Viscous coupling ... (1 Viewer)

[Tools R Us]

Thanks for the reply, now i can see that in the picture you posted! With open ceter diff when one wheel is on a patch of ice or slips you are going nowhere. With the fluid clutch it should transfer some power to the ohter side of the vehicle. The Hundys acomplished this by using the traction control system and no longer needed this type device. A working viscous coupler is a good thinig in slippery conditions(icey roads). Now how to determine if I still have one.

Why would you care? In slippery conditions, lock the center, much more effective.

 

[CoffeeGeek]

I was thinking in regards to the automatic feature of the car. I had an early Toyota Corolla Alltrac that did not have an automatic center locking differential. When taking off from a parking lot that was covered in ice and going onto a well cleared road the tire on the ice would slip as if it was only rear or front wheel drive. Of course locking the center diff turned it into a 4wd car rather than AWD as you do not drive on dry roads with the center locked.
Thus the automatic feature is a safety feature that improves the performance of the vehicle. Is it worth replacing the worn out viscous in a toy or weekend vehicle - I would agree with you and say no. In the snow belt with your wife driving the car and loved ones in tow my thought that it is a valuable safety feature.

 

[Howard705]

These have a pretty good frt/rear weight distribution. Something like a pickup may spin the rear a lot without it. It will still be full time 4x and much better than unlocked part time and like he said still can lock in. '70s Jeep Quadratrack were like these only with a limited slip transfer diff.