Ok guys two days ago i needed to venture into the wilderness that is my back lawn. Which by now is covered in about a foot of snow and yes you guessed it i got stuck in a dip in the back with my super aggressive street tires. Going forward wasn't really a problem but when i reversed to turn around all i got was some nice wheel spin from my rear tires and nothing from the front. In drive i could get all 4 to spin, not that i wanted to...its just what happened. So instead of digging my tires in deeper i chose to do about 15 min worth of digging with a snow shovel and boom got right out. The actual question being is our permanent 4 wheel drive just that? DRIVE not 4 wheel reverse? Surely this can't be the case and i now have some disgustingly expensive problem to fix. By the way there are no dash lights or audible noise, clunk or otherwise in drive or reverse.....man a diff lock would have been nice.

 

It's permanent 4 wheel drive forwards and backwards. Did your TC kick in?

 

yeah did TC kick in? you may have a problem with your traction control. You have 4wd in reverse but it may feel different because of weight differences between front/rear when you're use to forward 4wd only. Oddly my D1 felt like it was BETTER in reverse.

 

i was thinking that the TC might be it Bundu but it seemed like i had much more grip in the front because those back tires were spinning against a built up pile of frozen snow. Since now i know for sure its SUPPOSED to work in reverse (haha) i'll have to find a way to get it off all 4 wheels look under and see whats spinning and whats not. thanks for the info guys. As far as ur D1 goes...whos says u can't go down a trail backwards, the back window is bigger anyway haha.

 

There have been times where I felt my DII was better in reverse too... When I was new to off roading and just learning the ropes, my friend and I got a little caught up in a muddy crossing and he had a really hard time backing out in his jeep while trying a 2nd attempt. When I didn't make it through the first time, I backed right out and it just felt different... haha could be totally coincidental, but it felt better than going forward.

So anyways... yes, you should have 4WD in R.

 

you do have 4WD in reverse. and dont call me shirley

 

haha ok joe. pay day is tomorrow so i'll be seeing how much is left to get some jack stands and put it up to see whats not doing its job. i'll report back if i can afford the stands.

 

Here is what happened...the power always gets transferred to the wheel(s) with least resistance.
So when in drive for example and your front wheels loose traction all the power will be transferred through the center differential (transfer case) to the front prop shaft.
Thats just the way a differential works unless it is locked.
Now because all four of your wheels had no traction when moving forward all four spun.
You shifted into reverse and your front wheels now had some traction while your rear wheels still had non.
So all the power went to the rear axle.
Remember the power follows the path of least resistance.
Had you been able to lock your transfer case, like on a DI, you could have sent all power equally to both axles.
Now keep in mind that even with the CDL (center diff lock) the diffs on each axle will act the same as the center diff.
Meaning if the left wheel has traction and the right one does not then the right one will spin and all the power to that axle will go to the right wheel.
However you still have 50% of your power going to the rear axle.
In that situation if you also had diff lock(s) on the front or rear differential you could lock it and send equal power to both wheels on that axle.

Now for the TC (traction control), it works by using the ABS wheel speed sensors, if one wheel is spinning faster than the other (no traction) then it applies the brake the spinning wheel.
By stopping that wheel the power is transferred across the axle to the other wheel.
Again the power follows the path of least resistance.
The brake has the right wheel locked up so the power moves to the left wheel.
If both front wheels are spinning then the TC will lock up both front wheels thus transferring the power through the center diff to the rear axle.
The traction control takes some getting used to, you must spin the tires and keep them spinning for what seems like forever before it kicks in.
Keep in mind that the TC is solely dependent on the ABS system working correctly.

Does that help explain why your neighbors were laughing at you with your stuck in the back yard Best 4X4Xfar?

 

Spike i think i nearly fell out of my chair with that one hahaha, I did have this feeling like they were watching me....and laughing.... Yes that was a very good explanation and im sure because of its length you now have carpal tunnel. I'll cover you're medical expenses seeing as how it was my fault. Seriously though it did help, very thorough. I thought the traction control was almost instant hmm, guess you can chock one more up for the D1 diff lock.....until i get the linkage!

 

In your owners manual it will explain the TC better than I can.
But I believe that it only works if there is 5mph or more difference between 2 or more wheels wheels for 10 or more seconds.
Please someone correct me if I am wrong.