Posted by Clint Dixon [108.162.216.103] on Friday, July 14, 2017 at 06:54:33 :
In Reply to: Re: One thing to consider posted by Greg Coffin [172.68.34.109] on Thursday, July 13, 2017 at 23:39:17 :
But, whenever you are trying to climb a steep hill in 4-wheel drive, one should consider backing up the hill. You don't want to loose traction on a steep hill climb and go sliding out of control down the hill backwards. You can soon end up sideways and the next thing to expect is a barrel roll (don't ask me how I know). If you back up the hill and loose traction, you have better control steering the truck down the hill careening forwards. In this case, a locking differential would be better in the front axle because it will be loaded while backing up the hill.
And the same philosophy of placement of direction tires on early WWII trucks can be applied to the theory of locking differentials too.
The front tires were mounted on those trucks with the tread achieving the best traction while backing up. The idea was to be able to back out of a stuck situation. Have you ever tried to back out of a mud hole with directional tires mounted for the best traction while going forward? It usually does not work so well as the tread will not self clean. With the locking differential in the front axle, if you keep traveling forward until you are stuck, the front locker will better allow you to back out of the situation than will a rear locker.
And then there is the theory that a winch should be mounted on the rear of a truck rather than the front for self recovery - to pull yourself out of a stuck situation instead of pulling yourself in even deeper.....
Junior
Junior
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