Differential locks Unlock

Welcome to the forum. Let me give you some advice to make your visits more productive. When you are asking for information, make sure that you give us as much information on the component as you can. In the case, a year, make model would be nice to know.

 

I'm guessing you probably have an air valve connected to the airline from the range selector. Probably does something like cut airflow from the lockers and exhausts it once you hit high range. Best bet would be to trace the lines from the transmission and lockers and see if they meet at a common valve.

 

Lockers are made for slow speeds, every truck I ever drove would automatically disengage them above 20mph. Power divider is good for any speed

 

That was my thinking as well, but didn't want to say it since I'm a mechanic and don't have a lot of wheel time. I have driven in snow, but not much off-road. In my almost getting stuck in the snow experiences, using the diff locks and power divider were good to get me moving, but not needed once I was moving. I think they'd be more dangerous than helpful at higher speeds.

 

IMO they're more of a situational thing. Sometimes you need the speed and the extra traction to pull a hill in the bush. Having the diffs unlocked could cause you to spin out. I'm thinking that's the OP's reasoning. Biggest thing is unlocking them before you hit the corners so you can turn.

 

It depends on the brand of gear, etc., but I routinely ran four-way lockers up to 35-ish mph for 100 or more miles--no harm, no foul--doing oilfield/off road hauling. Power divider would stay in pretty much all winter regardless of speed. My trucks were all newer, so the diff lock kick-out was adjusted in the ECM by the dealer--which had to be done on some of them as they would kick out at about 25 mph.

Plus I had to get the dealer to kill the "stupid, you left your power divider/diffs locked" alarm.

 

That's all air, no electronics or ECM controls for them. You'll have to follow the airlines from them, they'll go to pilot valve (basically an air operated relay). You'll have to plug the airline that comes from the range selector to that pilot valve. That will disable the range selector shutting them off and that's all I would do so you can easily put it back to OEM.