Anyone with knowledge on Differential locks?

[N80]

I have 4wd and I use my diff lock a lot. (Maybe I need to be more careful! ) However, I'm not wild about the placement of mine. It sits right behind my right heell, which is fine, but if I keep it depressed with my heel, I can't reach the throttle pedal with my toes.....and I have fairly big feet.

Now, when it is engaged and torque is applied it will stay engaged until the torque slacks off, but sometimes idle speed is not enough to keep it engaged. When this happens I have to keep my heel on it and use the hand throttle to get out of the hole, or creek, or teeter tottering mess I've gotten into. It works okay but the hand throttle is not very precise for such situations.

I wish it was close enough to the throttle pedal to keep is depressed and apply gas. Oh well. I guess Kubota is afraid someone will have the throttle floored, tires spinning and then jam the diff lock. I guess they're trying to idiot proof it.

 

[ByronBob]

Well I don't feel the tractor running any different now because of it. The only thing I worried about was if the gears would have been worn down because it was stuck in the closed position.

I mowed the grass primarily. So even though it was locked it just ripped the dirt up a bit.

 

[RobJ]

I
I wish it was close enough to the throttle pedal to keep is depressed and apply gas. Oh well. I guess Kubota is afraid someone will have the throttle floored, tires spinning and then jam the diff lock. I guess they're trying to idiot proof it.

Same place on mine, I don't use it to much but that spring is healthy to. Seems if I don't plant into the floor it'll slip to. It would be nice to have some sort of locking lever.

 

[orezok]

So engage rear diff lock and you have 3 wheel drive...

Well, 2 for sure. Can't guarantee that is one front is off the ground that the other will have any traction.

 

[N80]

Well, 2 for sure. Can't guarantee that is one front is off the ground that the other will have any traction.

No, you got 3 wheel drive with the diff lock engaged. Just because its off the ground or slipping doesn't mean it isn't three wheel drive. Heck, it would be still be '3wd' if it was upside down!

 

[orezok]

No, you got 3 wheel drive with the diff lock engaged. Just because its off the ground or slipping doesn't mean it isn't three wheel drive. Heck, it would be still be '3wd' if it was upside down!

It seems that if one of the front wheels is off the ground it's spinning free so no "drive". The other front wheel is getting no power since the other is spinning free so therefore no "drive" at the second front wheel. Hence, only 2 wheel "drive".

I don't think I'll try the upside down thing, but be my guest and let us know how it works.

 

[N80]

Whether a vehicle is 1wd, 2wd, 3wd or 4wd has nothing to do with lack of traction. In your scenario, the front wheel that is off the ground and spinning is still being driven. The fact that it is getting no traction does not mean it isn't driven.

 

[Toolguy]

Getting back to the subject of the post, I doubt if your diff lock has been engaged for the last 20 hours. Even if you only drove on grass or soft ground you would have a very difficult time trying to make tight turns. You would notice something was wrong because the front wheels would want to skid in a straight line when you turned. It would leave major skid marks on the grass if you could get it to turn sharp at all. It could be done I guess, but one would have to be pretty darn near brain dead or intoxicated not to realize something major was not right.

 

[cp1969]

Getting back to the subject of the post, I doubt if your diff lock has been engaged for the last 20 hours. Even if you only drove on grass or soft ground you would have a very difficult time trying to make tight turns. You would notice something was wrong because the front wheels would want to skid in a straight line when you turned. It would leave major skid marks on the grass if you could get it to turn sharp at all. It could be done I guess, but one would have to be pretty darn near brain dead or intoxicated not to realize something major was not right.

That is exactly what I was going to say. When mine is locked, you can't turn it without stepping on a brake.

 

[rdsaustintx]

one would have to be pretty darn near brain dead or intoxicated not to realize something major was not right.

Uh oh.