What is 4-wheel drive?

Davis F

A car that has 4 wheels and all of them put out force or spin.

wvparanormal

Four wheel drive is actually two wheel drive in most cases. You will find four wheel drive on some vehicles that are normally rear wheel drive and very seldom on vehicles that are normally front wheel drive.

On a four wheel drive vehicle you have an extra drive line component called a transfer case. The power goes from the engine to the transmission and then to the transfer case and then either to the rear differential if in 2 wheel drive or both to the front and rear differential if in 4 wheel drive. Some rear differentials are posi-traction, which means both the left and right rear tires get power from the engine at the same time. Most rear differentials are posi-slip differentials, which means only one wheel, either right or left gets power at a time. The front differential is always posi-slip.

So on most four wheel drive vehicles, you will have one rear wheel pulling and one front wheel pulling. (the front will be the opposite side from the rear, IE: left front and right rear pull together or right front and left rear pull together.) On four wheel drive vehicles with posi-traction differentials in the rear and on All Wheel Drive (AWD) vehicles, You will have both rear wheels and one front wheel pulling at the same time. In this case, when one front wheel spins the differential will shift power to the wheel that is not spinning.

who0is0in0the0game

there is four wheel drive front wheel drive and rear wheel drive. All it means is that your engine causes four wheels to move instead of only the ones in the back or front

ez80227

all wheels drive equally, not to be confused w/ all wheel drive, which has a limited slip differential to drive the wheels at different rates as needed, say when turning. however, many people use these terms interchangeably.

noitall Yorkshire England (U.K.)

The clue is in the name, a vehicle with four wheels each being driven by the engine.

Kibby

4 wheel drive is when all four tires are given power to move the car. Instead of your front tires pulling the back, or the back pushing the front.
hope that helps!

Matt M

In normal gears, a car runs on two tires. For example, a front wheel drive car uses the two front wheel to pull the car. When a car is set to four wheel drive, instead of only using two wheel to pus the car in motion, all four wheels are used.

kenbgray

Instead of just two wheels moving the car, you have four.

Plon S

you can get more info from http://cheap-cars.synthasite.com/?q=car

fallibledragon

Most cars have only two wheels that "push" -- two that are connected to the engine. The other two just steer. Usually this is fine on the road, but if you're in snow or in mud in a swamp, it can be a problem when neither of the wheels that drive are touching solid ground. Four wheel drive solves that, as the weight of the vehicle almost certainly means at least two wheels are digging in well, somewhere. It's also better for performance cars too -- better general steering and things, if the power to each wheel is controlled by a computer.

when your car or truck uses all four wheels at once to drive instead of the front wheels

ROCK 'N' ROLL

You know how only the front wheels can spin and the back wheels just follow? That's two-wheel-drive. Well four-wheel-drive means that all four wheels spin and it usually helps out in slippery highways or when you are snowed in.