Re: [A/S] Ford 2004-2005- Locking 4 WD

[Rick Kunath <k9ao@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I do like color on my TV's though <tongue-in-cheek.)

Actually it isn't a reason not to have 4wd.

We were discussing the *entirely* different aspect of lockers in the front 
*and* read of a 4wd. 

This isn't what a typical 4wd with open differentials is, and isn't how 
(usually) a 4wd with a rear locker behaves. 

An open differential equipped 4wd won't behave this way, but there are times 
when any vehicke with front-drive, cars included, will lose steering control 
on glare ice. Backing off on the gas is enough to cause sufficient drag to 
lock the front wheels and lose steering control (because of the compression 
braking effect of the engine transmossion combination.) Gassing it can allow 
you to regain control and steer in the direction you want to go, then resume 
either braking or decellerating. This very thing is why I prefer the old 
part-time 4wd systems with manual front hubs on glare ice (can you even get 
these on any new trucks?) Way back in WW2, Jeeps were running off the icy 
roads in Italy and mechanics quickly learned to remove the splines on the 
front hubs, as the drag of even a disconnected front drivetrain was enough to 
lose front steering control. The manual front hubs do this nowadays, by 
completely disconnecting the front wheel assembly from the drivetrain. 

I can't say as I am up on whether the newer trucks with dashboard 4wd controls 
have vacuum or other ways of doing this, or are still relying on 
disconnecting the drivetrain by isolating the axle sharts in the front 
differential. Maybe someone can shed some light on this?

Odds are that this sure isn't the sort of driving conditions that you'd be 
driving in anyway, and certainly not weather I'd want to have a trailer 
behind me. 

And it isn't something you'd experience in even very deep snow.

Rick  Kunath
WBCCI #3060