what 6x4 could mean

I thought it was refering to the trans till I seen it had a 13 in it. Never knew 6x4 had anything to do with it being a twin screw, learned something new today.

 

No. A 6x4 means 2 rear drive axle and a non drive steer axle like 99.9% of OTR trucks. And the Diff lock or power divider dose not take power away from the rear drive axle. All 4 drive corners drive all the time thru a series of differentials. With the diff lock unlocked any one corner can spin out if it losses traction. With the diff lock locked both ring gears recive full power and one wheel on each axle must get power. Both left or both right, or one left and one right on oppisite axles must drive even if your in a spinout. Some trucks (mostly heavy haul and off road ) have 4 wheel diff locks. If one slips they all slip. The 6x4 thing is an international thing. All their tandem drive trucks are refered to as 6x4.

 

Please, what does it mean by 6 wheeler double drive?

 

Prolly a 6x4

 

See also "twin screw Subaru"

 

:facepalm: why is it that it seems about only about 5% of drivers actually understand how diffs work.

 

Every vehicle such as a car or truck has at least one passive axle(not powered) and one driven axle(powered).
In each case however every axle is fitted with 2 free shafts, one each on either side LH/RH(Passive) or 2 drive shafts powering the wheels on either side LH/RH (Driven by the differential and prop shaft).
In a normal 2 axled vehicle therefore there are totally 4 shafts- 2 free on either side LH/RH (Steering) and 2 driven shafts on either sideLH/RH. Since there are totally 4 shafts the first figure 4 is established.Now since out of these four, two are driven shafts, the figure 2 is established. Hence a 2 axled vehicle is designated as a 4x2 drive vehicle.This also applies if the vehicle is a front wheel drive and also steered but has a free axle at the rear because out of 4 shafts, 2 are driven.
Some vehicles like SUV's or defence vehicles have all wheel drive so if it is a 2 axle vehicle it would be termed as a 4x4 wheeled vehicle as all 4 out of 4 shafts are driven.
Using the same logic, a 6x4 vehicle has 3 axles with 6 shafts of which 2 are free (steering) and 4 are driven (Tandem).
A 6x2 has 3 axles of which the lead axle is normally 2 free shafts(steering) the intermediate axle has 2 driven and the trailing 2 free shafts (non steering)
a 8x4 has 4 axles with 8 shafts of which the front two are steering with four free shafts and the rear two are with 4 driven shafts.

I hope I have not made it too complicated!

Palak Bhattacharyya

 

The first number refers to how many sets or groups of tyres there are , the second number is how many of them are driven.
When driving along normally with no locks on, all 4 wheels receive power and drive the truck, but when 1 wheel looses traction all the power will go to wheel with the least resistance, and you will stop, this makes it easy to turn because different amounts of power can go to each wheel, ie; when turning the outside wheels can travel faster than the inside. A power divider, or inter-axel lock, when engaged sends equal amounts of power to both axels but still retains the ability to split the power differently side to side, so you can still turn reasonably well but not as good, also with the power divider engaged you will need to loose traction on 2 wheels to stop moving.
Then we have cross-wheel locks, which lock the axels side to side, meaning each side of the axel receive the same amount of power and turn at
The same speed, you will have to have the power divider engaged to be able to engage the cross-locks, some trucks have these on both driven axels or only one. With all locks engaged it will be hard to turn as all wheels receive the same power and turn at the same speed. With these engaged on both axels you will have to loose traction on all 4 wheels to stop moving.

 

On any 6x4 truck, the REAR most drive axle is the one always powered. The power divider (interaxle) is basically like a transfer case on a 4x4 pickup where when you lock it in then the front drive axle becomes live. This is why you will see tires wear faster and cup sooner on the rear most drive axle with a proper alignment.