I just purchased a 1991 land cruiser got it for a steal, shes super clean inside and out, but there's always a catch. The truck runs and drives great but only works when the center diff lock is actuated. When i turn off the cdl it acts as if the transfer case is in neutral. It doesn't matter if its in high or low. Any ideas?

 

Crawl under the truck and made sure both front and rear driveshafts are there. If one of them is off, without the CDL lock on, I believe you will just spin as all the power goes to the path of least resistance, which will be the tcase output with no shaft on it. Could also be that one of your axle shafts is broken, but I'd guess driveshaft missing first and then go from there. Also, did someone install manual hubs on the front by any chance?

 

Driveshafts are there, yokes are in good shape. Was doing some research and found that the drive flange splines could be stripped, going to pop the dust covers off the axle and see if there spinning inside the flange