help needed to adjust differential lock on a ford 335 industrial tractor

[ovrszd]

Yep, I agree. I thought about this last night and still had questions in regards to whether the lever is spring loaded or not?? If it is, and you still don't have diff lock then there's something else wrong inside. If it isn't spring loaded then the internal spring may be broken.

Another thing that popped in my mind. Is your linkage where the adjuster is spring loaded? I'm talking about the linkage that fastens to the lever at the top and to the pedal assembly at the bottom.

We keep narrowing this down. But you gotta understand it's hard for Ultradog or I to give you definitive answers when we are forced to assume certain things. I'm a K.I.S.S. priniciple guy and always look for the simplest things wrong first. Saves yourself the misery of taking the trumpet off just to find out there was something wrong with the linkage system.

I'm surprised that you can push the lever with your hand far enough to get the diff lock to engage. I thought the internal spring was stronger than that. But I've never tried to do that either.

 

[pabble]

I found that when the R wheel is raised off the ground and I manually depress the lever it engages - at least I believe it engages because the wheel will then turn about 1/8th of the diameter in both directions before stopping. then, if I let the lever up (it will lift on it's own power, but does not spring up smartly) or lift it up manually (easy) the R wheel will spin freely. I can repeat that over and over with the same result.

The linkage between the lever and pedal is spring loaded and looks identical to the one in the manual. The pictures in the online manual I'm using aren't clear enough to get an idea of what the starting length of the threaded rod should be and I've wondered if the length of the threaded rod of mine should be in some other starting position because when trying to adjust the length it appears too long for a good fit (even when moved to the shortest length, when in that position the rod itself hits the pedal attachment point so something doesn't seem right) - or maybe the starting position of the lever should be higher and perhaps that would be related to the set screw adjustment? I've found that with a ratchet strap attached to the spring loaded piece it will pull out about 1/2-5/8" but no more - and it will not compress.

I've attached three pictures for reference. one shows the up position of the lever (disengaged), a second shows the lever in the down position (engaged) and the third shows the position of the spring loaded segment of the linkage. do you see anything that should look different in any way?