Off road / On road

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Hi everyone, just to make things clear to me, I have a Fourtak Independant with auto locking front hubs. Does this mean that when I need to use 4WD to tow a trailer out of a muddy field, I then need to stop and reverse the vehicle and trailer once on the tarmac road (not an easy task on a main 'A' road)to change back to 2WD, or can I safely carry on in 4WD for the rest of the journey without causing any damage to the drive chain?
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

when u hit the tarmac change

when u hit the tarmac change back to 2 wheel drive, this should dissconnect the drive to the front wheels at the transfer box. if your 4wd light stays on its because the transmission has wound up and the gears in the transfer box have not dissengaged because there is still some torqe on them cos one axle has tried to turn faster than the other. reversing is recommended to release this condition, in your situation all u can do is to drive on gently in 2wd the gears will probably dissengage themselves quite quickly. holding the transfer box in gearon tarmac by selecting 4wd is the worst thing to do

Off road / On road

Hi Richard, Ta for the info, I will do as you suggest. Don't want to damage anything, I'll just have to drive carefully until I can find a convenient and safe spot to reverse on route.
Many thanks.

Bouncing one wheel up a curb,

Bouncing one wheel up a curb, or over a pot hole will often be enugh to alow the 'wind up' to be released.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

off road/on road

Everyone seems a bit confused about the selectable four wheel drive on the daihatsu, to clear up some confusion; the daihatsu's all use temporary four wheel drive and freewheeling hubs; manual or auto locking. With the auto lockers when you select 4wd in the cab you engage the transfer box and the hubs automaticaly lock and you are in four wheel drive, this applies to high and low range fwd. change the gear lever back into 2wd in the cab and you have dissengaged the drive to the front diff.If the diffs are wound up you will not be able to select 2wd and will have to drive along a bit, get the wheels straight and worst case senario put a wheel on the grass to allow the torque to unwind, this happens so seldom though so don't get too freaked out about it. In 2wd you can now happily drive all day long without any problems, all you are doing is turning the front diff at the same time as the wheels because the front hubs are still locked, you are not in 4wd as you have dissengaged the drive at the transfer box, trust me on this, you will not be winding up the diffs!
When you find it safe to do so, reverse back a little to dissengage your front auto locking hubs, this will dissengage the front hubs and they will no longer be turning your half shafts and front diff, with a very small saving in fuel consumption.
If you have manual locking hubs you need to lock them before the drive will actually turn the front wheels in four wheel drive. If you want to use low range box on tarmac; for towing etc. leave the manual lockers in the unlocked possition.
You can drive indefinatley in two wheel drive with the front hubs
locked, again, as with the auto lockers you just use a tiny bit more fuel.
Never drive on tarmac in 4wd with the front hubs locked, this means if you have auto lockers, only use 4wd on tarmac for the briefest moment; to get traction on an icy stretch of road etc. then shift back to 2wd as soon as you can!
Remember; with manual lockers, if you don't lock the front hubs you don't have four wheel drive!
Hope this help to clear some missconceptions!
Nick

On road / Off road

Many, many thanks for clearing this one up for me guys, I can sleep easy at night now. Having previously owned an old '84 Range Rover, I obviously didn't have to worry about secting 2 or 4WD. Have to say the Fourtrak is an excellent tow vehicle, as good as or even better than the old R Rover, and bits don't fall off it when going off road either!
Thanks again.