transmisson wind-up

BlackBandit

BlackBandit

New member
I was watching a youtube video of this problem "transmisson wind-up". they say it happens when your car is left in 4 wheel drive too long I was wondering how common this is with jeeps in general or tjs anyone here expirenced this?
 
It's not 4WD too long. Rather 4WD too long on a high traction surface like a hardball road where the differentials ( front to rear I believe ) can't turn at independent rates. So offloading wouldn't see this.
 
jedg said:
It's not 4WD too long. Rather 4WD too long on a high traction surface like a hardball road where the differentials ( front to rear I believe ) can't turn at independent rates. So offloading wouldn't see this.
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Yeah, exactly. There are some vehicles that come with a centre differential that you can disengage while you're on road, then reengage to lock the front and rear axles together (just like a the lockers on the front and rear axles) when you are off road. If you aren't able to lock the driveshafts with a centre diff, as soon as one wheel looses traction or comes off the ground, all the other wheels stop turning. But if you leave them locked while you're on a hard surface, tension will build up in the driveshafts because the front and rear pairs of tires can't turn at different rates to relieve the strain.

G-Wagons and Land Rovers are two that I know of that have selectable lockers for the centre differential. Plus there are other vehicles that are marketed as an "All Wheel Drive" vehicle, but those don't allow you to lock them, which makes them useless off road. Wranglers don't have that option: it's either rear wheel drive, or 4WD with the front and rear driveshafts locked together (which I think is the only real flaw, but if you don't need them locked then you would probably be fine in 2WD anyway).
 
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huh so this happens in 4 wheel high as well? because I often leave my jeep in 4 wheel high when the roads are icy but I often dont turn in off when I hit a better maintained road where there is no ice just because I could be turning on another icy road.
 
Yes, it happens in 4HI as well, the only difference between 4HI and 4LO is the low gearbox. 4WD wasn't intended to be a full time system like in AWD vehicles. As long as the road is icy, snowy, gravel, or anything where a wheel may loose traction you don't have much to worry about, since when the wheel spins it will help release any tension that's building up. Is mostly just on pavement where it can be an issue since all the tires should have a good grip on that.

Also, since the tension is created by the wheels turning at different rates, if you're driving straight for a long time there's less tension actually built up in the drivetrain than you might imagine. As long as you're not on twisty or windy roads you're probably fine keeping it in 4HI for a while since the wheels are spinning at pretty much the same rate. Even then, switching back to 2WD occasionally when you know you don't need the power from the front wheels would be a good habit to get into, since that will let any tension out.

Also, I've heard you can start to feel the tension building up in the steering wheel when it's getting to much. I've yet to experience that though.
 
alright awesome thanks everyone. that pretty much awnsers everything I was wondering about transmission wind up. Im surprised I never heard of it before as it seems to be quite the cause of breakn stuff.
 
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