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Diff Lock Renovation

The actuator and shift fork for the LT95 diff lock are located in a housing that bolts onto the right-hand side of the front output housing. The right-hand exhaust runs just underneath this housing.

With the gearbox mountings removed, it was evident that the heat shield which protects the diff lock assembly was broken.

Broken vacuum actuator heat shield

As I had a piece of aluminium sheet, I made a new heatshield by flattening the old one and tracing the outline.

New vacuum actuator heat shield

Because the 110 is a permanent four wheel drive, there is a centre differential between the drives to the front and rear axles. If this wasn't the case, transmission wind-up would occur because of the variation in wheel speeds during cornering. By engaging the diff lock (actually it's a vacuum actuator), the vacuum from the engine moves a selector fork which effectively locks the front and rear propshafts together (the same result as depressing the yellow knob in a Series vehicle). It's not a get-out-of-mud-free card though; if opposite wheels are not getting traction, the vehicle won't move - even with the central diff lock engaged. This is known as being cross-axled, and unless each axle has its own diff lock you could well be stuck.

Here's a closer view of the vacuum actuator assembly before it was removed. It's no wonder the dashboard warning light did not come on when diff lock was engaged; the switch only had an earth wire connected!

Vacuum actuator



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