Gen 1: Locking Centre Diff (or lack of) Workarounds

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Mineratron

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Anyone ever tried going into 2WD and locking the rear diff to reverse out of a similar situation, to compensate for the lack of locking centre differential?

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Caught slipping a little late in the drive but fairly certain I could’ve reversed my Pajero out of that with the centre and rear diffs locked. Reversed out of much worse (albeit in a shorter car… my markers may be off ).

Going 2WD+RDL came as a thought after the event. Tried to self recover in 4Low+RDL but the front tyres were just spinning, not the rears. Came out with not much of a tug backwards at all.

When you’ve still got enough contact on the rear to get drive, plus enough gravity on your side, I’ve found I can to reverse out of similar stucks if you can lock the centre diff.

Without being able to lock the centre to limit the power being thrown forward, 4H is no use in certain situations. The rear doesn’t turn and the front just spins up. With locking centre and rear diffs you can keep 50:50 in the rear and risk only one front wheel spinning away 100:0 whatever side becomes path of least resistance. Should be aided by the Torsen diff… but can’t compensate for the lack of locking centre.

Amazed a car this long or off-road focused doesn’t have one. Its Achilles heel apart from its length.

Anyone thought of this or other workarounds, to compensate for the lack of locking centre differential? Apart from momentum, airing down further, etc… please stick to the exam question.
 

Gumby

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I am not 100% sure what you are asking....Really. Your rear Differential does lock pull the button out. The button I am referring to is the ...two to four wheel drive selector knob. pull it out ...That will lock the rear differential. if yours dosen't work. what is the workaround? I guess the best workaround would be to Fix it so it dose work. so if this is your exam question. Did I get an A+ or a F-?
 

McCarthy

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What are you talking about? A raptor uses a transfer case... There is no center diff. When in 4x4 high or low power is sent exactly 50/50 front and rear. So I guess the "center diff" (transfer case) IS locked...
 
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Mineratron

Mineratron

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What are you talking about? A raptor uses a transfer case... There is no center diff. When in 4x4 high or low power is sent exactly 50/50 front and rear. So I guess the "center diff" (transfer case) IS locked...
This… my other car runs a centre differential with 33:67 F:R split which; ramps to 50:50 when the rear spins; or can be locked 50:50 on the fly up to 100kph.

With only having a transfer case (but no centre diff) and no way of locking it, the power will always go to the path of least resistance and spin away. It’s locked in the sense of mechanically 50:50 biased but it’s not locked like the other diffs lock.

I’ve found a few times I’ve got stuck in situations I could’ve gotten out of if there was a centre diff with a locking function. It’s one of the few things I dislike about the truck apart from its sheer length after years of SWB 4x4 driving.

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Mineratron

Mineratron

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Seeing as other have answered your question, I have a couple for you...

What were your tire pressures set at? No recovery boards?
14psi as we were four up and going to be doing side cresting. I don’t use the recovery boards, they’re not needed when you’re in a convoy. It’s often easier to just snatch or winch from either side (which is what we were setting up for).

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