You won't do any harm running on the rear prop with the Centre Diff locked, just treat it as a road car.
It would be interesting to see what happens if you reverse the process - remove rear prop, replace front prop and run with the Centre Diff locked. This will put all the drive through the Hi-Vo chain and the front wheels. If the chain is the cause of your problems expect some loss of drive and nasty noises. Don't run it on the road like that, the front diff is known to be weak and you have problems enough !
Bob.
Thanks Bob, I'm actually beginning to think that the problem may not be entirely in the TB, or may not be there at all.
'Adventure Wagon' raised a good point, he said that the vibration I get might be down to higher output shaft speed due to the front drive-shaft being removed, which makes me think that the problem could be in the front diff.
The reason I removed the front drive shaft was to by-pass the TB, thinking it was worn out. The problem I had, was a banging under the floor when I lifted the clutch during gear changes and when I was easing on and off the gas, It was like someone was hitting the tunnel with a rubber mallet. I checked all the gearbox and diff mounts, and the UJs on the shafts and it was all fine, I even installed new gearbox crossmember mount just in case. The banging problem went away when I removed the shaft, but I had that progressive vibration in the output shaft when going through the gears in H whilst not moving forward an inch, which lead me to further conclude that my TB was worn out. It's worth pointing out that at
idle speed the vibration is not there in 1st gear and only starts becoming noticeable in 2nd gear, again with the car not moving at all.
So for me, this raises a few questions: Does the vibration indicate a problem with the TB? Is there a way to check the TB condition? I see from some schematics online that the diff-lock is engaged by a 'diff-lock sleeve' that slides on the shaft, is this sleeve strong enough to take ongoing torque from daily use without giving up?
I'll start looking around for a front diff in the meantime, does anyone know if they differ in ratios between auto and manual?
Thanks all