Hey all, I went out on the trails this past weekend and tried to lock the CDL and it just wouldn't engage. I was in low-range (low to high working fine), and tried all sort of combinations... stopping/starting, hard turns, breaking a tire loose everything, and I was already on pretty rough ground.

I knew the CDL had been working because I exercise it pretty frequently to keep it from seizing up... usually when I'm just leaving the house because I have about half a mile on gravel so I can engage/disengage with no issue.

So the next morning after I got back home I engage the CDL as I was pulling out of the carport and it came on within 3 feet of movement. Went in and out of locked a couple of times down the gravel road no issues. Drove around for about 45 minutes doing errands and coming back home got to the gravel and nope, CDL wouldn't engage.

I've repeated this a couple of times now. When just starting out from cold it's fine, but after driving for a while it won't engage.

I assume it's a temperature (trans temp) related effect but anyone have an idea what might be happening?

 

What do you mean by it won’t engage
does the lever move to the left ? If it does it’s on. Or do you mean the lights don’t come on ?
more info needed

 

The internal locking mechanism is entirely mechanical, with no leeway where the activating mechanism could move without the gears engaging, so if the spigot on top of the transfer case is turning, the CDL should be engaging. Unless you have some serious problems inside your t-case.

 

@redwhitekat Lever moves, and when starting out "cold" I get the three tones and the light comes on... when disengaging three tones and light goes off.

After driving, move lever and no tones and no light. I guess it's possible that it's *always* engaging and what is failing is the tone/light indicator.

Thanks.

 

@mollusc I'm not getting indication of any other issues in the transfer-case (like grinding/slipping/binding)

 

At a guess I'd say the switch that triggers the indicator charms/light is flaky.

 

If the switch is moved to the left it’s locked
the lights sometimes takes a bit to come on. But I wouldn’t worry about the lights. Just don’t be driving around locked all the time or trouble is near
you should only use the cdl when you really have to or think you will get stuck
anything you have a traction control system

 

@mollusc So I guess this connector would be the place to start? I already know that's a real pain in the *ss to get too

If I can figure out that the CDL is actually engaging like you said, I can just live with it.

I guess if I jack up one wheel and try to spin with engine off and in gear it'll feel different between engaged and not-engaged, right?

 

@redwhitekat Yeah, I've seen the delay in the light coming on but this was over two hours (Uwharrie) and nothing. It's just weird that it comes on consistently "cold" but maybe it's all in the connector/switch/whatever.

 

I'm pretty sure that the connection between CDL shift fork and pin is spring loaded. So you can move the lever in the cab and the shift pin moves immediately, but the shift fork waits until the gears mesh then slides forward. Mine almost always moves into lock right away, but after moving the shift lever back to the R it almost always takes driving around a bit of a curve to unwind the dog clutch and allow the fork to slide back and turn off the light. My point is, I think its possible to move the lever in the cab and not directly move the fork.

Have you verified that you are actually not locked when it's warmed up, and that its not just and electrical issue?