EEK! Driving with the locker on

hey guys

I did a dumb thing yesterday. When I was reinstalling my 3rd member was forgot to manual disengage the locker. So today I woke up, hopped in the truck and drove 10 miles on the highway going about 65mph. It was only when the wheels started hopping when I got off the highway that I realized the rear wheels were locked. I pulled into an orielly parking lot, pulled off the locker and manually switched it back.

My question is, what kind of damage could I have done by driving with the locker on at 65mph and around turns at 15mph? The truck is driving fine now. But I’m worried about internal damage I can’t see.

 

Oh. This is on a 2003 trd off road

 

If damage didn't show its head immediately, in the form of bangs, pops, or the inability to move when you press the gas, you're probably fine. May you have shaved some of the lifetime off the diff? Maybe, maybe not. If you don't hear anything that sounds odd when driving, I'd say you're fine to drive it until you give that differential a better reason to blow up.

Straight line travel isn't really harmful, as the spider gears don't turn independently of one another much. Turning is when damage would show up, and if it's working okay now, it's probably gonna stay fine for a while.

 

I sure hope you’re right. I’m going to drain the fluid and see if any metal chunks are in there.

 

Has anyone else driven above the recommended speed with the diff locked?

 

Yes, all the time. The speed is not a problem at all, as stated the issue is turning when you have high grip. I used to use mine off road all the time and would leave it locked all weekend. The manual says you dont want to "engage" the locker over the specified speed, that means you dont want to hit the button and go from unlocked to locked above that speed, not you cant drive while already locked above that speed

 

That makes a ton of sense. Unfortunely, I did turn probably 15 times total with it locked. And I was on pavement... on new grippy tires. Is there is way to check the gears and make sure I didn’t destroy anything? I’ve driven it about 30 miles since and it seems to be driving fine.

 

You probably took more life from your tires than you did your diff.

 

That would be great. I’m not worried about my tires at all. Just the rear diff I just spend a week taking apart and putting back together.

 

You'll be fine, it happens. Truck's diff is pretty strong and lots of folks drive with even worse (welded diffs)

 

I had an e-locker with a DIY controller on a 89 Toyota Pickup. The controller had a wire break on the lock indicator light and I drove about 80 freeway miles home with the diff locked. Didn't notice till the next morning because the rear tires had a polished look to them. Drove this truck another 10K miles after that without any problems with the rear end. When I changed the gear oil the drain plug magnet had the typical amount of metal particles.
IMO you will be fine.

 

Phew, this is what I was looking for! I just wanted to hear from someone who had "been there, done that" and didnt have anything blow up on them.

I appreciate the feedback

 

You're fine. If it still engages and disengages, you've got nothing to worry about.

 

No problem

I’ve ran on the pavement plenty of times when you stupid diff won’t unlock

 

You should be fine, the tires take the brunt of the speed difference because the rear end is light.

 

Thats a good point. And the only thing I had in the bed was my canopy. So hopefully it just skipped the tires a bit and didnt wear out the gears.

 

The only real problem you can get from driving around locked up is you twist the splins on the axel shaft after turning alot with the wheels locked up, if the locker is strong nothing will happen to it.

 

Normal driving will not harm the e-locker. When you are offroading and really using it, no damage is done. What causes issues is spinning the tires and them grabbing suddenly. That will chip gears and or twist the axle splines and break axles. I drove from Oregon to Los Angeles with the locker engaged. No issues. The e locker motor was stuck and no tools to pull it off to disengage it. Kind of noisy at the gas station parking lots and a lot of eyes watching me!

 

Wow! That makes a ton of sense. And hey, if your truck made it 1000 miles with the locker engaged, that gives me a ton more confidence. I just drove the truck for a few hours and it seems to be just fine.

 

Lots of hot rod guys who drag race either have a welded diff or a fully locked diff all the time(when they are being cheap, watch road kill lol) which is good for big smokey burn outs and stairr when theydrag racing but no good for road cars, but they still drive them on the street, after going around corners alot it will start to twist the splins on your axels. But thats after tons of miles of turning.