most 4 wheel drives are only 2 wheel drive any way, one front and one back wheel, there are modifacations that can be done to make all wheels drive but they dont turn very well. I have a discovery and they call them a constant 4 wheel drive, the drive automaticly goes to the wheel that is slipping, one at the front an d one at the rear. cheers blaze
ozjohn said
10:32 AM Mar 31, 2011
The way I understand it:
AWD (All Wheel Drive) that all the wheels constantly drive. You cannot selot btween 2 wheels and 4 wheels.
4WD or 4X4 (4 Wheel Drive) is where you can select either 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive.
Cheers, ozjohn.
Yuglamron said
11:31 AM Mar 31, 2011
4x4 basically means there is an extra diff in the drivetrain.
A 'Normal' two wheel drive has a diff to allow one wheel to turn faster when cornering.
A 4x4 has an extra diff to drive the other axle.Same thing the outside wheel on a cornering car has to travel further than the inside one hence the need for a diff.
Most 4x4's have the extra diff to drive all four wheels.It also generally has an extra low range in the extra diff to drop the speed to make 4x4 driving slower and of course then gives extra grunt.
Then there are locking wheel hubs to help the four wheel drive(A lot of modern 4x4's have auto hubs)
Another aid is a lockable diff to make all the wheels turn together at the same speed.
All tools to aid 'Proper four wheel driving'
Hope this has not complicated it too much.
PeterD said
01:03 AM Apr 1, 2011
WOW there are some confusing answers there.
Try this - 4WD is generally applied to vehicles that are run in 2WD on hard roads and you can engauge the front wheel drive when you are running on soft ground.The problem with this system is that when you turn corners the front axle tries to turn faster then the rear one. This is creates transmission wind up. If you run your vehicle on hard ground this wind up is likely to bugger your differentials.
AWD (all wheel drive) vehicles have both axles driven all the time. They have differential (or alternately a viscous coupling) between the front and rear drive sharfts to prevent transmission wind up.
my dad and i are trying to figure out the difference between
a 4wd and an all wheel drive car
we gather 4wd is for going bush etc but can some one explaine
what an all wheel drive car is please?
Cheers,
Peter
Hi Milo, I looked this up for an easy explanation mate. Always confused me too.
Four wheel drive first:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-wheel_drive
All wheel drive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:All_wheel_drive_vehicles
Gives lots of examples in that one.
I will get lost here now looking them all up.
cheers
blaze
The way I understand it:
AWD (All Wheel Drive) that all the wheels constantly drive. You cannot selot btween 2 wheels and 4 wheels.
4WD or 4X4 (4 Wheel Drive) is where you can select either 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive.
Cheers, ozjohn.
4x4 basically means there is an extra diff in the drivetrain.
A 'Normal' two wheel drive has a diff to allow one wheel to turn faster when cornering.
A 4x4 has an extra diff to drive the other axle.Same thing the outside wheel on a cornering car has to travel further than the inside one hence the need for a diff.
Most 4x4's have the extra diff to drive all four wheels.It also generally has an extra low range in the extra diff to drop the speed to make 4x4 driving slower and of course then gives extra grunt.
Then there are locking wheel hubs to help the four wheel drive(A lot of modern 4x4's have auto hubs)
Another aid is a lockable diff to make all the wheels turn together at the same speed.
All tools to aid 'Proper four wheel driving'
Hope this has not complicated it too much.
WOW there are some confusing answers there.
Try this - 4WD is generally applied to vehicles that are run in 2WD on hard roads and you can engauge the front wheel drive when you are running on soft ground.The problem with this system is that when you turn corners the front axle tries to turn faster then the rear one. This is creates transmission wind up. If you run your vehicle on hard ground this wind up is likely to bugger your differentials.
AWD (all wheel drive) vehicles have both axles driven all the time. They have differential (or alternately a viscous coupling) between the front and rear drive sharfts to prevent transmission wind up.
thanks all for trying to explaine all this