4 wheel drive ?

[denoginnizer]

How much power goes to the front wheels when you engage the four wheel drive system on a truck. Is it like 50/50 ? Does it very a great deal between makes of trucks? I had a toyota that felt like it was about 20% . My ford feels a little better but I still dont think its 50/50.
What about 4-wheel drive in tractors ? Is it 50/50

 

[milesvb]

I've wondered about that too. Another factor to consider would be weight distribution.

 

[spoon]

On any real four wheel drive vechile, not an all wheel drive, it should be 50/50. You have a transfer case hooked to your transmission with a drive shaft going to each housing. Really the only way I can think of to give one an advatage over the other is to figure out a way to change the gearing inside the transfer case that drives each driveshaft. I've never heard of that but most of my knowledge comes from working on 66-77 Ford Broncos. I'm clueless on the newer computer controled stuff.

 

[hillrancher]

Most is gear distributed which would be the same. The front has more weight empty it will get the most traction if tires are same front and rear. They have to be or should be the same gearing to produce the same ground speed on each axel. Tractors have different gearing for front to produce the same ground speed as the back larger tires. There are a few that use hydraulic motors to drive each wheel or axle. Am sure there are other drives.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

On your typical gear driven transfer case, 4WD is evenly distributed between front and rear axles. On many 3/4 and 1 ton 4x4s, the front axle is geared a HAIR lower than the rear, so you'd be putting a tiny bit more torque to the ground. I don't think you could measure it as the gearing difference is 3.55/3.54 or 4.10/4.11.

As for a tractor, it will depend. On a true 4WD, power is evenly divided among all 4 corners. On a front wheel assist, it will depend on the manufacturer. As a general rule of thumb, any MFWD that is hydraulic drive will not have as much power going to the fronts as it does to the rears.

Rod

 

[Brute 23]

Ya, gear driven true 4wd usually 50/50.

IF it has a clutch between the transfer case and the front drive and where it may not be because a clutch can give when it is in a bind so you may not get true 50/50 all the time.