped the two screws off so fuck it! I milled out the broken screws, plugged the hole with hot melt glue to keep water out, and put some silicone around the gasket before bolting it back on the truck. At this point I figure it either works, or keeps water out of the diff since I will at least plug the hole in the diff (don't want to drive around that exposed).

Meanwhile I'll keep looking for a new locker online, or at a local you-pull.

Last pic shows how close things are. If it's warm tomorrow I may try loosening it up after work and see if it works.

 

Anything else from this? Mine is doing the same so I just backed the truck into the garage and about to remove the actuator hoping their isn't a hole rusted out.

 

It's been below freezing for a few weeks here so I have had no desire to pop it off and mess with it to see if I can get it working again. Between this, the rusted tailgate, and Toyota wanting to replace the frame I'm seriously considering just trading the damn thing.

 

I just took my actuator apart and cleaned and lubed with fresh grease then reassembled it. Now it will not disengage. I followed the pirate4x4 link above. There was rust forming on the spring so I believe that was the issue now maybe the timing is off


Edit: gear isn't turning now

 

Well good news I got it working again. Turns out it was the shaft that was seized up. So if you remove the actuator and push the button and the small gear doesn't turn then that is your issue. Take a hammer and tap the 90* bent metal thing that turns the spring to free it up and clean out the sleeve it rides in should fix it. I'm pretty much an expert after tonight taking it on and off so pm me if you have issues once it warms up.