Rear wheel spinning in 2WD

Roon1973 said:

Hi All,
on my '77 series 3 in 2 wheel drive in reverse on wet grass etc (nothing too taxing) one of the rear wheels spins (drivers side RHD) and i don't get a lot of traction . 2 and 4 wheel drive (as in the selection) works fine..is this normal ? or do i need to jack it up and get dirty !!!!

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jamesmartin said:

its normal there no locking device in the axle diffs,so in 2wd 1 rear wheel can spin if tractions lost and in 4wd 1 front and 1 rear can spin leaving you stood still

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jamesmartin said:

its normal there no locking device in the axle diffs,so in 2wd 1 rear wheel can spin if tractions lost and in 4wd 1 front and 1 rear can spin leaving you stood still

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Thor 1950 said:

Yep, really a 4wd is usually only 2 wd unless there are diff locks, then you are 3wd.
It really is miss leading the term 4wd

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FlyingPete said:

Not really- an open diff splits torque equally, so each rear wheel gets 50% of the torque in 2wd. Trouble is, torque on all wheels is then limited to the wheel with the least traction.
On a Defender with the center diff open, each wheel gets 25% of the torque. It's still 4wd as all four wheels are driven.

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Thor 1950 said:

BS if they are.

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FlyingPete said:

That's just how a differential works...

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FlyingPete said:

Not really- an open diff splits torque equally, so each rear wheel gets 50% of the torque in 2wd. Trouble is, torque on all wheels is then limited to the wheel with the least traction.
On a Defender with the center diff open, each wheel gets 25% of the torque. It's still 4wd as all four wheels are driven.

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Nodge68 said:

That's wrong.

All the wheels only get 25% of the torque, if all wheels have equal traction. If any wheel looses grip, and the centre isn't locked, then the wheel with the least grip will spin helplessly.

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