Thanks the last bit is what I meant
Downhill very slippery and you have to accelerate to maintain steering control
Will the ATB works against this?
Printable View
Had clutch replaced under warranty (noisy due to springs being fubar) and red front seatbelts.
Nope. You’ll be fine. I have done some long slippery downhills with my barge (trips into the Malaysian rainforest during 3yrs I had it there - haven’t struck that yet here since moving back to Oz). Just point the front wheels where you want to go and blip the throttle to turn that way.
Having had full lockers..
I’d go ATBs any day....
See that’s where ATB action is often misunderstood: ATBs don’t “work when there’s slip”, not in the sense that slip is needed before they work. (That’s more like TC, detects slip then brakes a wheel)
Imagine instead you had to slide a bolt on a gate latch. But someone is pushing on the gate causing the bolt to bind up and resist moving. If there is no weight in the mechanism the bolt slides no worries, no effort at all.
Thats how ATBs work. When there is weight on the driveline the helical gears bind up more inside their pockets even when no “slip” is present - Eg. when travelling in a straight line.
Ie. before there is even a hint of “slip” the ATB is already ready to resist any tendency for either half shaft to rotate at different speeds.
When there is a difference in rotational speed of half shafts (or wheels), such as turning or slip is present, then the helical gears rotate in their pockets (reluctantly due to the weight/torque on them and friction against their pocket). This friction then makes it hard for the half shafts to rotate at different speeds.
Think of ATBs as simply open diffs that are not very good at being diffs. They bind up internally whenever there is some weight on the driveline.
I think I understand how an ATB would work cross axle, particularly since my previous D1 had a rear Detroit auto locker.
However, what about a centre ATB? Is it kind of like a way of varying the front-rear torque split infinitely depending on load, compared with it being open or locked 50:50? When is that most useful?
It’s exactly like a normal diff turned 90 degrees..