Although I live in the snow belt & run the logging roads within the National Forest, I rarely ever use the CDL; actually, rarely is a stretch as I engaged it once last year for about 10 feet just to see if it worked. Tonight just out of curiosity while it was snowing, I stopped on the side of the road, put the tanny into natural & flipped the CDL to 4 lock. Shifted easily, and drove about 10 feet, stopped and switched it back but the light on the dash didn't go out. Turned the wheels to see if it disengaged, and it was definitely not. Messes with it for about 15 minutes moving the shifter, pulling the truck forward and back but it would not disengage. I finally floored the truck & the light went off & back to normal. Why would it not disengage even though the shifter was in the right place? Wont be doing that again till I figure it out

 

Sometimes it take several feet of driving to disengage the CDL. Sometimes it's instant.

Just the nature of it, really.

 

Heads up. When you shift into Diff Loc High you don't have to stop, just flip the lever over (I'm usually going between 10 and 60+MPH when flipping it and I lay off the skinny pedal just to change when doing so) because it doesn't need to mesh, same for disengaging. Diff Loc Low your changing a gear-set and must be moving about 5MPH (in drive works for me) or stopped (tranny in neutral) to mesh. Do not Loc High or Low when on dry pavement at any time because you'll fuse the diff carrier planet gears onto their cross shafts in no time. You must have wheel spin front to back to engage the Loc. This means if you have partial snow/dry pavement leave the lever where it always is. If you can slide (snow/ice or any combo) you can go for it.

It doesn't disengage the light because our old worn trucks like to wrap the driveline up when locked or unlocked. Either let off the gas abruptly when running or tap the brake to disengage the light. I believe this is going to be a heck of snow season so work your CDL a little more often to keep it loose and ready.

 

I didn't know you could "shift of the fly", thanks for that info!! Guess I have been lucky... Been through well over a foot of fresh snow & a few pretty rough old logging roads playing & never had to lock things up. I am going to change the oil this weekend & will make sure to work the CDL a bit more just to keep things moving.

 

my cdl stayed engaged, for a couple of miles, after a long usage period and I had to back out of it. i backed up 30 yrs and it went off. doubt that has anything at all to do with your problem....just an fyi

 

Pretty much the same issue as you stated. Just shocked me when it wouldn't come back out. Thinking a good oil change & perhaps actually using it from time to time will make this a fading memory.

 

dunno. I use mine, at least, weekly and still run into the issue. rare but it happens. seems odd, to me, that it would need any backing/unwinding, in the snow.

 

It shouldn't as it is a 1 to 1 ratio, isn't it? Or does it change from all wheel to 4-lock. I had a Ramcharger that, by the owner's manual, needed to be backed up "10 feet" to disengage, but the front tires spun just a bit faster than the back tires when placed in 4X4.

 

I understand it to be only an issue on hard (good traction) surfaces in turns. outside tire needs more revolutions and you have forced %, that has to go somewhere. snow does not fall into that category and also I am not 100%.....but I rarely am.
speaking of rams....I had to pull over to the side of the road and lurk a forum just to get out of 4lo...... get up to 20-25mph, put tranny in n. disengage and coast for up to 100yrds.......if still engaged, repeat.

 

I read the manual when I got mine and it actually says right in the manual it might be necessary to reverse a bit after unlocking to "unwind" the drivetrain.