[ryangus]

This might sounds a bit silly, but how do I test if 4WD is working properly without taking it off-road?

I'm looking to sell the spare Vitara, and apparently the RACQ told a prospective buyer the 4WD isn't working. The buyer is yet to talk to the inspector, he's only read the report.

I've only ever had it off-road once about 12 months ago, and it worked fine. I just took it out on the bitumen, kept it in a straight line, and put it in 4L with the hubs locked in, and it is definitely in low range, but I couldn't tell if it was in 4WD (too scared to try it on sharp turns).

So, I'm sure there's an easy way that I'm not thinking of, but how do I test it?

[Choppy]

jack the whole car off the ground, or find some small portion of gravel some where, even a mates gravel driveway and just go straight with a bit off gas and see of the front bites/drives

[ryangus]

Forgot to mention, I only have one jack here and I'm in the middle of suburbia - no gravel for miles!

[royce]

jack one front wheel up in the air

lock the hubs and put it in any form of 4wd

try to turn the wheel in the air by hand, if it turns somethings broken, post back here for the next step, if it doesnt turn its likely 4wd works and the racq likely is jsut sooking cause thats what they do

to test when buying a car I like to find a paddock or wide grassy section on teh side of the road, lock the hubs and put it in high 4 and do some tight turns under heavy throttle and see if the inside front wheel spins, could for checking for noises and stuff as well

[ryangus]

royce wrote:

jack one front wheel up in the air

lock the hubs and put it in any form of 4wd

try to turn the wheel in the air by hand, if it turns somethings broken, post back here for the next step, if it doesnt turn its likely 4wd works and the racq likely is jsut sooking cause thats what they do

to test when buying a car I like to find a paddock or wide grassy section on teh side of the road, lock the hubs and put it in high 4 and do some tight turns under heavy throttle and see if the inside front wheel spins, could for checking for noises and stuff as well

Thanks Royce. Just tried it then, put it in 4L, locked the hubs and jacked up one wheel. it would only turn a couple of degrees each way. Unlocked the hubs and put it in 2H and it spun easy. Obviously the RACQ was just sooking

[royce]

to be sure you can try with teh other side to but that all fine, once again racq has no idea, no shock really

ask em how they tested is for giggles

[303zuke]

But didn't they say it IS working???

[lump_a_charcoal]

Why would it not be working? Is something broken or suspected of being dodgy?

[ryangus]

As far as I was aware, 4WD worked fine before the RACQ tosser turned up, and still does after a quick test. Dunno how he tested it, but I think he got it wrong.

[Reubs]

The RACQ guy probably just got in the car, moved the stick from 2H to 4H, checked the light came on then couldn't find 4L because it's a bit tight.

I don't have anything nice to say about RACQ inspections - I wanted them to do a driveway inspection on an R33 Skyline, but they said they needed to take away that car to their workshop to inspect it because it was turbo'd!