Which wheel looses traction first?

[techno]

Which wheel loses traction first?

When you are in 2wd and you either floor it or are on a very slippery surface and you get wheel spin, which rear wheel tends to break traction first?

On my ride it is always the rear passenger side wheel. Just wanted to check with everyone else to see if the same happens. When I did my suspension lift I didn't bother with a panhard drop bracket so the rear axle is now offset towards the passenger side. I'm wondering if this is why that side has the power bias.

If you're not sure, go outside right now and do some burn outs...

 

[jbach]

open differentials. whichever wheel has less traction slips first.

 

[techno]

Yeah I know that, I'm talking about when conditions are the same for both sides. Many rear axles have a natural bias towards one side, particularly diffs with an offset pumkin, but since the Toyota has a central diff, its hard to tell which way the power wants to go under equal conditions. Mine is ALWAYS to the passenger side.

 

[jbach]

the conditions are never the same on both sides of the vehicle. if they were, both sides would spin. the reason your passenger side "always spins first" is then because your passenger side "always" has less traction. this can be due to any number of variables ie. weight distribution in the truck, tire pressure, road conds. etc etc. put your driver's side of the vehicle on ice and passenger on pavement. you passenger side definately will not "always" spin first.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential2.htm

 

[drmorbius]

Yeah I know that, I'm talking about when conditions are the same for both sides. Many rear axles have a natural bias towards one side, particularly diffs with an offset pumkin, but since the Toyota has a central diff, its hard to tell which way the power wants to go under equal conditions. Mine is ALWAYS to the passenger side.

I understand what you are saying, and I believe it is possible for certain suspensions to lift one side or the other under load. Not much but it wouldn't take much. Under ideal conditions the vehicle should simply squat when you nail it. However you would never need traction bars in drag racing if this is what always happens. The only way to really know is to film it in slow motion from different positions I guess. Try swapping rear tires and see what happens.

 

[trd_4runnin]

I know what you are talking about techno. On a completely dry road, or a completely wet road or anytime that the conditions would be essentially the same for both rear wheels mine always kicks out to the passenger side. Mine did this even when it was stock and I do believe that the truck does have some sort of bias for whatever reason. I get what jbach is saying about varying conditions, but never in the 2 years that I have owned the truck has it been the driver's side wheel to lose traction. I use my truck for a lot of different things and I know that I have been through enough conditions and had enough varying weight in the back to one side or the other to "throw off" the bias and it's still always the passenger side. Just yesterday I had a heavy ass filing cabinet in the back of the truck on the passenger side only and it still would kick out passenger, so I know it's not my fat ass causing it. :bigok:

 

[techno]

Drmorbius, I have rotated my tires several times and I still get the same result. That was one of the first things I thought of too.
Since you are getting the same effect trd_4runnin its probably safe to assume that its just the way things are. I think I'll put a panhard bar drop bracket in anyway but I won't expect it to 'solve' the bias. Its probably caused by the driveline torque trying to twist the axle housing.

 

[Jordan Petry]

Sorry for being ignorant but what is a Panhard drop bracket? When would you need one?

 

[trd_4runnin]

Sorry for being ignorant but what is a Panhard drop bracket? When would you need one?

The panhard bar is the bar that is attatched to the axle on one and end and the frame on the other end. It's purpose is to keep the axle centered left to right. When you install a lift it throws off the factory geometry of the panhard bar causing the entire axle to shift toward the passenger side of the truck. The drop bracket lowers the attatchment point of the panhard bar to the frame, putting it back into the correct geometry and re-centering the axle. It's not really necessary but if you have a lift and the extra funds it is certainly a good idea to get things back the way Toyota designed them.

 

[Jordan Petry]

I think I'm going to be getting a Toytec 3" spacer lift for the front and spring lift for the back w/ a diff drop. Would there be any detriments to not installing a panhard drop bracket?

 

[Clemsonfan15]

Lol. I was doing the same thing today. A little fish tailing on the wet roads. Pretty fun.

 

[DewRunner]

mine does passenger first.

it was funny my friend told me to do a burnout while i was at the gas station and he pulled out the winshield washer thing and "cleaned my tire and it slipped real good. haha

 

[K2Runner]

Mine loses the passenger side traction first. I think it has to do with the gyration forces in the drive shaft. Or when you rev your engine hard and the whole vehicle kinda shakes to one side. idk