Driving without rear driveshaft

Exactly as KenLyns said.

Not sure why's there's so much confusion on this topic. Do you go in front-wheel drive just for fun when you're bored? No. But can you use the front driveline to drive when the rear is disconnected/busted in a pinch? Absolutely, and other than some torque steer, you won't much notice the difference. Doesn't harm the vehicle whatsoever. And as others have mentioned, there can't be any binding because with the rear driveline is disconnected, AKA coasting; no mechanical connection to the transfer case. The binding you feel while in 4WD is because there is no center differential in your transfer case, which forces the front and rear powered wheels to spin at the same rate, even while turning.

If you had a center diff in your transfer case, this would allow on-road operation and get rid of that binding while turning. This is called AWD. But unlike a 4WD transfer case, you can't remove the front or rear driveshaft and drive without it (unless it has a center diff lock). The transfer case diff will act like any other open differential and send the power to the path of least resistance.

 

Another thing to note that Ive experienced, while driving with only front wheels engaged it's a good idea to ease into the throttle and not punch it, or you can kinda feel it jerking the chain in the transfer case. Also, when your driving you either gotta be into it or completely off the throttle, half throttle you can feel the chain bouncing back and forth and it's really unpleasant

 

^Isn't the 1st gen T-case gear-driven instead of chain driven?

 

Mines chain driven, can see the chain through the fill hole on the back of the case. The pre 95 cases might be gear driven tho, not sure

 

Actually, yes and no. In a part time 4wd system (turn it on or off, don't use on dry pavement etc) With 2 open differentials all 4 wheels can turn at whatever speed they want all day every day and there will be no issue. There are 3 (well more than 3 but let's group them together) moving parts on either side of the car. Left axle, right axle, and the driveshaft. The differential is what allows 1 of the 3 to turn at a different rate than the other 2. Ignoring the dshaft actually turns at a different rate than the axles etc, simplifying here . The binding comes from the front and rear driveshafts turning at different speeds. There is pretty much always going to be a mild difference between the actual gear ratio of the front and rear axles. It may only be .000001% (making up numbers) but it's there.

If all 4 wheels have full traction you can usually go in a straight line and even mild turns and be ok. Even though there is that small difference it's not great enough to really cause a problem, the system will absorb it and every now and then get rid of it. However when you do a real turn, all 4 wheels are taking different paths, all 4 will travel at completely different speeds, and that will make the front and rear dshaft turn at noticeably different rates. There is 0 differential action available in the tcase and you now have a whole lot of locked together gears trying to turn at different rates. That's when damage happens, sometimes explosively.

On loose ground the wheel with the least traction can be scrubbed during a turn, it will still be turning at a different rate but the loose traction will provide a safety buffer. Instead of causing damage a wheel will just burn the extra energy as lost traction.

A full time 4wd or AWD(always on) system there will be a 3rd differential between the 2 drivelines. This allows all 4 wheels to be driven at all times, and the differential will take care of the speed difference between the 2 driveshafts. It can be driven on dry roads, wet roads, it doesn't matter. And a GOOD full time system will have 3 lockers, allowing you to lock both front and rear axles as well as the driveshafts together, forcing all 4 wheels to turn at the same rate regardless of traction. You're back into loose traction only otherwise it will be back to explosive failures as a possibility.

 

If that's how it's explained then alright, I just know in 4wd with both driveshafts installed, it binds. In 4wd with no rear driveshaft there's absolutely no binding. Which the best way I can think of it is driveshafts turning different like you said

 

Found this with search

My driveshaft started to fail on a 2500 mile road trip. I just removed the rear components. Unfortunately, I have to drive 850 miles today to get it home where I can deal with it. So, a FWD taco it is!

I saw that people were getting vibrations, which I am too. So I just find speeds that minimize.

What's the upper rotational speed of the front shaft? Can it tolerate speeds faster than 55mph due to the fact that it isn't in 4wd?

Also, yes, the steering feels much different. I keep finding my truck attempting to change lanes without my permission.

 

This x2^^

 

Yeah, I saw that. I was just curious if I should avoid going over a certain speed. Like how you "shouldn't" go over 55 in 4wd. Or if that doesn't matter since there's no rear drive.
Also, if the front shaft is designed to tolerate spinning at those higher speeds? I would think so since you can very easily hit high rpms in 4lo (but then you're not moving very fast in that)...

So far, this is the quietest and smoothest I've experienced this truck cruise since I bought it in Feb lol

 

I would recommend driving on the front driveshaft in a last ditch get out of the woods only basis and call a tow truck at the end of the trail. 4wd is made for dirt not for pavement. I recommend NO!

 

Just don’t gsd it while turning. No u turns. Go below 60mph I believe

 

You could always rent a uhual, its cheap

 

Lol I got that situation resolved a little over 2 years ago when I did the manual swap. On to bigger and better things, currently contemplating a ALH TDI swap

 

Well technically speaking it wouldn’t be 4wd without a rear shaft.

 

Yeah RPM wouldn’t matter in this situation, wheel speed and shaft speed are directly connected here, whereas engine RPM compared to shaft speed is dictated by gear position

 

Yeah a guy at work has a golf, little bugger injection pump, bigger injectors, and flashed ecu and he can spin tires in 3rd, think he said he’s making like 350 tq? Could be wrong

 

After I did my 4WD/PreRunner conversion I had the rear driveline at a shop for about a week while they cut, welded, and rebalanced it to accommodate for the transfer case.

I drove in 4HI with only the front driveshaft for about a month while I had the truck in the shop for an unrelated issue and until I had time to put it back on the truck.

It handled differently, otherwise it was fine. I was going 60 no issue on dry pavement to get to the driveline shop and back.

 

I had a 1969 cj5 jeep and I had the rear drive shaft being repaired and I drove it with no issues with the front wheels only,
But the traction was totally different, I could make the tire spin in 1st and 2nd without any problems,
So traction will probably be different

 

As @CodeSeven said, you only really get axle bind when if 4wd. This is because the opposite corner wheels are traveling different speeds when going around tight corners. With no rear driveshaft, you're just a normal everyday front wheel drive car unless you have a front locker that's engaged.

You have nothing to worry about, especially if you're only doing it for a few days. It may drive a bit different, but you won't hurt anything.

 

also, it says not to "engage" 4wd over 50pmh. doesn't say you can't "drive" over 55 pmh