Is there any way to turn on the diff lock in 2wd?

[Stu]

As most of you would know having the difflock means that when in 2wd you have an open diff & effectivly only get drive to one wheel. What I am finding is that sometimes I can't get traction on a slightly slippery surface and need to engage 4h where my old hilux would have been fine in 2wd so my question is as the heading, does anyone know if it is possible? and how? I guess you would need to trick the vehicle into thinking it was in 4wd all the time or re-route the wiring from the switch? I just think it would be easier if you could hit the switch rather than change the lever on the t/case and would also make for fun times on a muddy paddock

[Zantus]

I'm also keen to hear how this can be done. It's great for a bit of mud drifting
Now my real reason, here in South Africa just about all our 2wd utes come with a rear factory locker. In my part time I run a business that does offroad adventure events, not extreme stuff, fun team building events, and it's nice to see if I can make it through certain sections in 2wd with difflock, then I know I can allow 2wd's with a difflock to take part.

[High Country]

Short answer - "No'. I looked at doing this with my Triton when I had it, primarilly to get away from virtually having to stop before the locker would engage (was going to hook a micro switch to clutch pedal, so clutch would have to be 'dipped' before the locker would engage, to help ensure it was'nt being asked to engage while wheels were / are spinning).

Anyway, one of the main wires within the locker wiring system, is running only on a 5 volt feed - finding a alternative for that, without frying anything up, did'nt look easy really, so I just gave up & left it as it was........

[jop]

High country - you are missing your sig line on this post -

Tip # 1 - Avoid stress & grief & low resale values with vehicles - do it once - do it right, buy a HILUX!!

I guess it doesn't apply to a factory locker

[High Country]

Tis ok Jop - I'm sure you'll find it on this post mate............

[Stu]

I remember a time when our kiwi friend was singing the praises of the triton from the rooftop, HC you've changed man




























seriously though I think he's suffering triton envy

[Coled]

Hi tritonstu,
I would be taking a stab in the dark without looking at the wiring diagram, but the diff lock must get its input from a transfer case switch. If you found the wire it could be re-wired to by-pass the switch. In short you would just be making it think it was in 4wd without the transfer lever being in 4wd. Then it should only require the button to be pushed as normal to engage the diff lock. If you or anyone can get a wiring diagram i could have a look and see if i could work it out and let you know.
Cheers

Coled.

[High Country]

TritonStu, yeah, I'm happy enough to admit it was a good unit - but, I also had more than my fair share of 'gremlins' with it, taking into account it was new. Ultimately, my supplying & servicing dealer turned owning it into a fairly bitter experiance, & if only for that reason, I'm happy to have sold it & moved on. Theres been a few lessons learned by myself.......
Any vehicle is only as good as the dealer that stands behind it........

And I don't really miss not having a rear locker now.........

[Zantus]

Has anyone been able to figure this out, i.e. how to get the diff-lock to work in 2wd?

[jacko]

mate it should be quite easy, as far i I can see all you need to do is apply a constant 12V to the line side of the switch this way when you activate the diff lock switch it will bring in the compressor and then the compressor to activate the locker, once the switch is turned off it will disengage the solenoid to let the air out, and the locker will disengage. From factory position the activation switch in the transfer case when activated will send power to the locker switch then off to the compressor when activated, so all you are doing is bypassing the switch in the transfer case. this will not effect the operation of the switch in the transfer case either way as when 4wd is engaged it will work as normal and will still send 12v to the diff lock switch as as well as your constant 12v but will not cause any problems as it is all coming from the same 12v power supply.

[Zantus]

Thanks Jacko, I will see what I can do and report back with some pics on how I did it.

[Zantus]

I removed the plug from the back of the diff-lock switch and it has 5 wires.
I tested for voltage on all the wires with the vehicle off and no voltage on any of them. I then check with the vehicle on in 2wd and 2 of the wires showed 0.14V, the rest all 0V. I then engaged 4wd and the same wires showed 0.14V. No 12V anywhere at any stage.

I'm a mechanically inclined oke, and now I'm just confused

[jacko]

leave it with me and i will see what i can find, the other you could do it is to connect a switch to a relay to control 12v and run it straight to the compressor for the locker but i will see if there is an easier way.

[MR09GLXR]

Hey guys,
my car is in the shop today having front and rear ARB Air Locers fitted i did ask if i can opt" Rear locked in 4X2 100% yes was ARB's answer.
So this is some thing that can be done....Hope this was some help

[cyberhonky]

Hey guys,
my car is in the shop today having front and rear ARB Air Locers fitted i did ask if i can opt" Rear locked in 4X2 100% yes was ARB's answer.
So this is some thing that can be done....Hope this was some help

yeh- its do able with arb's gear- as the airlockers are an independant assembly- they only need the compressor on and the difflock switch on, the wiring harness etc isnt integrated to the OEM loom. the problem with the OEM locker is its tied into the wiring and wont allow function when in 2wd.