Eh? What's going on with my 4WD??

[Lincoln]

When I'm in 4WD mode in my '92 Surf, everything's find when I'm going in a straight line or turning slightly. But as I turn more, like to turn into a parking space or do a u-turn, the rear wheels spin in quick, juddering lurches.

I think it may just be the inside wheel - if I'm turning right, the rear right wheel spins in juddery shakes. Vice versa for turning left. I still get round but it's almost embarassing! Everyone turns to look when I'm pulling into a car park! Odd.

[niblik]

the rears not locked or something is it? tight lsd? and try not to drive round town with it in 4wd fella..

[Lincoln]

It's an automatic locking one. And yeah I was just driving round with it in 4x4 mode in town to try and figure out what it was doing! I don't usually as I've heard it's not a good idea. Just wears it out does it?

[Smurf]

the scuffing is the auto locker working, get used to it.
the tighter you turn the more noticable it will be, the locker will be making both tyres turn at the same time so the inside one will scuff to keep up with the outside wheel.

[skid]

one of the joys of owning an auto locker dude

like they said, you have to get used to it

[Lincoln]

Ahhh. Oh well as long as there's nothing actually wrong with it. Cheers for the info.

[rokhound]

But don't drive it around on hard surfaces in 4wd. Lux's don't have a centre diff, and you can cause serious damage to the drive train due to transmission wind up. Worst case is breaking and input shaft or similar.

[mike]

You need to adapt your driving style with an auto locker and understand a few basic things with it. On the road around a corner you essentially have "one wheel drive" in my case its the inside wheel and it sounds like that on yours as well. The outside wheel is disengaging and overrunning (how they release on corners). the overrunning wheel cause some slack on a pin which allows some cogs to disengage (the outside wheel and all drive goes to the inside wheel. what causes the juddering is when the inside wheel slips (remember doing a wheelie in a car the inside wheel always spins first as thats got the least load on it) the slack is taken back up and thus the cogs become re-engaged and the outside wheel drives again all of a sudden, giving you the shuddering. the chirping is the inside wheel briefly skipping and then normal as the outside engages, then the car moves, outside overruns again, all power to inside wheel, then it skips again etc. You need to ease the power on when turning tight into car parks etc. learn to get a feel for when that wheel lets go and hopefully you have some understanding of why its doing it now.

mike

[Lincoln]

Sweet. Thanks heaps for that. Only had it a couple of months as you can tell!

[hilux_dave]

iv got one and i just take it out of gear or put the clutch in when driving in tight places.

[tallsam66]

if you installed the auto locker yourself it should of come with an instruction guide telling you how it works & how to drive with your locker .Maybe RTFM.

[jarps]

Did you mean its auto select for 4wd or it actually does have an auto locker in the rear?

If its got an auto locker in the rear then it won''t matter if in 4wd or not? the locker always works and wouldnt like turning into parks in 2wd either. But i dont know, mine was in the front

[Engineer]

Did you mean its auto select for 4wd or it actually does have an auto locker in the rear?

If its got an auto locker in the rear then it won''t matter if in 4wd or not? the locker always works and wouldnt like turning into parks in 2wd either. But i dont know, mine was in the front

correct if its autolocking it doesnt need to be in 4wd.
ive got them front and rear as MIKE said, adapt your driving style..
people following me must get sick of me when im turning corners as i always slow right down (town driving) and turn gently into corners to make sure the lokka unlocks. if you drive it like a car with the rear autolocker, it wont unlock and causes a c**t of a vibration through the truck due to the outside wheel wanting to go faster.

i love the looks iget at petrol stations or doing u-turns, people must think theres something seriously wrong, they sound terrible butwork great

[jarps]

Original question says it did it while in 4wd, and i think he mighta thought when ask if fitted with an auto locker that he meant the auto select for 4wd, not a lokka, so i'm thinking its just the fact he got it in 4wd on tarseal, and surfs usally dont like that? I get what i mean . But if he has got an auto locker then your all right, just that i read it different

[niblik]

if the rear is auto locked then it should still do it in 2wd..

[Lincoln]

It's only in 4WD yeah. Dunno about autolockers! I bought it from a dealers but it doesn't look like the previous owner ever took it off road or modified anything so I doubt it's got any after market stuff on it.

[jarps]

Though we all had it mixed up a little, I would take rokhounds advice, basically its normal to do this but not good for it.

[Lincoln]

Cheers jarps and all who posted!

In summary:

a) It's normal
b) don't use 4WD for the wife's grocery run

[jarps]

c) add auto locker to list of mods (can't let the rest of the good info go to last)

[fweddy]

The auto locker in the rear of mine likes to chirp on smooth seal, I can get a good squeal on at certain intersections, esp with a trailer on. Had that the other day when I had to do a quick turn into Blighs road from Papanui road in a small gap in the oncoming traffic, got a squeal up in two gears. I always fear people think I'm a hoon!

Apart from that and a slight sudden freeing up on cornering I don't find the locker really interferes with my driving, unless I'm just used to it now.

[rokhound]

4wd on any vehicle that is not equipped with a centre diff (or similar) should never be employed on high grip surfaces, such as tarmac and concrete.
Just as wheels on different sides of an axle travel in a different radius when turning, so too do rear wheels versus front. If you want to see how much pressure is put on the drive train doing this, try turning on a concrete driveway in 4wd, and when you notice things getting bound up a bit, stop and jack up one wheel (assuming you don't have lockers engaged).
When all that pressure is built up in your drivetrain, things can get far more interesting than you could ever ask for.

[Lincoln]

Thanks Rokhound. There's a lot of info here that I had no idea about and that has probably saved me a huge mechanics fee in the future!

Much appreciated.