HP elocker won't unlock. Not jammed.

[robinhood150]

My wiring looks good and the motor isn't jammed. I've tried re-indexing the motor gears per a post by dick foster and that didn't work. It just seems like the fork isn't moving all the way over to unlock. How far should the shift fork move? It seems like the gear on the motor turns about 90 deg which translates to 6 teeth. The teeth on the shift fork looks like it only travels maybe 4 teeth over.

I can slide the fork over manually with a screw driver and it slides both ways and comes to a hard stop at the end of the travel. It still doesn't unlock.

Would a bent housing on the short side cause this if the axle shaft is somehow bending or straining the diff? I suspect the housing might be bent.

[ErikB]

If the fork is moving and the diff doesn't unlock, then I'd say the fork isn't engaging the clutch correctly. Its not in the groove, its outside it.

I don't think its the housing because if something was binding and keeping the clutch from moving (disengaging), then the fork wouldn't move either.

[robinhood150]

Thanks erik, that's kind of what the guys at marlin said.

But then I was thinking maybe I didn't grind out the hole in the housing big enough to clear the shift fork. I guess I'll be tearing down the axle this weekend. bleh.

[robinhood150]

Update if anybody else has this problem. It turns out I didn't grind the hole for the shift fork long enough in the housing. It was deep enough, but about 1/4" too short lengthwise and the fork was hitting the housing.