By Karen Jones on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 07:53 am: Edit

With all this talk about the low range getting locked from lack of use, I thought I'd better ask about how to avoid this if I'm only road driving right now. I was getting the impression from posts here that it was best to put the low gears to work a little on a regular basis, and that implied I'd need some terrain stresses. A friend of mine who knows stuff said I could simply put it in low and drive up my longish driveway and achieve the same result, because all I was really trying to do was keep the gears lubed. I do have a small hill or two on my property I could drive up, would be fun to do anyway though the trip would be short. Do I need to stress it or is engaging low on the flat good enough? Thanks for any advice. I can't believe it but I already rolled over 1000 miles. Gonna change the oil this weekend.

Karen

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 08:26 am: Edit

you can drive around all day in low if you, for some odd reason, want to. You won't get anywhere very fast, though. What you can't do is lock the center diff on the pavement (you can, but it's not a good idea). Since you're a DII with the absurd missing handle on the non-lockable locking center diff option, you're not in any immediate danger. The problem us Series I folks encounter is seized center diff lock from lack of use. But it can't hurt to spin those low gears every once in a while...

P.S. the other option is to hit the dirt and have fun!

By Carl E. Cedeholm (Cederholm) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 08:52 am: Edit

Blue Gill
...about that CDL. I also have a DII and I understand the CDL is down there just minus a lever. I plan on fabricating my own CDL kit, but not right away.
Along the same lines as Karen's question, what would be a good workout plan for the CDL in the meantime? I don't want it to freeze.

Carl

By Blue Gill (Bluegill) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 08:57 am: Edit

I have no idea. If there is no way to engage CDL, what can you do?

By Tate on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 09:02 am: Edit

Isn't it _usually_ the linkage that freezes, not the difflock mechanism itself? If this is the case, then there shouldn't be a problem: no mechanism means nothing to freeze. Am I right?

By Daniel on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 09:05 am: Edit

Someone posted recently that you could climb under your truck and engage the CDL on a D2 with an allen wrench???? I don't know what's under a D2, but it sounds worth a look.
If the person who posted that is out there, maybe they could explain...

By gil on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 09:18 am: Edit

indeed u can, DI and DIIs have the same t-box. just dont go under there if youve been running the rig...for some odd reason it seems to get hot under there...

By David on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 09:22 am: Edit

Carl, I would recommend you join the Yahoo Groups disco2owners chat group. We have exhausted the CDL subject in DSII's and have tons of good material in the archives.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/disco2owners

By Carl E. Cedeholm (Cederholm) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 09:46 am: Edit

Thank's David, All
I do belong to the disco2 group...and yes they have tons of info.
That's how I know that I can crawl under and activate the CDL with a wrench (not an alen, although it did read that also).....and if Tate is correct about the linkage and not the lock freezing, that answers my question.
I have a feeling Tate is right, but I've not seen anything spacific on what exactly "freezes"
Thanks
carl

By Karen Jones on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 06:37 pm: Edit

Thanks everyone. As always, much to think about and even more to learn about. Maybe I worry too much, but this vehicle ain't the stripped-down thing I'm used to driving. So many features, and all of them new to me! Thanks again, I'll press on.....

Karen

By ROVERFUN on Wednesday, September 05, 2001 - 01:56 pm: Edit

CDL

DISCO 1 LINKAGE BINDS IN THE HOUSING BELOW THE SHIFTER, YOU NEED TO REMOVE THE CONSOLE AND DRILL OUT PLATE COVERING THE SHIFTER!
THE HOUSING CAN BE REMOVED CLEANED UP AND PACKED WITH YOUR FAVORITE GREASE TO PREVENT RUST BUILD UP.

THE KEY TO A HEALTHY CDL IS OCCASIONAL USE AND NOT SLAMMING SHIFTER FROM D TO R ONCE STUCK IN YOUR FAVORITE UNSTABLE ROAD SURFACE WHILE IN DIFF LOCK.

D2 CDL IS AVAILABLE ,BUT ONLY WITH LONG ARMS AND THE PROPER WRENCH OR ORIGINAL SETUP LINKAGE.

WHO NEEDS CDL WITH TRACTION CONTROL?

IF YOU ENGAGE THE CDL , THE SLABS CONTROL UNIT WILL DISABLE TRACTION CONTROL.?????

THE ONLY TIME I WOULD DO THIS IS WHEN YOU BREAK A C/V JOINT OR U JOINT AND ARE STUCK!


ROVERFUN(ROVERFUN 4 [email protected])

By chuanchen on Wednesday, September 05, 2001 - 03:54 pm: Edit

Roverfun

check out Yahoo Disco II group for CDL threads. Thousands of them.

you'd still want 4ETC with CDL engaged!!

chuanchen

By Al on Wednesday, September 05, 2001 - 08:13 pm: Edit

I'd like to see you reverse a D2 down a very steep hill with rocky sections relying on traction control! The car will lift one wheel, and race out of control backwards. Tres dodgy.

The D2 is dangerous in these conditions...that's why the CDL should be locked.

D2's do have a CDL, but you need to get underneath the car to lock/unlock it. Or get a CDL kit installed to make it the same as a D1.

Underuse of the little lever freezes the linkages. Every now and then, move the lever back and forth to make sure the links work. That's all you gotta do!

By Roverine on Wednesday, September 05, 2001 - 08:45 pm: Edit

I've decided to heck with the "in cab" set up for CDL; I'm just going to try to get a lever on the outside ... heck, I'm not proud - I'm used to getting out to lock/unlock the hubs on the old beater (plus i don't want to to spend too much $$$, and goodness gracious, i don't want to scratch my wood work on the center console! LOL)

Keep it simple Kim

By Brett on Thursday, September 06, 2001 - 03:10 am: Edit

I had a linkage freeze on my J##P Cherokee about 7 years ago. When I went to low range, I snapped a plastic washer on the inside of the transfer box (since the linkage was almost frozen). The result was my transfer box had to be rebuilt. The part was 83 cents and the labor was $400. The guy that did the work, was a hardcore off roader and said his rule of thumb is "USE IT OR LOSE IT!" Since then, I run all of the positions at least once a month or every two weeks.

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Thursday, September 06, 2001 - 03:13 am: Edit

On a Jeep Cherokee that I had, the vacuum-actuated collar on the axle that slid to engage the 4wd would freeze up.... had to beat it w/ a hammer to get it to move over to engage. Yikes! Got me into a sticky situation once because of that!

-L

By carl on Thursday, September 13, 2001 - 06:17 am: Edit

CDL kit from Rover Accessories is a super kit. Easy to install and it works! Talk with Charles. I just did mine and am impressed with the fit and finish along with ease of use.

By Brett Symons (Tizeye) on Thursday, September 13, 2001 - 03:03 pm: Edit

In the case of D2s and reversing down hills relying on traction control,it is my understanding that HDC also works in reverse. Would that not avoid the "race out of control backwards" scenario that was described. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Regards
Brett

By al on Thursday, September 13, 2001 - 03:56 pm: Edit

Hell no.

I don't think HDC actually works in reverse, but even if it does, the car will accelerate downhill, then the HDC will attempt to grab it at the threshold, the wheels will skid, the car will slew, you go over the side of the hill.

Not pretty!

If the Centre Diff was locked, the car would still be driving up the hill, instead of spinning the front axle all the way up the hill, the grabbing frantically at the brakes as the ETC kicks in.

Not a great way (or a safe way) to go offroading.