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All Wheel Drive

All Wheel Drive

Green Toys Dump Truck Green Toys Dump Truck
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Description

Dump Truck Ages: One and up Requires: Ready to play indoors or out At a Glance: Made in the USA from 100 percent recycled milk jugs Sturdy design features fully functioning dumper and no metal axles Encourages development of gross and fine motor skills Phthalate and BPA free US supply chain reduces greenhouse gas and saves energy Easy to clean--can even go in the dishwasher Accolades: iParenting Outstanding Product award, Oppenheim Best Outdoor Toy, and more Need help hauling a big load while helping save the planet? The sturdy Green Toys Dump Truck is ready to get working...


What is the difference between a 4 wheel drive and an all wheel drive?

Four wheel drive is usually on a truck & all wheel drive is on a car-is that the difference and are they the same thing with one being solely for trucks (4wd) and the other being solely for cars (awd).

First, all these answers erroneously imply that with one or both these systems, all 4 wheels are driven. Unless there is a locked or limiting differential connecting the front and rear axles, and limited slip differentials at both ends, this is not the case.

Open differentials direct power to the wheel with the least traction, so even with 4WD, without limited slip differentials, if one wheel at each end is on slippery pavement, they will spin, and the others will just sit there. I had a Toyota FJ40 in Alaska, and I can testify that 4" of wet snow and a 4% grade will stop a 4WD vehicle without chains or limited slip differentials.

4WD is the older system, and originally involved an auxiliary transmission called a 'transfer case' that could be manually engaged when driving in low traction conditions, and which locked the front and rear axles together. It included a low range or 'granny gear' for allowing very high gear multiplication for creeping up and down steep grades and slow moving among obstacles off-road.

That system is what's on the true off-road vehicle (Jeep CJ, Toyota FJ40, Land Rover), along with high ground clearance, steep approach and departure angles (short overhangs to avoid getting hung up at front or rear), and extreme articulation (lots of wheel travel difference up and down between opposite wheels, to get over rocks and through deep holes).

AWD uses various technical tricks to automatically apportion power among the four wheels. Most of these tricks are electronic controls, but there are mechanical means as well (torque-sensing differentials that use the principal that a worm gear can drive but not be driven, to make a differential that cannot physically drive the wheel with the lesser traction, and viscous differentials that won't let one axle go more than a fixed amount faster than the other).

That system is used more often (but not only) on cars, with lower centers of gravity (so they are less likely to become unstable in emergency manuevers) and lower vehicle weight, for better performance and fuel economy.

Last word: both AWD and 4WD are more likely to get the inexperienced driver INTO trouble than out of it.

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