Power Divider/Inter Axle on Ice

My main issue with a "power divider lock" is that they can tend to make your truck want to proceed in a straight line, on an icy surface, when you want to turn (such as in a parking lot or turning on a city street) in certain situations. And the steers don't have enough grip to overcome the "straight line" influence from the "locked" drives.

 

Here is some 'official information', to counter some of the misinformation posted here. This comes directly from the canucks, who would be the most likely to need it during winter driving in North America:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/trucks/handbook/section2-4-0.shtml

 

I was always under the impression, at least on older trucks, that Divider locks or inter axle locks were just to get you moving easier from a dead stop. On older trucks, using them on the highway and especially making tight turns in a city will cause way more wear axles/shafts/tires, not to mention increase your turning radius dramatically on dry surfaces since the driveline binds and can't slip the way it was meant to.

Newer trucks, I think some will even disable the divider on their own once you get above 25 MPH. Confirms the same thing I keep telling people with 4wd pickups that keep that transfer case locked in at the slightest hint of snowflakes., or worse, all winter long. Unless the road is a smooth sheet of ice, all you are doing is burning up your tires quicker and putting unnecessary stress on the entire drivetrain, and you will make repair shops extremely happy once the vehicle is out of warranty. That is once reason I will never buy a used 4wd pickup, or used turbocharged vehicle, or used diesel engine. I would say 80% of the drivers out here in big trucks don't understand how the driveline on their vehicle works, and even less of the motoring public.

If you think 4wd on cars or divider locks on big trucks will "keep you from going into the ditch", you are sadly mistaken. Whether its Georgia or North Dakota, you see just as many cars with 4wd and all wheel drive in the ditch during snow and ice as you do Front and RWD.

4WD, AWD, and divider locks will just help you into the ditch in a straighter line vs sideways.

Going in the ditch is simply a matter of pushing a vehicle beyond it limits, whether its an old 1980 Chevy Chevette or a 200,000 lb oversize/over-width lowboy.

For a winter beater I drive a 1983 Chevy Caprice. No traction control, no ABS, open rear differential with no positraction. Hell, no fuel injection either. LOL.

I get this question all the time in Minnesota, from folks who have forgotten how to drive or never learned in the first place: "how can you even get around with that thing in the winter?" Well, the same way people did for 50 or 60 years, before my car was even built.

And last year, I broke down and bought a new set of snow tires for under $500, worth almost as much in the car itself but worth every penny.

I had a 17 year old high school kid pass me on the interstate like I was up on jacks last winter, driving a not very old F150 4x4 with a lift kit and fat oversize tires. There was about two inches of fresh powder on the road, I was doing maybe 40 or 45 MPH minding my own, and the first curve he came to he did two complete 360's right into the median. I stopped to pick up him and his girlfriend, and he was just floored that an old "grandpa car" could even get around in bad weather, and how he went into the ditch and I didn't. The laws of physics don't change with time, money or technology.

Some people don't want to learn, and don't want to be told either even after learning the hard way. Ignorance is bliss for some.

 

This whole thread reminds me of the guys that say "I have 4 wheel drive I wont slide" It helps get you going, it dont help you stop. Also depending in the power of the jakes they can and will kick the tires out from behind you. trailer is supposed to be set up with actuators that engage the tlr breaks first to stop it from kicking out in bad weather.

 

I get the same questions when I show up at work in my F150 2wd at 3am driving on 2" of fresh snow that the plows haven't touched yet.

 

Is that part of the stabilty control on newer trucks? I have had he stabilty control kick on in construction zones, when they force you to zig zag and swap lanes and run over rumble strips. It feel like sonething is trying to yank he trailer from behind and scares the hell outta me.

 

I wonder how many folks have actually experimented with engaging the IAL, running a variety of slick surfaces with it and without it, accelerating or decelerating with the jake on, bobtail or empty or loaded heavy? I'm under the impression that some folks that are responding on this thread haven't done so, or have limited experience testing the limits of their rig.

When I first learned to drive a car the first time we had a good snowfall my older brother took me out to a deserted parking lot and I spent an afternoon learning to put the car into a slide and recover, learning how much I could apply brakes without locking the tires and getting into an uncontrolled slide, etc. Today I try to do the same thing every time I get into a new rig. I want to know when the tires are going to lose traction, how much or how little throttle I can apply, with or without the IAL engaged, with or without jakes at various settings, uphill or downhill, etc.

I'm under the impression that the admonition to never engage the IAL might fall under the old-wives(truckers)-tale category, stuff heard in truck stops that don't connect very well with reality. Kind of like the "never downshift on a downgrade" advise.

It all boils down to... okay, I'll sum it up with Allen Iverson's advise:

"We're talking about PRACTICE!"

 

Interaxle won't cause that. Fully locking the drives will..

 

Some new ones do which is bs. If your lucky you can get that changed in the computers programming. Every Kenworth or western I drove stayed locked 24/7 at whatever speeds