LOW GEARS

[jim tylee]

Why not unlock the front hubs...put to Free not lock
jim

[twiss]

Cos if you put it in 4L to tow something heavy, its going to be spinning the ends of the driveshafts around in the ends of the unlocked hubs... apparently it can damage them

For the sake of 8 bolts I'd rather be safe than sorry

and for the record, towing something heavy in 4L without a front prop works quite well!

[Ladaman]

Cos if you put it in 4L to tow something heavy, its going to be spinning the ends of the driveshafts around in the ends of the unlocked hubs... apparently it can damage them!

Surely the "relative" speed of rotation will be almost zero?

The drive shaft will be going around at the same speed as the rear half shaft, and the wheel will be going around to suit the ground speed. So both more or less identical.

All I can see is there will not be any transmission wind up, if you are getting slightly differing speeds on a high traction surface.

[ScottieJ]

when my 4wd light didn't work I accidentally drove over 10 miles in 4wd with my front hubs unlocked and wasn't hanging around....nothing was damaged.

However on road even with an sj410 I can't imagine low box ever being needed? I drive around bath and some of the hills here have a 25% gradient and I used to drive up them in an sj410 on 31" tyres

[twiss]

yeah I don't think its a case of do it once and they will break... but I can see how it would put more wear on them that necessary

[ScottieJ]

yeah I don't think its a case of do it once and they will break... but I can see how it would put more wear on them that necessary

I don't see how it can wear anything that won't already be wearing? The same parts that are normally spinning in free are still spinning? in fact they'll be spinning less as the halfshaft would be spinning inside the hub at pretty much the same speed the wheel is spinning.

[twiss]

dunno mate i said its just what ive been told but better safe than sorry