TE rear Diff lock engagement question.

[Lebengeek]

Hi Forum,
Was curious how long an electric rear diff lock on the TE should take to engage. The manual makes it sound easy. Press the button, wait a few seconds and it will lock. Every time I have used the button I've had trouble getting it to lock, sometimes a minute. Only tried while driving on snow off road. I would think it might take a bit for everything to align but It seems to long with my TE. Any thoughts ?, or am I just being impatient? Thanks

 

[cbreze]

On my Tacoma it helped
to go forward very slowly and turn the wheel to the right or left a bit at the same time. Even the manual suggested doing this. Worked every time anyway.
I don't have it on my SR5 4R.

 

[Jeremy556]

Move forward/back while turning steering wheel. Use it regularly.

 

[Lebengeek]

I'll be more patient and fiddle with it till it locks. I just wanted to confirm nothing was wrong.

Thanks:yo:

 

[JayG]

Not sure, but speed may have an effect. In my Tacoma it would not engage if I was moving faster than 5 miles an hour or so.

 

[Lebengeek]

Not sure, but speed may have an effect. In my Tacoma it would not engage if I was moving faster than 5 miles an hour or so.

When I used it I was just idling but in deep snow ruts so not able to steer left and right like folks recommended.

 

[eddiebx]

Out of curiosity, what is the reasoning behind turning the steering wheel while driving? Does it force the rear wheels to spin at different speeds to help align it for engagement?

I too have random engagement times. Sometimes I will hear it click it once I roll forward a bit, and other times I am having to driving at least block or two straight ahead slowly for it to click. I've never tried turning either, always straight ahead. I have to try that out sometime!

 

[terminus]

Out of curiosity, what is the reasoning behind turning the steering wheel while driving? Does it force the rear wheels to spin at different speeds to help align it for engagement?

The reason is you're trying to change the phasing of the right vs the left axle shaft so the splines line up (mesh). This lets the locker engage.