my 96 2.2 5speed impreza wagon feels like it pulls more with the front wheels any ideas why

Now if by chance your tires don't match circumference for example and/or you're feeling binding in the turns, that is another matter.

Edited July 30, 201015 yr by porcupine73
remove incorrect info

The layout is based on a FWD with output to the rear. You are probably experiencing torque steer on the front wheels, as far as the power will pull in the dirextion you are steering.

Nope sorry.......You guys are thinking of the autos.

 

The 5MT has a constant engagement through a center differential. Front and rear wheels recieve equal power.

 

My guess is that you're front struts are blown and the car is lifting under acceleration.

96 will have a viscous center differential.

The rears don't start to "push" until the fronts start to slip. (this assuming that tire sizes and tread wear are equal) The rears really just tag along unless there is a difference in speeds between the front and rear axles. Otherwise why would the front axle shafts be so much larger than the rears?

A good question is what the general condition of the vehicle is.

 

Tires & suspension will play a part.

 

Is this new or did you just notice this?

Sometimes it just feels like that. The next questions would be the condition of the struts, suspension, and tires.

 

Now the techy stuff, they are slightly biased towards the front just the way the power flows, and you really wouldnt notice it, it is just an engineering thing.

 

http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/traction/tech_traction_4wd_2.htm

 

 

Get the car on wet grass and nail the gas you will see it is your imagination.

No, subaru M/T's are not bias towards the front.

 

The rear wheels are not tagging along for the ride.

 

They are not limited to 50% of the power.

 

All common misconsceptions. The transmission output goes into the center differential, which is a differential with spider gears and a carrier housing just like the front and rear differential. So, just like any other differential, 100% of the power will go to the wheel with the least resistance when a tire is slipping. The viscous coupler acts as a limited slip device where it tries to redirect a portion of the power to the the non slipping axle, exacly the same a limited slip rear differential would. It's a posi-traction unit between the front and back axles, just like how a rear posi-traction would work between the two back wheels of a RWD car.

 

Now, the torque is evenly distributed to all 4 wheels under normal operating conditions. However when you launch the car weight transfer takes away from the grip provided by the front wheels, so they are more likely to spin first.

 

Do a launch in reverse, and the back wheels are more likely to spin first.

 

It's a center differential with limited slip provided by a viscous coupler.

 

Many supplemental AWD systems used viscous couplers exclusively to provide power to the rear wheels, no gears, just the friction generated in the VC assembly. So they are normally FWD with supplemental RWD that is limited by the lockup capabliities of the viscous coupler. Think honda RT4wd or the AWD chrysler minivans. When stuck, these vehicles will always spin 1 front wheel and potentially one rear if the ground is slick enough.

 

You can get a MT subaru stuck with one rear wheel spinning if the traction of the other 3 vs the force needed to move the car is greater than the limited slip ability of the viscous coupler.

 

The difference between a true AWD like the subaru M/T and supplemental AWD is if you can remove the rear driveshaft and still operate the vehicle normally. On a car with a center differential, the disconnected driveshaft will spin and the car won't move. On a supplemental, the car will operate normally in FWD.

 

Automatic transmission subarus are supplemental AWD, it's a FWD transmission with a rear drive transfer clutch.