Rear diff lock - when & why would you use it?

[iDub]

I understand what it does, and I thought I understood why you'd use it until this morning when I activated it and the subsequent acceleration made the back end slide out. I seemed to have more grip with it switched off

I thought the purpose of the diff lock was to generate more grip at the rear by equally transferring power to both wheels.

So, in what situations would it be beneficial to use it?

[topsparky]

dough nut in the snow

[mcandmar]

If your on very slippy ground and one wheel on each axle starts to spin your going nowhere as all the power will be disappated through those two spinning wheels. If you lock the rear diff power has to be sent evenly between the two rear wheels which will usually result in forwards motion

Early type85 cars also had a center diff lock which made a solid front/rear split along with the rear diff lock made it more or less unstoppable.

But its really the dough nut button

[blown_vr6]

With the diff lock switched off you will only possibly spin one wheel - the wheel with the least teaction but the car will remain fairly stable as the wheel that is not spinning will retain lateral traction.
With the diff lock switched on both wheels will spin together if you apply enough power, downside ot this is you will lose stability as both wheels will not have grip on the surface.

[prosty]

I use it when i launch the car from 0-top speed. which is too often , broke a lot of drivetrain related stuff in my time but its fun as hell

[iDub]

With the diff lock switched off you will only possibly spin one wheel - the wheel with the least teaction but the car will remain fairly stable as the wheel that is not spinning will retain lateral traction.
With the diff lock switched on both wheels will spin together if you apply enough power, downside ot this is you will lose stability as both wheels will not have grip on the surface.

I think given how easy it was to spin wheels today this is probably why I went sideways. Good explanation mate.

Now to find a car park big enough for the dougnut button to come into it's own...

[S2central.net]

Lots more info here folks - http://www.s2central.net/tranny_intro.html

[zlobo]

i use it when i lunch my car in drag racing and on the urs4 on ice racing to get it more agressive on the track

[alg]

Always reckon the simple advice re the diff lock is use in really awful traction conditions (snow or mud) IN A STRAIGHT LINE otherwise you get the issues above.

I guess it has uses as a primitive launch control

[r33fgirl]

I used it for the first time to pull someone out of the snowbank at the race track... car was slipping on ice and going nowhere but then I pressed the magic button and it went forward, along with the poor jammed car.


.

[S2central.net]

Can I nominate you for the politically incorrect 'top bird' award ? Nice work !

[mastermind]

Unfortunatly we dont have the beauty of snow in South Africa, however we do have a lot of hills and dales..
When the car is parked cross axeled when the left front and rght rear ,or visa versa, are in the air and only the 2 diagonally opposite wheels are on the ground, you are as they say, stuck up the creek without a padel. The car has no drive as both the wheels in the air will spin, especially if you have a stiffer suspension and the wheel dosnt drop to the ground.

Hit the rear diff button for both rear wheels to have drive, and saves you the embarrasment of a 4WD car needing to be pushed until either both front wheels or both rear wheels make contact with the ground, a few of my Scooboes mates have been in this position

[4WheelDrifter]

I have the problem Mastermind describes quite often, just moving off of my driveway.
Even if the lane is just wet the diff lock has to be activated, otherwise I'm stuck.

[volcano rs]

I have the problem Mastermind describes quite often, just moving off of my driveway.
Even if the lane is just wet the diff lock has to be activated, otherwise I'm stuck.

and you dont even live in south africa

[nip]

nothing but fun with the car loving every minit of it, a bit racked off cuz got up this mornin and someones nicked all of the snow