Syncro Front Diff-locks

Seized diff-lock pushrod

KarlIT: I've stripped the front lock off but can't get the little shaft to move. Can it only move in & out? Can it twist? How much movement are we talking?

Aidan: Diff out job, easy to do on the bench, nigh on impossible on front insitu, Get the 8mm rollpin for the front not the 10mm long one, should always have a magnet on it when extracting it to avoid losing

KarlIT: Really don't want to remove diff. I've got loads of access as no drive-shaft or lower arm in the way. Still got to lie on my back though! How much moverment & can it twist?

Dave Friday: Very little twist, the shaft (on mine) pushes in past the roll pin hole, remember to turn one of the drive shaft flanges so the diff lock bit can engage. Good Luck.

Aidan: Virtually no twist on pushrod, only the oil film gap between the sliding part and the fork internally. 

The problem on the front is that the pin has to go so far into the sleeve to actuate that the roll pin hole goes in too, so the usual method of popping a 2.5mm allen key in the roll pin hole and some gear oil in the diff lock switch hole then gently reaming it back into operation with a straight in-out motion doesn't work.
You'd have to make a slide hammer adapter and fit that to the pin using the roll pin and do it that way. I tried once, made the tool, wasted a couple of hours of my life and still didn't free it. If you are that far in then it's less than an hour to have the diff on the floor and a cup of tea and then take off the end-cover and strip it out, ream it up in the hand and then re-assemble. Change the oil while you're at it, free the filler and drain plugs to make it easy next time and do any brake pipes in the vicinity that might need doing in the next few years to save the job of stripping it out again or working in a tight space.
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