Rear Differential lock

[BTI]

Df has the 8 pin correct.
What he is showing in the pic is typical of most compact tractors.
some has 4 instead of 2 notches.

BTI

 

[dfkrug]

Do you know this for sure? 180 is a lot of rotation. Seems the female could have a double set of key recesses for the males, giving 90 degree engagement points.
larry

Yeah, it is hard to explain, but easy to see if you are looking at the
two parts that mesh together. Each side has 2 pie-shaped keys,
180 degrees apart. The female side of each part is larger than the
male part of its mate, allowing for the two to lock together without
being perfectly aligned. What this means is that there is a continuous
range of rotational positions where the two parts will fit together, and
a similar range of positions where they will not. I estimate
that if you start where the male parts are perfectly aligned, then
you will not be able to engage from 0-45 deg of rotation, you can from
45-135, you can't from 135-225 deg, can from 225-315, and not from
315-360.

This kind of diff lock is easier to engage than my Kioti's and (as BTI
states) seems to be more common. The key difference is that
perfect or near-perfect alignment is not necessary.

 

[Highbeam]

I did a bunch of diff locking yesterday. It is nearly required, even with 4wd. Here's the scenario: I needed to pull off about 4" of gravel/dirt to make room for a new layer of gravel on my primary driveway. It is supposed to rain in the evening so it is a one day job, no time for beer. So you use your box blade weighted with a full 55 gallon water barrel to pull up the old gravel into piles which you then scoop up with the front end loader and dump in the back yard to make a secondary road bed to the woodpile. The process is drop the BB at the edge of the driveway and drag up a pile by scraping off about an inch. Then go back and repeat. Well as you may have guessed, you end up running over your piles a lot otherwise your piles would all be one tractor length apart. So pulling along in 4wd one front tire goes up on a pile and this lifts up the corner of the tractor causing the opposite tire to spin, also the same side rear tire spins since the tractor is leaning away from the pile now. All "crossed up" as they say, a three legged horse. All motion ceases and the BB has become a boat anchor. Let off the HST pedal, apply the brake, apply the diff lock, release brake, apply HST pedal and the one rear tire that is downhill will drive the machine forward. Once the piles get high enough to bend your tie-rod it is time to scoop them up and haul them off. Lots of good seat time and by dark I had the new gravel down just as the rain drops started falling.

Forgive my rambling courtesy of fermented stuff. It's still raining and my soapstone wood stove has my house at a cool 78 degrees. Cozy.