4WD or AWD

[diflictedminds]

I seem to be in a bit of confusion. 4WD = button on dash that allows you to turn on the 4wd. AWD suggests that you have all wheels moving all the time. So are all 4WD proteges AWD? Or do you have to convert a 4WD to an AWD?

[almighty4wd]

the 4WD locks the front and rear together, ie you can't spin the front without the rears spinning at the same speed.

AWD has some sort of limited slip in the center, meaning the front and rear can travel at different speeds; not locked.

Ever been in a truck in 4WD and turned sharp? the front "hops" or "chirps" on dry pavement. AWD won't do that. Remember that all 4 tires rotate at different speeds, the AWD allows slipping, 4WD doesn't.

[diflictedminds]

so are all proteges 4wd or awd?

[almighty4wd]

they're all 4WD, with the button to lock. the BF GTX also has the lock feature. the BG GTX/GTR have a limited slip center, so are AWD.

[KauaiScort]

okay, so it would be possible to make a 4wd protege an AWD protege using the gtx/gtr tranny and components then?

and sorry if this is stupid but, can you take either a 4wd car or an awd car on the beach?

[almighty4wd]

I have taken my car on the sand, its scary, tends to dig in before moving. That was before I messed with it. Now it has the GTR tranny. 4WD --> AWD. easy as swapping trannies. I'd recommend as wide a tire as fits, help with floating.


oh, and be default, the protege is AWD until you push the lock button, then it becomes 4WD.

[diflictedminds]

sweet good to know. So to convert to ALL WHEELS MOVING AT THE SAME TIME WITHOUT A BUTTON aka AWD you need to swap gtx tranny... to my understanding

[almighty4wd]

basicall yes. your thinking is correct, just..a little confused, but the idea is right. since the 4WD trans is open in the center, theoretically only 1 tire would receive power on say...ice; locked, 1 front, 1 rear would. with GTX trans, 2 would, but not as effiently as if they were locked.

swap in a lsd in the rear for a 1.6 miata, 3 tires will receive power (pending type of rear lsd of course). a viscous or clutch type would work on ice, but a torsen wouldn't due to the way they're engineered. if you're planning to do track/auto-x/tarmac stuff, go with a torsen, it'll hook up instantly without fail. if you plan to rally, go clutch type. if you just want a cheap one because its there, viscous.

My opinion of course, others may disagree.

[me109]

Are there any clutch type front or center diffs for the BG that you know of or would recomend?

[almighty4wd]

If you look at the fsm, it shows the center and front diff are one and the same. from what I read, it has a transfer ring on the diff, for the rear. hm. sorry, staring at the fsm right now...drawing conclusions. what I can't figure out so far, is if the "center" diff is a vlsd, would the fronts also be? the ring is mounted the diff assembly, so if the rear is ...no wait nevermind. hmm. had many thoughts. pictures don't tell all. I even played with my spare 4wd trans.


deleted. sigh. I sorta understand how the center/front diff assembly works, but not enough to spout out about it. I can see that the front diff is housed INSIDE the center case, and powered outer ring-planetaries-sun-front diff case. the sun gear also sends power to the idler gear-rear transfer carrier; it has an inner and out gear for the front and rear. The curcial step I'm missing is how the VLSD and Locking Center work inside this all-in-one diff.

random thought: afaik you could make an LSD for the front diff, it is no different than a standard fwd diff at the basics.

You there, with the spare GTX or GTR tranny! have you taken it apart, how do the center and front diff housings interact outside the sun and planetary gears?

In gear, I can spin the input shaft, hold the pass axle and rear output, and the driver side will spin ONLY. If I release the pass side, it spins, release the rear, they all spin (thank you open diffs).

After 6 hours of staring, reading, searching, I cannot share what I've found until I know it's truth. I hate spreading falsehoods. If anyone knows how the center diff housing and front diff case relate, especially when Locked on the 4WD, that'd be nifty.