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Originally Posted by itbrokeagain
Ok sounds good. So how does this t-case hold up?
And blazerbrad got me thinkiing about something else. Does this mean that in 4fulltime because of a center diff, that it will be either front wheel or rear wheel drive depending on traction?
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The 242 seems to hold up pretty good. The only failure we ever saw was grenading the center diff but ONLY by repeating a very specific condition that was known to cause issues numerous times (basically during a burn-out on a hill)....basically, in real life it is extremely unlikely you would see those conditions at all and little less repeat them enough times to cause failure.
Will it be either front or rear wheel drive in 4 full-time...well, yes and no. Take a regular open rear diff and at certain times it will only spin one tire. Now while you can only see one tire spinning and the other looks like it is just dead weight, there is in fact torque going to other wheel. So an axle (or transfer case) with two outputs (tires) with an open diff does indeed put more torque to the ground than if you just had one tire period (for example, if one tire was not connected to an axle shaft at all). Have you ever seen somebody with a front locker blow a shaft so they just unlock the hub on the one side and keep going in 3 wheel drive? At least in my opinion they always seem to have less capability than a similiar vehicle with just an open front diff in most situations. This holds true for an AWD transfer case with just an open diff. Put the vehicle on flat ground with the t-case in 4 full time (open diff) and it will have more drawbar torque before tire spin than if you put the same vehicle in 2wd. All 4 tires will be getting equal torque.
Now that everybody is asleep, let me explain the comment about all 4 tires getting equal torque with an open diff. By definition an open differential is "torque equalizing". So on an axle with an open diff both tires are always getting equal torque. Before somebody calls BS let me explain. Take a vehicle with an open diff rear axle and jack one tire off the ground. You can pretty easily spin that tire by hand, meaning it takes very little torque to spin it. The tire planted on the ground sees that same "very little torque" as the tire in the air, but you obviously can't spin the tire sitting on the ground by hand.....that's what I mean by torque equalizing.
A limited slip or locker is "torque biasing", basically meaning that they transfer more torque to one side or the other. Take the above example with one tire in the air. Let's say it only takes 5 ft-lbs. of torque to spin the tire in the air. A limited slip may have a bias of 4:1, meaning it can transfer 4 times the torque to the other tire. 4 x 5 = 20 ft-lbs., however that much torque is still not sufficient to spin the tire on the ground (but it may be enough to pull the vehicle off the jack). A true locker basically has an infinite torque biasing ability, with the upper limit being the total torque going into the diff from the engine and gearing.