Steering issue in 4WD

[Ecollado]

Hi everyone. I was driving Wilma today and had her in 4H because it was torrentially down-pouring. I was in a parking lot and went to turn, going approximately 5-10mph when the steering wheel started jerking left to right on me. I straightened the steering wheel out a little and she was ok but when I went to turn again, the steering wheel started the jerking motion again. I put her back in 2H and tried turning with no issue. Has anyone experienced this before? Is this a jeep thing or is there something wrong with the steering in 4H?

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[Murphydog]

4WD doesn’t like high traction serfaces, so even though it was wet your tires have plenty of grip.
what it comes down to is that when turning you front and rear tires spin at different speeds, and when 4WD is engaged you get binding in the drive line. An AWD vehicle have clutches that can allow some slip, but most 4WD don’t.

on gravel or snow or some low traction surface your tires would have slipped a bit and you likely wouldn’t have felt it

 

[Ecollado]

Thank you for the educational moment! It makes sense now. ??

 

[cOtter]

4WD doesn’t like high traction serfaces, so even though it was wet your tires have plenty of grip.
what it comes down to is that when turning you front and rear tires spin at different speeds, and when 4WD is engaged you get binding in the drive line. An AWD vehicle have clutches that can allow some slip, but most 4WD don’t.

on gravel or snow or some low traction surface your tires would have slipped a bit and you likely wouldn’t have felt it

I agree with this comment. Will add…. Even in off road conditions, in 4WD you will have a different driving experience than in 2WD. Your turning conditions are much different in 2WD vs 4WD.

I’m not sure how much you will be off-road….. many folks feel they need to put it in 4 when they venture off pavement. This is not the case.

My wife and I did numerous trails around Moab and Capital Reef NP this summer and did not use 4WD for 98-99% of our time off pavement.

Enjoy.

 

[Wabujitsu]

Hi everyone. I was driving Wilma today and had her in 4H because it was torrentially down-pouring. I was in a parking lot and went to turn, going approximately 5-10mph when the steering wheel started jerking left to right on me. I straightened the steering wheel out a little and she was ok but when I went to turn again, the steering wheel started the jerking motion again. I put her back in 2H and tried turning with no issue. Has anyone experienced this before? Is this a jeep thing or is there something wrong with the steering in 4H?

Eddie, I’m in FL too; Sarasota County.

4H is not designed for water on pavement. I highly recommend against using it in that situation. You could damage your transmission.

 

[Ecollado]

? thank you for letting me know! I’m still a noob ??‍

 

[GavinH]

? thank you for letting me know! I’m still a noob ??‍

I’m also in Florida and I too have popped it into 4hi when it’s absolutely down pouring and there’s a legit half foot of water over the road and tires are making wakes. That being said when I go to make a turn I always pop it into 2hi again because you could damage something by not allowing the wheels to have proper spin like others have said. I’ll only make sure to use 4 when going pretty much perfectly straight that’s the key.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I agree with this comment. Will add…. Even in off road conditions, in 4WD you will have a different driving experience than in 2WD. Your turning conditions are much different in 2WD vs 4WD.

I’m not sure how much you will be off-road….. many folks feel they need to put it in 4 when they venture off pavement. This is not the case.

My wife and I did numerous trails around Moab and Capital Reef NP this summer and did not use 4WD for 98-99% of our time off pavement.

Enjoy.

That shocked me on our last trip, really mild trails for the most part but I was surprised at what it could do in 2 wheel. I am used to being on the same trails in my TRX which is full-time 4x4 so I assumed a lot of the trails required it but they didn't. I bet in a 5 day trip, with approximately 8 hours offroad each day, it only needed 4x4 20% of the time and those times it needed 4L and rear lockers.

 

[Apexcars]

It's not really that the fronts and rears are turning at different rates, it's that the left and right are turning at different rates. The inside wheel is making a much shorter trip than the outside wheel. As others have said, too much turning with high traction while in 4 wheel will damage expensive things.

If you want to see really weird turning characteristics, get in a Rubicon and try to turn with the front locker engaged. The first time I did it I was shocked at how little you could actually turn the Jeep. I knew it was supposed to increase turning radius, I just had no idea that it would be by that much.

 

[mark203]

Actually the front and rear do turn at different rates in a turn. The rear wheels do follow the same path as the front wheels. Even with open differentials, the two drive shafts, front and rear, ARE locked together in the transfer case. When you go around a turn, one set of wheels or the other is going to slip. When there is high traction, you notice that.

As pointed out above, in an AWD vehicle, there is essentially another differential (or equivalent so) in the transfer case so the two drive shafts can rotate... differentially.

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