Axle tight when diff. locked.

[DaveGT]

Just building the axles and housings up on my CR-01 Land Cruiser.
Everything turns smoothly until I screw in the differential locking pin then it goes a bit tight to turn and feels a slightly crunchy.

Is this normal? Do they just need time and use to wear in?


Regards,

Dave.

 

[OSRC]

The pin is snugging up against the axle shaft, and as you tighten it it is pushing your shaft in the opposite direction and putting your axles slightly out of round. There's just enough play for this to happen. Very common. 3 options:

Back the pin off until it spins freely - make sure it is red threadlocked so it doesn't come loose and back out in the housing!
Forget the pin and lock the diff internally with JB Weld or the third gear mod (What I do with my axles)
If it's just a little crunchy, run it until it smooths out! It will eventually though it obviously means a bit more wear on the gears.

 

[EeePee]

Yep and I backed my pin out just enough. And used blue loctite. No problems. It's not much, maybe not even a quarter turn. My Hi Lift does it also.

 

[DaveGT]

- Thanks, I backed off the locking screw about a turn and it seems slightly better although still some stiffness at one point as the axle rotates.