Diff lock mods?

[Mark J. Besso]

I did salvage the carbon fiber box you made; with the actuator buttons.  The
Audisport steering wheel is in my 5KTQA.  The rest went to the crusher.

 

The door lock solenoids mounted via universal brackets (like the ones for
holding the back of a radio into your dashboard) and the original plastic
clevis attached directly to them.  Since these solenoids only operate in a
complete extension or retraction it made it simple.  If they didn't engage
the moment you tapped the button -which was extremely rare- you just tapped
the button again.  There was a button for each differential lock and one
between them to reverse the direction the solenoid would operate in.

 

To engage differentials you'd set the center switch to "engage" and tap
whichever button for the particular lock you wanted to engage.  Since they
were operating as if the original vacuum plungers had done the job you still
got the confirmation lights on the console telling you the operation was
successful.  To disengage you simply changed the center switch to
"disengage" and the process was reversed.

 

The cool part is the steering column is hollow and Bob ran the wiring
through it to eliminate any chance of it binding.

 

~MB

 

p.s. Hey Bob, should I mention the fiber optics you used so I could see the
warning lights?

 

 

 

  _____  

From: Bob D  
Subject: Re: Diff lock mods?

 

thanks :)

Now I remember, yes, I used the motor solenoids from a GM door lock, they
are strong and weatherproof. The buttons were on a carbon fiber box mounted
on the steering wheel so the buttons were always within thumbs reach. 
We should have salvaged those parts off the car....



Mark J. Besso wrote: 

I'll second that since it was my 4KQ that Bob designed/built them for.  They
utilized the door lock solenoids from a GMC Jimmy (gasp!) and they never
failed to engage/disengage immediately; regardless of weather.
 
Thanks again, Bob.... I sure miss that car!
 
~MB
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob D
Subject: Re: Diff lock mods?
 
I made this mod to a 4000q some time ago, using electronic motor
solenoids. I then had 2 buttons on the steering wheel that engaged or
disengaged each one. They could be done independently at that point. It
worked great!
bob
 
 
Tony Hoffman wrote:
  

Dennis,
 
I have thought of doing this in the past with electronic solenoids. Not
    

sure
  

if it has been done, though. Having dealt with enough cables (hood
    

release,
  

choke, bicycles, e-brake) I'd shy away from this due to dirt and rust.
However, I can't see why it couldn't be done. Probably want to use hood
release or brake, as these should be long enough to work.
 
Tony Hoffman
 
 
On 10/24/06, DGraber460 at aol.com wrote:
 
    

Has anyone modified the URQ diff lock set up to be manual as opposed to
vacuum operated?
On my late build 83 (now totaled) the locks worked but were quite slow,
and
had the ability to lock center only or both center & rear. My current
early
build 83 has an "on off" set-up linking both center and rear, and will
engage
them but not disengage them.
Over the weekend I had the car up off all 4s and used a vacuum pump to
thoroughly test the system for leaks, and both the green (engage) and red
(disengage) systems are leak free. The red system just doesn't have
      

enough
  

grunt  to
pull the diffs off.
I would like to go to a manual system with levers and control cables but
need to source some "custom" parts and cables, and was curious if anyone
else
has already done this.
I had recently thought my alignment was bad as the car would corner
weird  on
long sweepers and just handle a bit strange. it now appears my rear diff
has
been locked for some time.
TIA.
 
Dennis
Denver