Thanks for all the info guys. It is very interesting and if you have more keep it coming.

Ryan

 

Hmmmmmm.....lets see......if the engine output is 100%, and you have 100% at each wheel.....then the engine must be putting out 400%???? That doesn't add up. If the % switches from tire to tire, then that is called limited slip. When I lock in on my kawa700, both front wheels pull at the same rate and power is applied to both of them equally. So, if I have 100% power leaving the motor and 50% reaches the back differentia while the other 50% reaches the front differential, then if the wheels are trully locked in, each 50% would be divided by 2.....=25% at each tire.

 

You looking at it wrong...

AWD or 4WD with locking front and rear, all wheels get 100% of the power as the entire drive train is "locked" together.

You don't divide or multiply anything pre tire ... all tires are spinning at the same speed with the same amount of power.

Power is the same at all tires it doesn't get split unless you have limited slip.

 

But, what % is actually lost from going to 4wd from 2wd? Is it actually 50%? If so, you wouldn't have 100% of the original power, that was there in 2wd, going to all 4 wheels. Why didn't they ask these questions in Algebra? I might've been more interested............Math isn't my strongest point. My 12yro daughter routinely kicks my a$$ in anything above fractions!

 

Actually seeing how power is a combination of rpm and torque in a given time frame, with a fully locked 4wd system the tire that has the most traction would have the most power going to it as the rpm to all 4 would be the same, the increase of torque to that tire would mean that it has more power to it then the power would be equally divided up to the other tires on a basis of what the percentage of the total torque in the drive train they have. If all the tires would have equal amount of traction and the torque would be the same then each tire would have aproximatly 25% of the total power the engine produces, with 100% of the power available to each wheel should the other 3 totally loose all traction. You do not loose any power switching from 4wd to 2wd if anything you will notice a slight gain in power because you won't have any looses due to having to turn the front wheel components.

 

100% of the engines power goes to the wheels, but each individual wheel gets 25% of that energy

 

The question really is; what is the power lost to AWD or 4WD vs. running in 2WD? Not what's the power at the wheel.

That would per brand. There's alot of factors in that cal ... tire size and weight, drive train mass, is it belt or has clutch plates, etc.

You would really need a dyno that could do 2WD and AWD/4WD to see the lost of HP.

 

Damn-I guess that moron that started the "Utility Quads Are So Not Cool" is right. We waste too much power in 4wd!
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NOT!!!!!!

 

That's what I thought before the quantum physics majors rolled in!
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Well...... There are ways of trying to find out....... Take your quad lift it off the ground put it in neutral in 2wd stick a torque wrench on the axle nut and see how much torque it would take to spin it, and keep it spinning. Then figure a good rpm the wheels will be spinning, and run that through the hp formula and you'll get an aproximate loss in power from the engine to the wheels, Now with a locked front end repeat the process and the diffrence is how much you loose for 4wd vs 2wd. Thats the best i can come up with for a cheap and inexpensive way to get a relatively good idea of the hp required.