Feral,
I determined that it was locking and unlocking by simply sticking the car in the dirt, parking it, then dropping the clutch. Consequence was two wheelie marks in the dirt and not one. This characteristic remains right through the gears. Obviously I kept an eye on this action during my testing/rally and it remains consistant. This implies that it is locked.
I can tell that it is unlocking simply by turning the car. On tarmac with the old CIG locker one tyre would always cherp and chatter because it is in effect turning at a different radius. I checked this out on the dirt and tarmac and there is no longer any cherp or chatter. This characteristic is something that made the car more fun to drive at speed in the dirt because once you lift the throttle the rear axles unlock and the car immediately turns inn easier, something that doesnt always happen in the dirt with a CIG locker. It's real seat of the pants stuff and is very obvious when you are in the car in the dirt at speed. Please believe me when I say that it is locking and unlocking. I always try to be honest and have many years experience in Mech engineering.

I am certainely not calling anybody dumb.

I had to give all this considerable thought before taking on the task of designing and manufacturing one because I didnt want to waste my time and I also struggled with how they work/if they work.
How does it lock and unlock the axles - well if you imagine the normal plate type LSD. Inside thay have a drive pin arrangement, imagine that there is only one drive pin like inside the H165. Back to the LSD for a minute - inside there is a plate carrier that, when the drive pin exerts force on the plate carrier the plate carrier is forced away from the drive pin to exert pressure on the plates thus providing some driving force to the normally undriven axle. With the spring loaded locker it works in exactly the same way except there is no multi plate arrangement. Imagine a plate type LSD without the multi plates, when you plant your foot the plates of the spring loaded locker act in exactly the same way as the multi plate carrier inside the LSD. The centre drive pin of the diff exerts pressure on the spring loaded locker plates forcing them apart and exerting pressure on the normally undriven axle. It is the force being applied to the spider gears (gear that drives the axle) inside the H165 by the spring loaded locker plates that transfers drive to the normally undriven axle. That is why I originally thought the spring loaded locker was a waste of time, I didnt think there would be enough surface area on the face of the spider gears to apply enough load to lock and unlock the rear axles.
Keep in mind that in my application the amount of traction I need is limited because it is determined by the amount of grip my rear tyres give me on a dirt or loose surface.

Gees it's hard to explain over the web


I am not sure I understand your last question in your post so I wont speculate.

Sorry for the long post and I hope the above makes sense to you.

Paul.