When 1 wheel looses traction, all wheels stop driving.

[Nel]

I have a 96 Mistral. I have much to learn about the workings of my 4wd system!
When having a play this last weekend, I got stuck when one wheel lost traction no others would drive. All other wheels where on track-able ground.
I was in 4wd low ratio. I've almost destroyed my little manual winch getting out of that predicament. (not another truck in site )

Do these trucks have any system that locks all wheels into drive?
If so how could I check to learn if this is working?
I don't know the correct term to use.

[slide]

I'm guessing that you had a rear spinning?
Seems to be you've got a problem engageing 4wd. With a part time 4x4, when you move lever from 2wd to 4wd it splits power 50/50 front and rear, so if you get stuck you should have 1 front, and 1 rear (or 3, or even 4) wheels spinning, not just one.
I'd suggest checking front auto hubs, maybe one of them is faulty and not allowing 4x4 to engage properly..
Nath

[Nel]

Thanks for that, any suggestions on checking the Front hubs.

I would note, when one rear was spinning the other rear was not along with the front also not driving.

[J_Dub]

put it into a situation where the front wheels should spin/get stuck, but the rears still able to get you out, if theres no drive or spin in the front then sounds like front hub or 4wd system issue

[DieselBoy]

My votes with the auto hubs on the front wheels.

Easy as to check.

Leave the truck in neutral, 2wd, hand brake on.

Slide under the truck under the drivers door area, the drive shaft to the front diff should be around there somewhere.

You should be able to spin the drive shaft through a revolution or two and then the hubs should lock in. You shouldn't then be able spin the drive shaft anymore than say half a turn or so in either direction once the hubs have locked in.

If the drive shaft just spins and spins with out doing anything, then your hubs are at fault.

If stops being able to be turned, your hubs are good.

If you decided your hubs are good, then look at the Transfercase.

Move the shift leaver to 4wd low, slide back under the truck and try spinning the front drive shaft. It shouldn't spin more than quarter to half a turn give or take.

If that's ok, then your 4wd is working fine, you just got good old fashioned stuck

[Bush Chef]

Thats some realy good advice DieselBoy
addvice like this is why I signed up to this forum thanks!

[charo249]

I agree check your auto hubs first - as a side note auto hubs can often click out in reverse as this is how they disengage meaning sometimes you can lose drive to your front axle just when you are trying to back out of a bog that is to deep! If your hubs check out fine next stop is your front C.V joints.

[Crash bandicoot]

you must have a seriously worn out truck if the factory LSD wont even engage on the rear axle.
Also you should hear a metallic "click" like the sound of a firing pin in a rifle.
That is the auto hubs engaging. you should also hear this when disengaging.

check that you have not got a sheared inner axle on the front differential as well... this is not hard to do if the 4wd has been engaged once the vehicle is already stuck as the lash of the front will snap them like a twig if not careful

IT may appear to work when not under load (i,e) front jacked up.

[Dirtydog]

also, with the terranos ya have to reverse to engage the hubs in the first place, about 10m or so, i had this problem when i first got my one, then a guy at the garage told us and we were away,

heres hoping its something simple like this,

[Crash bandicoot]

also, with the terranos ya have to reverse to engage the hubs in the first place, about 10m or so, i had this problem when i first got my one, then a guy at the garage told us and we were away,

heres hoping its something simple like this,

yours are worn out too then , we have got terrano's and mistral's and both engage/ disengage within half a meter of moving.

[DieselBoy]

you must have a seriously worn out truck if the factory LSD wont even engage on the rear axle.

Haha, your one of those guys!!!!

Google up how an LSD works. You will find that the type of LSD fitted to most Japanese 4x4s is the friction plate type, and doesn't opporate like you obviously think

[pruggerdore]

also, with the terranos ya have to reverse to engage the hubs in the first place, about 10m or so, i had this problem when i first got my one, then a guy at the garage told us and we were away,

heres hoping its something simple like this,

Dont agree with this, maybe when things get worn it is a method that helps. but I would of thought reversing would make them disengage. I do that in my safari auto hubs too make sure it has disengaged both sides.
worth trying tho

[DieselBoy]

also, with the terranos ya have to reverse to engage the hubs in the first place, about 10m or so, i had this problem when i first got my one, then a guy at the garage told us and we were away,

heres hoping its something simple like this,

Nope, you don,t need to reverse. They should lock in within one to two revolutions of the drive shaft once "driven" by the Transfercase.

They unlock once the drive from the Transfercase has stopped and the wheels are driven instead by the road surface. Again, google Nissan auto locking hub operation.

[Dirtydog]

lol, 10m was over exageration, but maybe mine are were worn..

Gunna get manual ones now, much easier and reliable

[Dr_PC]

They unlock once the drive from the Transfercase has stopped and the wheels are driven instead by the road surface. Again, google Nissan auto locking hub operation.

Totally correct, both my Terrano and Mistral were as you say, no reversin needed to make them engage

[Nel]

Wow thanks guys.
Yep in 2WD, neutral. front shaft continues to rotate either direction several times.
So what comes next. I'm keen, if someone can tell me where to start.
If it is a big and or expensive job, would my mere amateur abilities be able to fit up a Manual locking system if this is going to be more reliable?

My truck has done around 250ish kms (I reckon the odo bin wound back???). But it was a grandma's car for several years prior to me.

[slide]

While you spin front driveshaft, look at the front axles. You'll notice one turn a little bit, then stop. other one will keep turning. The one that keeps turning is faulty side.
Manual hubs are fairly easy to fit up. Auto ones can be fiddly to fix, but may just need a bit of CRC or similar.
Auto ones real cheap to buy tho, as pretty much all mistrals and terranos have them standard.
Have a go, you cant go too far wrong
Nath

[mfrsr]

helps to pull one side apart at a time. if you lose track of how it goes back together you've got the other one to look at.

