Date:         Fri, 3 Dec 1999 16:53:06 -0500
Reply-To:     "Carrington, Tom" <tcarrington@RELITECH.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Carrington, Tom" <tcarrington@RELITECH.COM>
Subject:      Re: Transmission question
Content-Type: text/plain

I actually beg to differ, but just slightly...Think of this

If you were to put your van on a level sheet of slippery ice, and engage the
clutch, I bet one wheel spins and the other holds still.There is an *ever so
slight* bias towards one of the wheels, having something to due with the
ring gear of the pinion being off center. The stub axles that are inside the
tranny are of different length. The shorter axle will transfer the torque to
that wheel at a slightly higher intial rate, causing that wheel to spin
first. Once that wheel starts spinning, the other one will just sit there.

Also, my personal observation of driving my Dodge truck like an idiot when I
was a teenager - The right rear tire wore before the left, consistently.
Even wear patterns, no alignment problems.

TomC
tcarrington@relitech.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: EMZ [SMTP:vw4x4@FYI.NET]
> Sent: Friday, December 03, 1999 3:58 PM
> To:   vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject:      Re: Transmission question
>
>    There is no such thing as a drive wheel. Ether one will spin, losing
> traction. This leaves the other wheel with no torch.
>
>             Eric                   86-VW4x4
>             vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
>             Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler
>
>
> On Fri, 3 Dec 1999, David Greenland wrote:
>
> > on 12/3/99 5:47 AM, Ron Bloomquist at roadcow@MCN.ORG wrote:
> >
> > > My, new to me, 1984 Vanagon will spin the right rear tire with very
> > > little effort.
> >
> > As it's Friday, I'm going to make the most of this subject and try to
> > educate myself.
> >
> > I believed that a differential will give power to the rear wheels
> equally,
> > and that whichever wheel has the least traction will spin.
> >
> > I had this argument with a friend a couple of days ago and he was
> adamant
> > that there was a drive wheel and a non drive wheel, and whatever the
> > conditions only one of them will spin and it will be always the same
> one.
> >
> > Can anyone enlighten me here ? is this a leftover from some old
> differential
> > design that isn't in production anymore.
> >
> > and one last thing. How does a 'traction bar' work ?
> >
> > TIA,
> > Dave,
> > Napa, CA
> > '91 westy.
> > -if I get stuck > 3 times in Tahoe this winter, it's up for sale!
> >