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84 Brat 4wd issues?


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oh yea. most 4x4 are rear wheel primary drive. so they ALWAYS suffer the drag/friction/parasitic losses of both differentials, the transfer case, and the weight of the driveshaft itself.

 

whereas, soobs, on the otherhand, use the FRONT wheels only, 90% of the time. and the driveshaft and rear axle is only engaged, and creating resistance, when you engage the 4wd.

 

if you really stop and think about it for a minute, even on a BRAND NEW, showroom floor vehicle, with new oil, new grease, shiny new bearings, thats still a lot of extra metal to be pushing/spinning/ rubbing together/ stopping, starting, stopping, starting.

 

if your vehicle REALLY seems to slow down a lot when you drop it into 4th, my advice is, change out the oil in your rearend, and your tranny, and regrease all the grease-points in your chassis, and also have a buddy ride in the rear and listen carefully to the hubs, its possible your bearings are dry or a bit "chewed-up".

im not the biggest expert on soobs on this board, not by a LONG shot. but i HAVE used and abused a lot of cheap, 80s 1/4 ton pickups over the years. s10s, rangers, yotas, mazdas, etc.....

an s10 isnt exactly IDENTICAL to a brat, but the principle is the same. bearings and differentials etc are pretty similiar between hyundais and rolls royces.

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oh, and also, be aware that a soob hi-lo 4wd is built to engage while driving, if needed, but that doesnt mean you gotta treat it like you stole it.

30mph is one thing, 50 is a different story. i try to never engage 4wd, or switch from hi to lo, over about 25mph, unless its an emergency.

same goes for actually USING any 4wd faster than around 35-40mph. it will take it for awhile, maybe a year or two, IF youre lucky. but honestly, better not to push your luck.

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Its actually working just as described. It doesn't really slow down too much going straight, but turning it slows down a bit, and I was a idiot driving it on the road by my house, only doing 10-20mph but I read some stuff and now I know. This thing is fun as hell off road though :banana:

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