Rear locking differential

For sure Jeff. Been doing that with 4HI kinda regular. 4LO and Diff Lock will get more of my attention. Thx

 

The rear locker engagement is most reliable when moving slowly forward or backward. You don’t need to come to a complete stop and you don’t need to push in the clutch pedal. Just make sure the wheels are not spinning or under a lot of load.

 

Yeah the splines have to line up and the way to do that is crawling slowly with the wheel turned. This varies the speed of each tire and the splines line up pretty quick.

 

You can't even get a Sport 2WD up here in Canada!

 

Waiting until your stuck to engage 4x4 seemed like a great plan when I was young. Now that I am getting older, shoveling, jacking, and hiking to help are not near as fun. If you got 4x4, lockers etc, engage them where you are thinking you are gonna need them. Momentum is equal to the mass of an object multiplied by its velocity. Easier to keep moving that to get moving again. Just my experience anyways...

 

Had a '17 OR 2x4 in Cali, loved the extra height from the OR suspension, and the reduced rolling mass made it a great commuter (20+mpg always). The e-locker was perfect for having to haul the 21' Ski Sanger out of Don Pedro Lake. No slipping, and helped keep everything straight while headed up the massive ramp. Helped get us off road in some sticky spots to so we could find the perfect xmas tree a few times too.

 

The locker on the 3rd gen, unlike the 2nd gen, has no external moving parts, so should resist getting sticky. It is a solid state electromagnet, in the form of a coil, that, when energized, pulls a metal plate towards it, engaging a dog clutch. The whole assembly is bathed in oil and constantly in motion. It’s extremely simple and reliable, and will work until a mouse chews through the wires.

(thanks @Ozarklander for clarification on this)

For the locker to operate, the clutch must align when the magnet is energized. It cannot do this if the wheels are stationary, or not moving in opposition to each other. As others have said, you gotta move forward and slightly steer. If you are already stuck, it should be easy to get one wheel spinning, which will allow the locker to lock.

In rare circumstances, everything is perfectly lined up and the locker will go in right away, however, I have only had that one time out of dozens.

Your locker:

 

That works consistently because that's the way it should be done.

 

You are more describing the Eaton e-locker mechanism and not the 3rd gen factory locker. The factory e-locker contains no ball/ ramp mechanism and just a cam ring that engages a simple dog clutch. These dogs are all that have to get aligned.

 

I lock my rear end all the time when it’s raining and trying to take off into traffic. All done in 2wd. There is a button up by the map lights. It’s the traction control button. Tap it to turn off the traction control and symbol on dash lights up to tell you locking diff is engaged. It definitely works in 2wd on my 2018 trdor 4x4

 

Ahh. My Toyota mechanic told me the 3G locker was nearly identical to the Eaton e-locker. I guess he just meant it had no motor or worm gear. Still, most of what I said is still true. Thank you for clarifying.

 

Nope, that's the Auto LSD that turns on when you turn off TC, not the rear locker. The rear locker can only be turned on in 4LO...see pages 303-307 in the OM.

 

This is not locking your rear differential. This is a more aggressive form of traction control that will heavily activate the brakes to simulate a limited slip differential, not a locker. It's called Auto LSD.

This message has been brought to you by page 251 & 252 of your owners manual.

 

Ah got ya. You are correct, works great for the wet roads.

 

On 3rd gen, its actually the same 4wd/locker ECU on the 4wd and the OR 2wd models.

As best I can tell, the ECU seems to knows what model it is installed in and therefore how to behave from one of the other ECUs.

 

You already have it
The way to consistently get the diff lock to engage is be moving forward or backward slowly with the steering wheel turned... (it makes the rear differential until the cogs are aligned). (Or jack up one rear wheel and turn that wheel until the locker aligns)
I dont normally encounter any issue disengaging, as long as there is no load (engine or turning loads).

 

you are missing out

 

Yes, to answer your question. Yes. Use the locker in off-road, 4LO situations (or in your case 2WD - 1st gear or L situations). Mud bogging in a straight line is okay too you just don't want to be on pavement where the wheels rotate at different speeds through high-degree turns (90+) on paved surfaces that have little to no give. If you are in the mountains wheeling up switchbacks or making turns you just want to be at crawl speed with the lockers engaged. You will run into serious issues if you have lockers engaged in 4 HI (or 2WD in your case going fast) and travel in anything other than a straight or relatively straight line. Your tires rotate at different speeds when making turns which is problematic with a locker engaged because both wheels are mechanically locked and power is being distributed to them equally. This is why you want to run unlocked - open, standard, or limited differentials on pavement conditions (or rather: pavement w/ good traction - pavement can get snow and ice which would then make lockers advisable).

Having a locked differential will not allow the wheels to turn at different speeds which will cause premature wear and mechanical failure (or a wreck as the driver fights the differential to steer the vehicle through a turn). My friend races turbo, pro-street Mustangs and he has a rear locker that he uses on pavement but ONLY when in a long, straight line in a racing scenario. You may want to research trophy truck setups - if my memory serves, those guys run 2WD locked differentials to get all that horsepower to the dirt but remember, those guys aren't on pavement for very long and they aren't maneuvering in ways that you are.

There are plenty of videos out on YouTube that explain differentials and some excellent real-world, off-road demonstrations of how a rig handles certain terrain in 2WD limited, 2WD locked, 4WD limited, and 4WD locked. Here is one I enjoy. There are many others. Matt's Off Road Recovery on YouTube runs lockers in his Morvair and his Jeeps, you can see what type of terrain he navigates with differentials engaged (sand, rock, etc.)

 

Any thoughts as to why the TRD off road 6M is not equipped with Auto LSD?

 

Not sure. My Sport 6MT has it. That is odd that the MT OR wouldn't have it.