So i was reading a bit about 4wd vs awd but i couldn’t understand why using 4wd under normal circumstances is bad. Most articles were pretty vague and basically just said dont do it. Why specifically is it bad for a vehicle?
In: Engineering
4WD and AWD have really got mucked up by marketing teams, but if we take the more traditional routes with AWD being always on with a center differential and 4WD being engagable with a Transfer Case in the middle then you can start to see problems
For an AWD system with a center differential there is also a front and a rear differential so the wheels can spin at different speeds if they need to incase one gets stuck or is just on the inside of a sharp corner.
The Transfer Case does not permit differences in speed between the front axle and rear axle, the average speed of the rear wheels needs to match the average speed of the front wheels, but when you go around a corner this isn’t usually the case. If you only use your 4WD in slippery conditions then this isn’t an issue because at least one of the wheels will slip on the mud/snow/ice, but if you run 4WD on dry grippy roads then every time you go around a corner there is a lot of twisting force being applied in the transfer case as the front and rear wheels attempt to travel at different speeds, in sharp corners you can hear the wheels skip as they lock up and have to break free from the road.
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