Grrr....Diff lock stuck in locked position

[LRDONE]

Lack of use causes the shifter shaft to rust and corrode in the passthrough hole... get up in there and spray it real good with knock-loose (et al) a few times.. let it soak for an hour or so.. then start workin it. Mine got frozen good and proper. It was damn near impossible to unstick.

I bumped mine with a dead blow a couple times. I don't recommend unless you've got dead blow finesse.

 

[DiscoClay]

Yeah, I tried that .. it has both worked and not worked.. my current rig, the '95 14cux NAS R380 proved too much.. its currently unhooked.. I need to get in there and fix it proper

 

[OldD1]

I have the same issue with mine because I only use it to wheel once in a while. it was good from 1998 until last winter.

 

[bri]

I've had 2 disco that didn't get CDL use. The symptom was NOT locked and would not engage CDL. Shifter would not move much.

I was not scared of breaking them, so I would just crank the CDL left to right. Even outside the vehicle with a lot of force. Neither broke and both popped out and worked for years after were smooth and did not require "lube". One of them took numerous tries over a week or so. Definitely seemed like shifter mechanism not gears.

YMMV

 

[DiscoClay]

I've had 2 disco that didn't get CDL use. The symptom was NOT locked and would not engage CDL. Shifter would not move much.

I was not scared of breaking them, so I would just crank the CDL left to right. Even outside the vehicle with a lot of force. Neither broke and both popped out and worked for years after were smooth and did not require "lube". One of them took numerous tries over a week or so. Definitely seemed like shifter mechanism not gears.

YMMV

Yeah, it's that portal pretending to be a bushing.. that the shaft passes through.... no-use = corroded/gummed up.