Can the diff lock on the 650 be engaged at any speed? Can you engage and disengage it when the wheels are already spinning? Does the locking mechanism work like a brake or does it engage gears? I dont want to have to get off the gas if I am spinning and need more traction, I just want to pull on the lever and "lock" both front wheels.

Thanks

 

Hey Ctebbe, I have a little over 400 miles on my 650 and I wouldn't have another wheeler without a diff-lock on it. I use mine mostly when trail riding in the woods so obviously our speed is realatively controled. When I hit mud and my tires begin to spend I pull in the lever or as I coming up to a difficult, somewhat slippery hill I pull the lever. Yesterday I used it as I pushed another wheeler out of a mud hole. The only time The diff-lock has not worked successfully for me is when I high centered the machine. I don't begin to understand the tech side of how it works. I just pull the wonderful "Yellow" lever when ever I feel like I need it. I do know that it only works when you are in 4-wd.

 

I think that the diff lock works like a clutch. There is a clutch pack in the front of the diff, and the lever engages/disengages the clutch pack.

 

I read that when you pull the lever it equalizes the fluid pressure so both front wheels get equal torque. I am not an engineer so I can't tell you if that's correct.

 

It operates just as a clutch pack. There is a cam plate on one side that presses the friction plates together as it is rotated by the lever action, thus it can be modulated rather than used as "on" or "off". The only way to have a problem I think would be to yank the lever hard while the front wheels were in a turn or if you had a front tire in the air. The good thing about the lever action is that you can reduce the equalization slightly if the quad starts to track to the side, straighten things up, and resume full differential lock again with a sqeeze. This feature has saved me more than once when climbing trail #12 at Upper Tellico. Without this feature, I would have either been jerked sideways for a possible overturn on the rocks, or I would have to nearly stop, disengage the locker, and try to resume the climb from a near standstill!