Rear differential: is yours slow to lock and unlock?

[Markarian421]

The rear diff in my Land Cruiser is really slow to engage, I’m wondering if this is the norm or if it’s something I should bring up at my next service appointment. The center diff generally locks pretty quickly, but the most recent time I needed to lock the rear diff too, looking back at my dash cam video, I was fiddling with going forward and backward and into neutral for 2-3 min before it finally locked. Getting it to unlock also generally takes similar acrobatics, although maybe only half as much? My FJs required a little of that sort of thing, but not this much.

Screenshot of the last time I locked my rear diff:

 

[TakaraLC]

The rear diff in my Land Cruiser is really slow to engage, I’m wondering if this is the norm or if it’s something I should bring up at my next service appointment. The center diff generally locks pretty quickly, but the most recent time I needed to lock the rear diff too, looking back at my dash cam video, I was fiddling with going forward and backward and into neutral for 2-3 min before it finally locked. Getting it to unlock also generally takes similar acrobatics, although maybe only half as much? My FJs required a little of that sort of thing, but not this much.

Screenshot of the last time I locked my rear diff: View attachment 43514

I found it easier to lock if I just drive forward or reverse straight at a slow speed until it locks. I think if you do forward&backward, gears just move back and forth in the same orientation and never align.

Also, I think you will be fine going over that without the rear locked. But I must admit that I also look for the tiniest opportunity to lock the rear .

 

[Markarian421]

I found it easier to lock if I just drive forward or reverse straight at a slow speed until it locks. I think if you do forward&backward, gears just move back and forth in the same orientation and never align.

Also, I think you will be fine going over that without the rear locked. But I must admit that I also look for the tiniest opportunity to lock the rear .

Yup, that’s what I do. I just takes a lot of tries.

That concrete lip was about 18” tall, I wanted it locked so I didn’t kick any rocks out of place.