Are all 100 series Land Cruisers Full Time Four Wheel Drive? (1 Viewer)

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Lawrenceville GA
I am a beginner in the off road world. Are all 100 Series Land Cruisers Fulltime 4WD ?
 
Yes, all US Market 100 series are full time 4wd unless converted to a part time kit by an owner
 
From the factory yes.
 
/lockthread
 
Thanks
 
Curious on the transfer case gearing, Is it 40% front 60% rear?

Or

30% front 70% rear?

I understand the Center Differential Lock sets the 4WD to 50% front 50% rear. Pls correct me if I’m wrong.
 
Curious on the transfer case gearing, Is it 40% front 60% rear?

Or

30% front 70% rear?

I understand the Center Differential Lock sets the 4WD to 50% front 50% rear. Pls correct me if I’m wrong.

No viscous coupler in a 100. 80's had one though which I believe is a 60/40 split rear/front. A 100 Series in non-slippage scenarios is always 50/50. All the CDL on a 100 does is "guarantee" an equal amount of power to both the front and rear drive shafts regardless of slippage. That's good in off-road situations, because if the front starts to slip, it won't scavenge power from the rear which would leave you stranded. The CDL locks the front and rear drive shafts only (longitudinal traction), NOT the axles (which provide lateral traction). Axles would need their own lockers in order to guarantee that both wheels on the axle spin equally even if one loses traction. LCs came with open diffs front/rear with a locker optional on early models. Later models have ATRAC which uses the brakes to function as a quasi-locker (controlling wheel spin). LXs had Limited Slip rear diffs and later added ATRAC as well. Without the CDL engaged, power would go down the path of least resistance i.e. to the spinning wheel. As I have come to understand it, when a 100 Series is cruising along (no pun intended), power is only going to 2 drive wheels: front left and rear right.

Here's the best description of the modes IMO:

4HI/Open Front/Open Rear/Open Center

In this mode you have equal power split to all wheels given adequate traction. RF can turn at a different rate than LF because of open front diff. RR can turn at different rate than LR because of open rear diff. Front can turn at different rate than Rear because of Open center diff. This allows on pavement turning and cornering without any binding or damage to drivetrain. The caveat is that when a tire no longer has adequate traction it will end up spinning and the other tires will no longer be able to provide momentum. Everyone says that the tire with the least traction receives all the power, and that an easy and practical way to look at it. It actually has to do with torque multiplication and how much work is able to be done and there is math involved...but you can pretty much just say that the wheel with the least traction gets the power...

4HI or 4LO/Open Front/Open Rear/Locked Center
Same as above except while turning in a high traction situation, the front tires cannot turn at a different rate as the rear tires and you can end up damaging the transfer case. In practice the difference is that you are always going to get a 50/50 power split front to rear. So if one front tire completely loses traction(and "gets the power" as outlined above). You still get 50% of your power going to the rear to keep momentum.

4HI or 4LO/Open Front Locked Rear/Locked Center
Same as above execpt while turning in high traction situation the LR cannot turn at a different rate as the RR, so generally you will end up with one tire sliding or "barking" in a tight turn on pavement. Could damage diff, but generally here the tire will still slip before diff damage. In practice, the difference is in a situation like the roller test, you get a 50/50 left/right split on the rear...and hopefully still can keep momentum.

Something that might confuse some people is full time 4WD versus AWD. In general AWD doesn't have low range gearing. Full time 4WD does.
 
Last edited:
No viscous coupler in a 100. 80's had one though which I believe is a 60/40 split rear/front. A 100 Series in non-slippage scenarios is always 50/50. All the CDL on a 100 does is "guarantee" an equal amount of power to both the front and rear drive shafts regardless of slippage. That's good in off-road situations, because if the front starts to slip, it won't scavenge power from the rear which would leave you stranded. The CDL locks the front and rear drive shafts only (longitudinal traction), NOT the axles (which provide lateral traction). Axles would need their own lockers in order to guarantee that both wheels on the axle spin equally even if one loses traction. LCs came with open diffs front/rear with a locker optional on early models. Later models have ATRAC which uses the brakes to function as a quasi-locker (controlling wheel spin). LXs had Limited Slip rear diffs and later added ATRAC as well. Without the CDL engaged, power would go down the path of least resistance i.e. to the spinning wheel. As I have come to understand it, when a 100 Series is cruising along (no pun intended), power is only going to 2 drive wheels: front left and rear right.

Here's the best description of the modes IMO:

4HI/Open Front/Open Rear/Open Center

In this mode you have equal power split to all wheels given adequate traction. RF can turn at a different rate than LF because of open front diff. RR can turn at different rate than LR because of open rear diff. Front can turn at different rate than Rear because of Open center diff. This allows on pavement turning and cornering without any binding or damage to drivetrain. The caveat is that when a tire no longer has adequate traction it will end up spinning and the other tires will no longer be able to provide momentum. Everyone says that the tire with the least traction receives all the power, and that an easy and practical way to look at it. It actually has to do with torque multiplication and how much work is able to be done and there is math involved...but you can pretty much just say that the wheel with the least traction gets the power...

4HI or 4LO/Open Front/Open Rear/Locked Center
Same as above except while turning in a high traction situation, the front tires cannot turn at a different rate as the rear tires and you can end up damaging the transfer case. In practice the difference is that you are always going to get a 50/50 power split front to rear. So if one front tire completely loses traction(and "gets the power" as outlined above). You still get 50% of your power going to the rear to keep momentum.

4HI or 4LO/Open Front Locked Rear/Locked Center
Same as above execpt while turning in high traction situation the LR cannot turn at a different rate as the RR, so generally you will end up with one tire sliding or "barking" in a tight turn on pavement. Could damage diff, but generally here the tire will still slip before diff damage. In practice, the difference is in a situation like the roller test, you get a 50/50 left/right split on the rear...and hopefully still can keep momentum.

Something that might confuse some people is full time 4WD versus AWD. In general AWD doesn't have low range gearing. Full time 4WD does.
Wow. This thread just got deep. Learned something new today.
 
Good day fellas.
I'm just new here and I would like to say that your discussions are very informative and helpful.
I do have a few questions too if I may.
I just got my first 4wd vehicle which is an LC100 series year 2000 model US. I've used it several times in campsites mostly with desert sand in Dubai. I noticed that when my wheels spins out from lack of traction in the sand, only the rear tires are spinning and it seems it's only running on 2wd. I've read your topic/trail about all lc100s are fulltime 4wd but in my case, I get drive properly on sand only if I lock the center diff. Is my fulltime 4wd system not working? I've checked for possible convertions done from fulltime 4wd to part time 2wd but I'm sure nothing was changed.
Am I missing something? Or is there a possibility that my fulltime 4wd is not working?
 

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