CDL Engaged Inadvertently

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flyfish4life

flyfish4life

Joined
Dec 8, 2004
Threads
13
Messages
380
Location
Knoxville, TN
Ok, driving down the interstate yesterday and a friggin' 18 wheeler with no mud flaps slings up a rock, hitting the windshield (fairly minor chip and repairable). Problem is when it happened, I leaned up to see what kind of damage the rock had inflicted (doing around 65 mph or so) and inadvertantly bumped the CDL button (horrible location for that control) and continued driving for 2-3 miles with the center diff locked. For those 2-3 miles with the CDL engaged, I was driving in a straight line (may have switched lanes but nothing other than that and continued running at 65-70 mph). Then I see the CDL light on and nearly puked.

A day removed from this incident, I am still concerned I may have inflicted some damange after reading through numerous threads and the overall consensus is to not engage on dry pavement (although, some have argued @ high speeds with CD locked in a straight line is less of a problem) With the placement of that button, I would have to think someone else may have also made the same mistake. Do you guys think I inflicted any kind of serious damage? Pretty torn up about it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
IMO it wouldn’t hurt anything. It’s designed to be engaged while in motion + your front & rear diffs weren’t locked.
Have a beer. Relax. :beer:
And no, I’ve never hit that button accidentally.
DMX
 
I doubt any long term effect, especially without making a lot of sharp turns (though you would have noticed it quicker in that case).

It happened to us too. My wife called one day to tell me the LX suddenly became very difficult to turn and was acting strange. I asked if the CDL light was on, and it was. Apparently, the button got bumped inadvertently while maneuvering things in the vehicle before starting it up. She now recognizes what happens when the CDL is engaged on pavement - especially in a parking lot.

My instance was similar to yours. One evening I was driving along and reached to adjust the radio, encountered a bump in the road and inadvertently my hand hit the CDL button. I quickly pushed it again and disengaged it.
 
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Scratched my knee while driving the other day and engaged the CDL, flicked the switch and it took quite a while to drop out, so there must have been some windup. I knock it on with my knee occasionally when spinning aroud to sort the kids out when getting in the car, but most of the time I notice it before driving off. The switch in the 2003 is a modular design, that is, it is a combination of 3 switches in one block with the hazards and antenna switch so not an easy one to move. I have thought about putting a different switch elsewhere, but haven't got round to it yet.
 
OK - thanks for the replies - beer just opened. :beer: Still not a very good placement for the button - I think they reconfigured the dash layout in 2003 and should have thought that one through a bit more.
 
I've bumped mine too and the first thought was Oh S**t, but the second thought of "What a stupid place to put a press button for CDL" overcame the fear of ruining something. That said, mines been OK for the last 11,000 miles.
 
If you had any idea how many times I forgot to unlock even the rear and front lockers while driving. Let alone the CDL. You have no worries.
 
This is why when I did my mod I ran it to the left of the steering wheel. Nearly impossible to accidentally hit there.

Before I installed it I searched and asked. Consensus was it is ok to run locked at speed.
 
Your drive train is now toast. You should cut your losses now and part your truck out. I have dibs on the dash cluster, your drive shafts, rear upper control arms, t-case and heater control knobs. I'll PM you my shipping address. Thanks. :flipoff2:



You are fine. I forget and leave it on after being on dirt and can't figure out why my truck won't turn into a parking space very easy. :hhmm: Then I remeber the CDL is engaged.
 
I'm not freaked out over it (OP might have been). I'm just wondering if anyone else has swapped locations - for example swap the antenna and the cdl switches or come up with other nifty solutions.

Also, fyi, I've had 2 occasions where I accidentally hit the cdl switch with my knee while driving over 60 on the highway and noticed within a few minutes - however it would not disengage - I would hear the click and the light would stay on - whether I drove forward, stopped, whatever. Finally (after searching on iphone on the side of the road frantically) I found a trick that worked for me both times - drive in reverse for ~20 feet... voila.

Anyhow, I'd prefer to minimize the likelihood of accidentally engaging the cdl and causing permanent damage (binding) - call me crazy.
 
get some fake stick on wood trim from a LC kit and put it over that area. It will lessen the likelyhood of being able to press the switch in with a large object(knee)
 
1loudLX said:
get some fake stick on wood trim from a LC kit and put it over that area. It will lessen the likelyhood of being able to press the switch in with a large object(knee)
Click to expand...
Wouldn't that also reduce the functionality of the button somewhat?
 
rusty_tlc said:
Wouldn't that also reduce the functionality of the button somewhat?
Click to expand...
facepalm.jpg
 
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