Power Divider/Inter Axle on Ice

lol, that's Ontario. And you really trust everything from the government? I've never had excessive tire wear from running my interaxle. Hell on my tridrive winch truck they say for people to run interaxle year round to even out tire wear.

 

One thing that is apparent is that a driver, especially a so-called "professional driver", needs to know what equipment they are operating and exactly how that equipment functions. In this day-and-age, with the ease of access to manufacturers and information, there is zero excuse to not know how a particular piece of equipment works. Having said that, it is unfortunate that there is also a tremendous amount of misinformation floating around... pretty much like a truck stop coffee counter.

As far as I know, and for sure regarding any trucks I have operated in the last 30 years, the inter-axle differential does not self-disengage. They can be used at any speed and, in fact, I have locked and unlocked them at highway speeds without issue. Drive axle differentials are a different story. They typically do have a speed limit and modern ones can be set to self-unlock at certain speeds. They can also be locked while moving, so long as there is no wheel spin, but will often have a lock-in threshold much lower than the unlock speed.

With respect to passenger vehicles, there are a lot of different systems out there. Some can be operated full-time, some are only part-time and some, like my wife's car, have completely automated systems that switch between "two" wheel and "four" wheel drive without any input from the driver.

Having the inter-axle differential locked in will actually help slow down better in slippery conditions when using engine braking/jakes as the same principal of having the braking force distributed over two or four wheels is better than one. And yes, I use jakes all winter long and haven't driven a truck in the last 10 years or more that doesn't disengage the jake if it senses impending wheel lock up. Obviously using the jake on its highest setting while bobtail or empty is not the most prudent thing, but that goes back to understanding the particular piece of equipment being operated.

 

I also use my jake all winter long and adjust accordingly between settings with changing road conditions. Never had a problem with jackknifing or breaking lose and that's with loads up to 140,000lbs.

 

There are some regional differences in how vehicles are set up by the manufacturers/dealers. On all the Internationals we operated I had to get the dealer to turn off the alarm for the inter-axle lock because we use them for such extended periods up here. The dealer told me the factory default setting is "alarm on" because the largest market segment that operates that truck is OTR in the U.S. There was nothing wrong with leaving the inter-axle locked in, it is just that most OTR drivers, and especially those in the U.S., use it so infrequently that they have a tendency to forget about it and leave it locked when completely unnecessary. I also had them turn up the self-unlocking drive axle locks to about 40-45 mph... taking a run at some of those off-highway hills you don't want to find yourself half-way up without the axles locked in.

 

If you read the owner's manual and driver information manual for your truck, you will find the same information. The manuals in the Internationals, Kenworths and Volvos that I drive all say pretty much the same thing. Only use the IAD on low traction surfaces where wheels are able to slip. Leaving it engaged on good traction surfaces puts unnecessary stress and wear on tires and drivetrain, and lowers your fuel economy.

 

Yeah, everything north of the border is all the same to us here in the States.

I'm guessing that your winch truck is used off-road and on dirt / gravel more than on the highway? If so, then those would be considered 'low traction' surfaces where the wheels would be able to slip to relieve stress on the drive train.

 

i do not drive with the power divider on except when i am stuck in a stationary position,

when driving down the road, having control over one wheel pulling is a better level of certainty than having the power dividers locked on

also, i keep the jake brake on, it gives me a more stable feel when going down hill than trying to use the foot brake

i know most disagree, but i have driving quite a few mountains, in snow and ice, and this is what works for me

 

See maxim told us that alarm meant it was turned off but your right it could have still been working. Our rental international just got stuck everywhere we rarely took it off the highway much lol

 

Nope spent alot of time on the highway.

 

Traction control

There are different types of traction control systems, but they all work under the premise of reducing or controlling the power to the drive wheels to prevent or reduce slippage. Traction control systems typically will either reduce the power available from the engine, apply the brake(s) to the spinning wheel(s), or a combination of both. This is different than stability control systems which can also act on non-driving wheels and will apply wheel brakes and/or reduce engine power to try and regain control/normal driving attitude.

Most, if not all, truck traction control systems can be turned off. If you do any amount of off-highway driving, especially in deep snow, mud or extremely icy conditions it is a good practice to turn the traction control off before you get into those conditions. In deep snow, mud or extreme ice, limited wheel spin is your friend as it may be the only way to keep moving the direction you want to go. If the traction is so poor that the wheels will spin regardless of how little power is applied, traction control can keep you from moving at all.

As a matter of habit, any time I engaged the drive axle locks (not the inter-axle lock) I turned off traction control... it can be the difference between having to chain up/getting stuck and not.

Early ABS systems worked in a similar, but opposite, unhelpful manner. In extremely low traction conditions like mud or deep snow they would not allow the driver to fully lock the brakes. I can tell you from experience that it is a not-so-fun situation when descending a steep mud covered hill and you can't come to a complete stop. Modern ABS systems will allow wheel lock at very low speeds as that is more desirable than the opposite.