Hey everyone! I am having some issues with my diff lock on my 2004 Disco II. I can move the level in the cab to the left and the light on the dash comes on that says diff lock is engaged. Straight to the left is HIGH and up is Low and Up and to the right is Low without DIFF LOCK. The light seems to function properly, as sometimes it can also take a little bit to turn off after switching back out of diff lock. My question is, the truck still is using traction control when diff lock is on, which makes my 4 wheel drive slip and makes for driving off road in the snow really bad. It's easy to get stuck as it just spins the tire that has the least resistance and then I'm hooped just spinning.

Does anyone have some insight on this? Could this be user error am I doing something wrong?

I get the 3 chimes as well when it enters and exits diff lock.

Thanks in advance! This is a great forum, absolutely appreciate all the help!

Dan

 

Put some lockers and forget about the ****ty AWD these things have

 

You might find it works better without diff lock in the snow. The traction control programming was updated in 03 to be a bit more aggressive. The diff lock is really only need what ascenting a hill and the front wheels are unloaded.

 

Yeah fair, I just get stuck so easily. So maybe my 4x4 isn't working correctly? Because I will sink a little bit in the snow and then just one tire spins and I'm screwed, have to get pushed or pulled out. If Diff Lock was working correctly wouldn't all the wheels spin at the same time instead of just one?

Again pardon my naivety, but shouldn't putting it in diff lock cancel the traction control option?

 

Oh that's a cool idea. I'll check out the options. Have you done that to yours? What did you use?

Thanks,
Dan

 

Engaging the CDL does not disable traction control. The SLABS computer in the '03 and '04 trucks is updated to work better with diff lock than were previous SLABS. With the CDL engaged you'll have at least one front and one rear wheel trying to move the truck; better than just one tire spinning.

 

Straight to the left should be locked. To the right is unlocked. Forward and backwards is low/high.

 

disco II never 'locks' all four wheels at once no matter what position the diff lever is in. You can only lock the front and rear driveshafts together...hence the term 'center diff lock.' The front and rear axles use standard differentials which do not lock..... The push button traction control will help reduce wheel spin by 'braking' the spinning wheel a bit....

https://www.offroaddiscovery.com/lan...w-does-tc-work

 

My ‘04 has been an interesting experience in using the Diff Lock. I retrofitted one into my ‘00 I had previously and have to say, as stated, the face lift D2s have a SIGNIFICANTLY updated TC program.

A couple quick examples:
- During some slippy hill climbs, the ‘00 struggled, even with the CDL (from an ‘04). These are a couple links to my ‘00:

Prior to CDL: https://longtallsallygs.smugmug.com/...ry/i-X9GQR7Q/A

The same hill WITH a CDL: https://longtallsallygs.smugmug.com/...ry/i-qkVJgNr/A

I failed in both those attempts, but the point is the TC wasn’t as good. Kinda killing both those points, was that I made it up that same hill prior to the CDL and before it was rutted quite as bad.

This is an example of a lot of wheel spin going up a fairly simple snowy hill WITH the CDL:

https://longtallsallygs.smugmug.com/...UT/i-BvGfRHP/A

- On our property if I DON’T use the CDL in my current ‘04 the TC has to go nuts to get up a snowy hill that is very slippy right now.

- On the same hill, same day, same snow, WITH the CDL, the TC barely if at all comes on and crawl right up.

This shows you how much less wheel spin a face lifted D2 allows.

https://longtallsallygs.smugmug.com/...ry/i-XQRv2GL/A

You see how much slower I’m going than the last video with the ‘00 (blue) one, yet there is substantially less wheel spin.

All a CDL does is basically take an AWD vehicle and make it a part time 4WD vehicle. The diffs are still wide open and only the TC alleviates this by applying the brakes on the SIDE that has less traction. This is why the updated algorithm in the face lift D2s makes such a difference. But back to the CDL, it makes it such that the TC (SLABS, basically) only has to pay attention to side to side at each end, and not each corner individually as without a CDL.

And one other part I’d add to this is axle flex helping to keep all paws on the ground. The ‘00 (blue) one had ACE and flexed WAY better than the ‘04. Yet even with with terrible axle articulation, the ‘04 (Alveston) one does what looks to be to be infinitely better. The brakes in the ‘04 are total crap too, and the ‘00 had fresh pads and rotors.

Now to make it all look really stupid, my Jeep with true part time 4WD and lockers at both ends is 100% mechanical grip and none of this silly computer controlled nonsense. As such, it makes the Disco look kinda stupid…

 

Yep that's why whenever I slap an 04 Linkage into any 99-02 with the CDL TC I always get my hands on the 03-04 SLABS with the latest firmware. 99-02 firmware was no where near as fine tuned.