A potentially dumb question

[Dave 2000]

With the CDL (center diff lock) switch you can activate true four wheel drive (50% power to front and 50% to rear) on the fly (while moving) and there's no need to get out to lock the hubs, etc. I use this feature very frequently.

Just to clarify, you do not get true four wheel drive when you press the CDL button. True four wheel drive is only available when all four wheels have traction. So when the CDL button is pressed (i.e. you expect to lose traction) and you have locked axles (some 80's have this option) only then do you have true four wheel drive regardless of any wheel losing traction, you will have the others still rotating under power. If no axles are locked but the CDL button is pressed then you get fixed drive to both propshafts but NOT true four wheel drive, any front or rear wheel that looses traction means that particular axle provides no forward or rear effort to move the car.

Not digging you out just ensuring the thread stays as accurate as possible.

@Lx450inNC It is not a dumb question, if you don't know it can be easier to put on a rucksack and delve into the search facility, see you in a few weeks.

regards

Dave

 

[ZackR]

Just to clarify, you do not get true four wheel drive when you press the CDL button. True four wheel drive is only available when all four wheels have traction.

Good point - I still refer to anything that has low range and the ability to provide 50/50 power to front and rear as a "four wheel drive", eg. grandpa's 4x4 truck, to differentiate from all wheel drive.

Equal torque to each wheel as you mentioned is true four wheel drive, what I would call "fully locked".