Power divider

Went to lock the power divider in to get under the trailer the other day and it didn't work. I had a slight air leak behind the dash when the switch was flipped, and a very loud leak back by the power divider, was in a hurry and didn't look to see where it was leaking at for sure, and could smell gear oil, but it didn't leak any out. Is the power divider toast or is there an air valve that controls it that might be the culprit?

 

Internal leak within the cylinder. Depending on what you have, you can buy a complete cylinder or just buy the seals. Very simple and can be repaired with only a couple of hand tools in about an hour. The dash switch may also have a small air leak.

 

The dash leak is very hard to hear, if I leave it switched for more than a few seconds then switch it to off it takes several seconds for the air to bleed off, whereas normally it is a quick shhh. That tells me that something is hung up and the air is having to back bleed back thru the switch.

 

Yea I don't think it sounds like anything serious. There are usually a couple o rings in the cylinder that cause the leak in the power divider. The gear oil smell was probably from the air "stirring" the oil and drifted out the vent

 

The switch is made to vent all the air when switched to the unlock position. You're not hearing the strong shhh because you are already loosing air pressure at cylinder.

 

It's strong, but twice as long as normal. I just engaged it and ran outside, it leaked for 3-4 seconds then went quiet, came back in and turned it off and all seemed normal. I will see about replacing that cylinder when I get home. I had been running a lot of off road and gravel for a wind job, maybe it got a lot of the fine dust in thru the vent and has it clogged/acting up?

 

Sometimes the seals can become dry and fail to seal. A few drops of heavy oil or lucas placed in the air line at the cylinder may help to get them lubricated and working.

 

If someone is outside they should hear a clunk when it engages.

 

I pulled the line off the block on the frame rail and put a few drop of Lucas in it, hit the switch a few times and nothing, put several more drops in, nothing, squirted quite a bit in there and still nothing. Looks to me like the whole front section has to come off to get access to the cylinder?

 

With the line disconnect flip the switch and see if you are getting air pressure to the cylinder.
The way to tell if the power divider is locked in is by trying to rotate with the driveshaft back and forth with your hand. If it's locked it will be tight and difficult turn. Sometimes when there is pressure on the gears, it may be necessary to roll forward and backward a little in order to get the power divider release.
if the seals are leaking air Will be coming out to the vent at the top of the axle housing.