How do I put AWD car in FWD mode? (remove driveshaft temporarily since ujoint broke))

[Spoolin4Ever]

OK, I had a problem with a brand new u-joint cap falling out while i was in rush hour traffic.

I am waiting for the new u-joints, I want to know; can I pull the drive shaft and drive it in FWD, just driveing it normally?

If so, please tell me what I need to know to do it!

According to this thread, it is totally possible:
http://tampabay.dsm.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3191

 

[project_tsi]

Yes you can do it, but you need one of two things.

1. A welded center diff in your trans. If you have this, you can pull your t-case and driveshaft off and be FWD.

2. A VCE. Its a Viscous Coupler Eliminator. It basically does the same thing as a welded center. You still need to pop off the trans end cover and install the VCE. Install takes about 30 min or so. You can lathe down and weld up a stock VC to make a VCE or buy a custom billet VCE for about $200.

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

Thanks very much for your reply. So doing it as a temporary cost-effective way to drive the car short term in lieu of the U-joint replacement does not really equate.

But at least the questions has been answered. Knowing instead of wondering is so much better.

And if one were to just simply pull the driveshaft, and either pull the yoke or leave the yoke in the tranny, (regardless), they would end up frying the VC (Viscous Coupler) in the transmission, correct? (ouch)

Out of total curiousity, I wonder how many miles you could drive it before messing up the VC? I'm just wondering what happens and how the car would drive.

 

[project_tsi]

I'm not 100%, but I believe that if you tried to drive after just pulling the out the driveshaft and tcase on a stock trans, you wouldn't move. I believe the car would act just like an open diff with one tire in the air, and you wouldn't go any where.

 

[twicks69]

correct -- if you disconnect the driveshaft only, it will freewheel since you are running an open front and center diff. It is just like breaking a front axle on a open front differential. It will accellerate a little on flat surface, but will react like a blown clutch, because the other front axle will just freewheel.

You should NOT drive the car until you fix the driveshaft, or purchase a VCE and install it.

Please keep in mind, it is not wise to run the VCE for an extended period of time; i.e. beatdown runs, track passses, etc. It has been seen many times that the VCE turns itself into a weapon of destruction when the snapring on the output shaft runs away, and grenades your VCE into the front right wheel, or worse.

VCE's were intended for dynotuning when an AWD dyno was not available. When the VCE is installed to run in FWD mode for dynotuning, you must still disconnect the driveshaft and remove the transfer case. Usually you can just zip tie the driveshaft to the tunnel to keep it out of the way.

Using VCE's for street driving FWD, you should remove the driveshaft completely, and you can remove the transfer case as well. If you are using a VCE for street driving/drag racing in AWD; to get a 50/50 torque split, then you will just remove the viscous coupler, and install the VCE.

There are also downfalls to welding your center differential, but it is only driveability stuff like taking tight turns at low speeds, etc.