[Crash bandicoot]

you must have a seriously worn out truck if the factory LSD wont even engage on the rear axle.

Haha, your one of those guys!!!!

Google up how an LSD works. You will find that the type of LSD fitted to most Japanese 4x4s is the friction plate type, and doesn't opporate like you obviously think

Im talking about the 4wd engaging, not the LSD locking, i can make a 90 degree turn on gravel and the rear LSD locks up tight on mine. when they are serviced properly and adjusted up they can work just as well as a locker can.

every one complains when they gear breaks, but when was the last time you changed the oils in your drive line??? exactly. didn't think so.

Preventative maintenance is better then having to get online and ask..."why isn't my 4wd working"....

IT would seem you are one of "those guys"

I am relatively new to the serious "offroad" aspect of four wheel driving but even a nissan skyline suffers from poor performance when not maintained...Same principles different surfaces.

[DieselBoy]

you must have a seriously worn out truck if the factory LSD wont even engage on the rear axle.

Haha, your one of those guys!!!!

Google up how an LSD works. You will find that the type of LSD fitted to most Japanese 4x4s is the friction plate type, and doesn't opporate like you obviously think

Im talking about the 4wd engaging, not the LSD locking, i can make a 90 degree turn on gravel and the rear LSD locks up tight on mine. when they are serviced properly and adjusted up they can work just as well as a locker can.

every one complains when they gear breaks, but when was the last time you changed the oils in your drive line??? exactly. didn't think so.

Preventative maintenance is better then having to get online and ask..."why isn't my 4wd working"....

IT would seem you are one of "those guys"

I am relatively new to the serious "offroad" aspect of four wheel driving but even a nissan skyline suffers from poor performance when not maintained...Same principles different surfaces.

Hahaha, yeah, you are like so right

Now, back on topic.

Do as suggested by Slide to work out what hub you think is suspect.

Grab your self a decent set of Allen keys and undo the 6 bolts holding the auto hub on. It might need gentle tap with a rubber hammer or a carefull pry with a screw driver.

Once the hub is off, from memory there is a circlip that needs removing before you can get into the hub itself.

A set of manual hubs might set you back about $270, but they will be a straight bolt back on type job.

[Nel]

Ok, I've checked things out, the axle that did rotate was the side with the faulty locker. I've had this out today and all seems well greased and no bits fell out. Phew!
The internal shaft with spline does not seem to move far enough out to engage the locker unit.
To my inexperienced eye I felt the internals of the locker may have been seized or else something is jammed inside this particular unit. I couldn't see how it came apart any further!
Have filled locker up with crc and soaked for half hour, and refitted for now.
Still not engaging at this time.
Can someone point me to a site where I could see a schematic of the locker to better understand how it works and what may be going on internally?

[sibainmud]

Where are you from? Help could be just around the corner. By the sound of your explanation, the cir clip on the cv shaft spline could of come undone and the cv has retracted and not engaging with the hub.

Cheers,

[Nel]

I'm in Tauranga, speaking of which how to get location showing on my profile?
The CV shaft is locating into the locker, I don't know how far it should go though. In the locker itself there is a splined shaft which appears to have to move outwards to engage into the locker body. To me it doesn't seem to move out far enough. Would it be worth soaking the locker unit in a cleaning fluid or similar, air gun it out for a good clean and repack with Grease?

[DieselBoy]

Hey, just to correct you on your terminology a bit before you confuse the masses, what your talking about is an automatic freewheeling hub.

Generally called an Auto hub and it's brother the Manual hub.

A Diff lock is generally referred to as a locker. You don't have a locker in your truck.

Yet

[Heath]

I'm in Tauranga, speaking of which how to get location showing on my profile?
The CV shaft is locating into the locker, I don't know how far it should go though. In the locker itself there is a splined shaft which appears to have to move outwards to engage into the locker body. To me it doesn't seem to move out far enough. Would it be worth soaking the locker unit in a cleaning fluid or similar, air gun it out for a good clean and repack with Grease?

location, try here - http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ucp.php?i=164

[Nel]

Auto Hub, cheers for that, guess I should have picked that from the label on the outside of the same.
Thanks for the link to edit my profile.

Still got the same Probs though.
Wondering if it was worth the time to change the Hubs over from left to right just to be sure it is what I'm thinking it is.

[DieselBoy]

It definately won't hurt. It's all a process of elimination, so doing a quick swap over just to confirm is probably worth the effort.

Then strip the suspect hub and relubricate.

A quick google search brought his up which might help:

http://www.justanswer.com/nissan/1olyn- ... terra.html

[tgaguy1]

Then strip the suspect hub and relubricate.

I remember a few years ago Darinz talking about the auto/ manual hubs on the safari/patrols. He recommended that the lubrication of the hubs should be with oil and not grease. If grease is used it causes the hub to bind and operate incorrectly. I followed his advice and never had a hub fail in operation when in the auto mode. I don't know if this is true for the fully auto hubs as fitted to the Terrano, but it maybe something to consider as to why the hub may not be functioning correctly.

[charo249]

First time I had hub problems I pulled them both off and dismantled - was then quite easy to work out which was faulty by comparing the two.

[Paulballz]

My 2cents....its good practise terrano or safari to reverse until hubs are engaged when engaging 4x4, its to eliminate the muppets that put it in 4x4 then drop the throttle without engaging, all of a sudden that nice "firing pin" sound, sounds like a "sledge hammer"