Prado 95 centre diff lock on tar

[LouisF Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LouisF]

Has anybody driven a 95 in high range with diff lock engaged (HL) on tar? Was any damage sustained?

[RanJ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close RanJ]

Yes I have after the bloody thing got stuck in there for three days! Took it easy and made sure I made as few turns as possible.... and never any wide turns. It survived without any known damage. If you have a choice.... don't

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

Yes but only for a few hundred metres at a time (no damage).

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Tried it on the old 90 series one (petrol) and found it had wind up as its known very quickly. Actually took me a bit for it to release and unlock. I have tried it in the 120 on wet road only and didn't have an issue. I found the 90 grande series two (turbo diesel) I had the button for the centre diff lock handy as it allowed me to move the transfer lever to low range for reversing giving better torque for steepness of driveway but not having to lock centre diff to get low range so avoided wind up. Not sure if this is a good thing to do (use low range without locking centre diff??) but never had any issues doing it.........Cheers Steve

[Peterpilot Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Peterpilot]

Engaging low range without the centre diff lock engaged is no problem at all, only an issue on vehicles where the the centre diff lock automatically engages in low range

[LouisF Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LouisF]

I have in fact also done it about two years ago. We had very heavy rainfall and there were a few places where the water did not drain from the street because the storm drainage system was not up to it. It was still raining lightly when I went on a recce because that much water is not what we see in town on a regular basis. Just for the hell of it I engaged the centre diff just before going round a smallish traffic circle. There was a fairly loud crunch from underneath the car which gave me a bit of a fright so I disengaged the diff lock again. No apparent damage. A few weeks after that I took Barbie to 4x4 obstacle course/training venue. I stopped, engaged LR and pulled off going into a tight 90° turn. Once again that crunch. That time I ignored it and went around the course a couple of times without any trouble. So that first time did not break something, probably because the tar was quite wet. I justwondered what would happen if I drove on dry tar with centre diff locked. Thanks for the input. I think I shall not use the diff lock on tar again.

The reason I asked is that I need to have the aftermarket AT control unit tuned. One can set up a profile for LR and now I know we should go do that on gravel and not on tar.

[edit: corrected some bad typo's]

[John Beurle Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close John Beurle]

Just returned from trip with 'High Lock' (centre diff lock) stuck drove 30 k's slowly on tar and had all seals blow out front diff with dramatic oil smoke out the back (blew oil out the breather it looks like onto the exhaust... nice!) which was quite exciting on the Princes Highway! Eventually got centre lock off drove to Bairnsdale with no noise in diff, Toyota refilled diff with a waterfall of oil as a result.... so sad. Was able to limp home to Melb with less than 500mls oil left in front diff. Cannot fathom why the seals went.... I have an ARB air locker installed and did blow the compressor while pumping up tyres in the morning (pump 8 years old), wondering if that contributed to the failure (pressure in diff??) as well as the centre lock stuff up? Removed drive shafts and diff and off to ARB/diff place to find out the bad news. Anyone had seals go like this? BTW, never drive to a dealer and then call RACV Total Care for help, unless you break down on the side off the road they won't help.... a new meaning for the word Total!
Toyota tuff - with little oil in the front diff!!