Recently I've been using my diff lock a lot, as they don't plow many areas around my town

I'll drive through what I need (engages fine)

then when I turn it off it will not turn off (light on dash still on, still feels like it is on)

to get it off I try EVERYTHING (reverse, foward, spin the wheels)

eventually I find that if I turn the steering wheel back and forth and floor it (scary sometimes) this will take it out most of the time

Any other tips?

I understand it is a spring that actually engages the CDL, do you think the cold would be causing it to not work as well?

It's cold enough to where my transmission won't shift normal until the car warms up, and the diff lock when it was warm worked fine.

 

First don't ever floor it while engaged or you will be buying one of both diffs and or a t/case.
The CDL is not disengaged by a spring, it is a solid linkage to the CDL shift nipple.
How easily does the shift lever move in all directions?

 

My lever is brand new, works great

There is an internal spring... when the nipple is turned it activates it

I can't find my good diagrams, but here is kinda what it looks like:





When I say floor it, i mean just get all 4 wheels spinning, I am on lots of snow, so the wheels will all spin, so it's not flooring it on a road with traction, it's just to get all 4 wheels spinning, as this will hopefully disengage the CDL

 

When I was mentioning a spring, I misunderstood, thought you felt there was a spring in or on the CDL diff that would force it to disengage.
Let me know what you find.

 

will do...

i'm gonna go out there with a heat gun (obviously not too hot) and warm the entire transfer case up, see if that works any better.

if so then i'll decide where to go from there... any people here good on the transfer case internals?

 

A thought,
Before heating it up, consider power washing the top and drivers side of the t/case, see if you can free up any built up road junk that might be restricting the disengagement.

 

i'll head out with my toothbrush right now

too cold to do any other type of wash, will do when I get the chance