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Date:         Tue, 9 Mar 1999 21:02:11 -0700
Reply-To:     Kent Christensen <lkchris@USWEST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kent Christensen <lkchris@USWEST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Synchro Differential Lock
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I don't own a Syncho (yet) but would like to offer a different way of answering the question.

Todd Hill's reply indicated what I've always understood about locking differentials and refers to a single axle, either front or rear. Given that, a vehicle normally described as 2WD is really 1WD, because if one wheel is lifted or on ice ... (It would need a locking diff or limited-slip diff to be truly always 2WD.) A Synchro without diffs locked is then really not 4WD but really 2WD, because if both one front and one rear wheel are lifted or on ice, there is no forward motion because 2 wheels will spin. What I always assumed a Synchro's diff lock did was make the vehicle 3WD, because there is only one diff lock (rear). Hey, your chances are increased by yet another 50%, which is not bad. (Is 50% the correct number? If a Synchro with diff lock in has both rear and one front on ice, it doesn't go, but if it has both front and one rear on ice it does go.)

Also theoretically interesting (possibly) is the notion there is no deception by the auto industry because in the long run 2 wheels do provide drive on what is commonly called a 2WD vehicle (but only simultaneously if both have traction), but one wonders if a Syncho can be said to ever effectively drive all 4 wheels simultaneously, since as I understand it the viscous coupling never couples until there is evident loss of rear traction. For a Synchro then, 4WD must just mean that over time any of the 4 wheels could be driven.


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