to Spike- I have never seen the light on the dash. but the alarm sounds when I move to neutral. Where is the light located? i am assuming it is either burned out or there is no light on a '98. Either way, I can't believe I am not getting it into locked position. I can feel it go into each position. I appreciate your help

 

To Spike- I can feel it go into each position. As to the light.. I've never seen any such light on my dash. Where is it supposed to be exactly? could it be that a '98 doesn't have a light?The alarm sounds when I go to neutral though.

 

My '98 has a light, so yours is either burned out or not engaged.

If your front prop is out and you're locked, then you've got a center diff issue.

While you're under the rig, take a look at the CDL mechanism. You might be able to move the selector in position, but the mechanism beneath may be malfunctioning as well.

 

The cdl is left - right it is not locked or not engaging .

 

keoni-Where is the light?
Also -I'm seeing online that an unused diff lock can get stuck and not engage properly. Sound right to you?

 

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=WSTn2ujwxt8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWSTn2ujwxt8
It's from Spike's tech post. Has a shot of the light

 

Sometimes the switch can stick.

 

thanks -both of you- for the light location. I looked again and ran it through the hi-low positions and lock and unlock positions. no light coming on but it 'feels' like it goes into lock and unlock. In fact it won't come out of lock until I put the tranny in neutral and won't go all the way in to lock unless i select drive or reverse on the tranny selector. so i think it's going into the right position but on the other hand, the light doesn't come on and I get no rear shaft movement. This is beyond me so I think I'm going to put the front shaft back in and drive her off a cliff. Stupid machines!

 

Take out the MAF and send it to me before you do

 

It might take a few feet of "movement" to fully engage the CDL, shift to hi-locked, drop in drive and let it idle "forward" and see if it engages after a few min.
If it is not used from time to time things stick and may take some time to get working again.