Symptoms:
With the 4 drive switch on, the front locks in and works fine.
With the switch off, it will disengage as expected.
The strange behaviour is when the rear wheels are spinning, but the front wheels are not spinning. Such as stuck in the mud or doing donuts on the ice. At times like this, when the RPMs get high enough (3k-4k), the FRONT END LOCKS IN UNCOMMANDED. It’s very noticeable and can’t be good on the drive train. This surely isn’t normal behaviour, is it?
What I’ve tried:
I completely disassembled and cleaned the front diff. The plastic cage and bearings were in good shape. The armature plate didn’t seem warped, but I replaced it with a John Deere MIA 10656 as documented elsewhere here. Cleaned everything and filled with 5 oz of Polaris demand drive fluid.
No luck, it still does it.
I even unplug the electrical plug to diff and it still does it. So I don’t believe it’s electrical related.
Any suggestions?
First, is this normal behaviour?
Second, what else should I look at trying?
