I've owned a 1995 6x4 Gator (gasoline) since 2001. Since the day I bought it the differential lock will click and right side wheels will not stay engaged if there is any load on the vehicle. By "load" I'm not saying weight in bed, just forward or reverse resistance. If there's no resistance the diff locks as it should making it difficult to turn as I don't have weights on front of machine. Any suggestions as to what I can check?
Differential Lock Clicks
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The diff lock uses "dogs" that lock into notches. They are made with straight square corners so as to stay engaged under load. If the dogs are not fully engaged and load is applied, they can pop out of the notches. When this happens, it damages the corners of the dogs and their notches. If the damage is severe enough, the dogs are rounded off and will push themselves out of the notch under load. So examine the diff lock external linkage and verify that it is fully engaging. If not, adjust and re-test. If OK and still pops out, you will need to disassemble the differential to replace the worn parts.
I am familiar with the CX transaxle only but it sounds like the same basic thing. I had one of those "dogs" break off the gear and float around preventing proper engagement of the diff lock. It had created some shards and debris which had remained in the axle end so a drain out would not discover them. I guess eventually they would have gotten into the gears and caused more damage. I was able to replace the damaged parts but I could have simply cleaned and reassembled it with just the remaining three dogs. As I posted elsewhere, diff lock should be engaged with great care, never while spinning one tire or at high speed. It won't actually engage until the left and right tires are turning at different rates and the parts align (like a turn). If you jack the tires off the ground and take the cable and spring off the lock arm and move it by hand you may get a better feel for what is going on.
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