The get inside the diff itself? I dont think I touched it. As for position, does not matter since the whole system self-calibrates every time the vehicle is started. Back to the gear in the diff.... since I did not touch mine, I can not say but one would think it would be fairly hard to turn by fingers. It is engaging a clutch pack after all. Hopefully someone who has rebuilt a locking rear diff can answer though.

 

Yes the one inside. I ask because I saw the Pic of your with the teeth visable. The gear itself is only a half circle. Mine was rotated in a position that seems like the teeth on the actuator would not even engage the gear. I rotated it by hand and there is basically zero resistance. Hopefully this doesn't mean my diff is shot. Just got this lr3 a week ago and trying to get it all fixed up. Gap tool is arriving Monday so gotta wait to see if the calibration works

 

The larger gear down in the diff is a half circle? It could be, the amount it turns is not a lot. If it is a half circle then I would expect physically limiters to prevent it from overshooting. That may include the "dampener" that is sometimes removed from the diff when it never should be touched.

Again, just guessing here.... So if you look at this pic there is a large hex metal shaft sticking out. Inside the diff, this acts as a stopper. You can see the end and where an arm, up against the gear you speak of, engages it. I wonder if someone removed that large hex nut OR the far inside pin broke off allowing that arm and thus the gear to move far more than it should. Assumption being the arm/gear are mated together in some way.

 

Link to pics and vid of the cutaway:

https://www.cutawaycreations.com/por...-differential/

 

Mine has an Allen head bolt in that spot

 

The gear is indeed not a full gear (orange in pic):

 

There is a chance that there was an update to just that hex bolt setup - I seem to recall that for some reason. And the reason I seem to recall that is because people have removed it thinking it was the fill plug, when it is not. Removal would of course make a mess of things and also result in major overfilling of the diff if used for leveling.

 

I'm going to go with the assumption that mine was removed at some point and things fell out of place. I'll see if I can figure out how it goes back together properly, cause it sure seems like that gear was not in the right position

 

Can you spin it a full 360? If not, I would think you would want to back it off, as if unscrewing from the center of the diff, to put back into an "unlocked/open" diff position. Then, if you dare and have a scope, remove that hex nut and see what is inside?

 

Took a bit of searching, but I did find another diff with a hex plug in place of the larger metal hex dampener thingy. So like I said, I think it may have been a change in production. But that does not mean that maybe the pin/stopper inside did not break off.