Car feel very heavy. Drivetrain questions!

[Stainbox12]

I've been searching the whole night, reading about blown rear and center diffs, LSD's, VC's, etc. I have a friend with an unmoded 1g, the car feels pretty fast, maybe not fast as mine, since i have some mods, but it feels a lot lighter than mine. I feel my car is a lot heaver than his, and i feel sometimes im like towing the rear. Today i jacked up the vehicle, with 4 jackstands, so all 4 tires were in the air. I spinned the back one and the other side on the back spinned the same direction, i also saw the intermediate shaft spinning, so that was good i guess. I came and tried to do the same in the front, and when i turned one of the front wheels, the other one didn't turn at all, neither the back ones, and the intermediate shaft didn't even budge. Now, to my understanding, my rear has LSD, so that's why, both rear tires spinned fine, but its normal, to spin one front tire, and the intermediate shaft not to move just because its an open diff? Im confused here, and i was thinking maybe my center diff is shot, and somehow im RWD now. I just need to know, if the testing i did by jacking the car in the air is normal behavior, or theres actually something wrong? I'm assuming everything is fine, because from what i've read, when you remove the transfer case and the intermediate shaft, the car won't even move without them being attached. Thanks.

 

[Black_Bullet]

Launch it and see if any tires do a burn out? Thats how id check...

 

[steve]

When you say intermediate shaft do you mean the driveshaft between the transfer case and the rear diff?

When you roll your car by hand on the ground does it roll easily?
When it's in the air and you turn a wheel by hand does it turn easily?

I can't remember what the driveshaft did when I turn one of the front wheels.

 

[Stainbox12]

Yes, all 4 tires burn, when i launch, however when im cruising per example, it feels very heavy. In the air, the rear wheels turn easly, the front passenger one, turns fine too, but the drivers front side, is hard to turn, but i think it might be the calliper and/or brake disk. Yes, i mean the driveshaft between the transfer and the rear diff, when i turn one of the front wheels, the driveshaft doesn't move. Keep the info coming, i would like to figure this out. Thanks.

 

[ekanddsm]

Car in the air, Trans in gear(first or whatever) spin lf wheel= rf wheel should spin opposite direction.

Car in nuetral, grab both front wheels and spin foward, rear should follow

car back on ground= set e-brake(soft, enough to stop it rolling) and try to take off(not to hard) in 1st gear( car should bog down heavily and squat like your mother in law is in it. But not take off or smoke the front tire)

 

[Black_Bullet]

I happen to be doing this test on mines today because I was afraid my vicious coupler would be warn out.

I had all 4 up in air, car in nuetral, I could turn any wheel by hand and all the rest would turn a bit as well.(Not quite as fast as the wheel I was turning myself with my hand) but they all turned...
I dont have any welded diffs...I didnt try to turn the wheels with it in gear though, perhaps I should have?

OP I dont understand why all your tires didnt turn when you turned any of your wheels?

 

[Stainbox12]

I happen to be doing this test on mines today because I was afraid my vicious coupler would be warn out.

I had all 4 up in air, car in nuetral, I could turn any wheel by hand and all the rest would turn a bit as well.(Not quite as fast as the wheel I was turning myself with my hand) but they all turned...
I dont have any welded diffs...I didnt try to turn the wheels with it in gear though, perhaps I should have?

OP I dont understand why all your tires didnt turn when you turned any of your wheels?

Thats, what im trying to find out. I don't get it, my rear wheels act fine, but the front wheels, whenever i spin one, the other one doesn't spin, maybe because the car was in neutral? Im going to jack it up again, and test it with the car in gear.

ekanddsm, i need to spin both fron tires at the same time for the rears to move while in neutral?

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Check this out, should help give some direction.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/50388790-post4.html

..man I miss that guy.

 

[Stainbox12]

Check this out, should help give some direction.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/50388790-post4.html

..man I miss that guy.

Thanks dude, this is very helpful info.

 

[steve]

In the air, the rear wheels turn easily, the front passenger one, turns fine too, but the drivers front side, is hard to turn, but i think it might be the caliper and/or brake disk.

Have you fixed the drivers side yet? That will cause some of the problems your talking about.

I've had to replace all the spiders in the drive shaft on my car because the wore out and became hard to move. That caused the car to feel sluggish, slowdown while coasting, and made it hard to push the car around the garage. With good u-joints in it I can roll the car one handed.

 

[Stainbox12]

Have you fixed the drivers side yet? That will cause some of the problems your talking about.

I've had to replace all the spiders in the drive shaft on my car because the wore out and became hard to move. That caused the car to feel sluggish, slowdown while coasting, and made it hard to push the car around the garage. With good u-joints in it I can roll the car one handed.

Are you serious? push it with one hand? I had the impression that this cars were heavy as hell and could not be pushed that easly. Where and what are those spiders one the driveshaft you are talking about? Thanks.

 

[steve]

Yes one hand. You still have to overcome the mass.

Spiders = U-Joints. That's what Mitsubishi calls them.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/314032-drive-shaft-u-joint-where-buy.html

There are three of them in the driveshaft. All of mine were crunchy and stiff. Since they had gone bad over time I didn't notice how much drag there was until replaced them and the car started coasting like it used to.

 

[Black_Bullet]

Yes one hand. You still have to overcome the mass.

Spiders = U-Joints. That's what Mitsubishi calls them.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/314032-drive-shaft-u-joint-where-buy.html

There are three of them in the driveshaft. All of mine were crunchy and stiff. Since they had gone bad over time I didn't notice how much drag there was until replaced them and the car started coasting like it used to.

Did acceleration change?
I have done 350lbs worth of weight reduction and I cant push my car with one hand.... I mean if I can get it rolling with some mommentum behind it maybe, but not as easy as you make it sound.
Things like this make me wonder how effective lightweight driveshafts are etc...

OP you could put it on 4 jackstands outside of your house and drive it in the air and see if they all move. Im sure those drivetrain parts are all worn out but you should still be AWD.

Like I said in neutral all my wheels turn if i turn one of them.

 

[steve]

Did acceleration change?
I have done 350lbs worth of weight reduction and I cant push my car with one hand.... I mean if I can get it rolling with some mommentum behind it maybe, but not as easy as you make it sound.

Yes the acceleration changed, the car didn't feel like it had the anchor out anymore, and like I said, the car would slowdown when coasting but the big clue in to me was that it was getting really hard to push it around in the garage.

I've owned this thing since new. It's always been pretty easy to roll it back and forth a couple of feet. The car also coasted really well maintaining it's speed. It stopped doing that and when I checked I found the u-joints were bad. There was about 110k on the car at the time.

Changing them was the catalyst for buying a press from harbor freight.

 

[Black_Bullet]

Yes the acceleration changed, the car didn't feel like it had the anchor out anymore, and like I said, the car would slowdown when coasting but the big clue in to me was that it was getting really hard to push it around in the garage.

I've owned this thing since new. It's always been pretty easy to roll it back and forth a couple of feet. The car also coasted really well maintaining it's speed. It stopped doing that and when I checked I found the u-joints were bad. There was about 110k on the car at the time.

Changing them was the catalyst for buying a press from harbor freight.

I will keep this in mind.

How did you know they were bad, whats the visual check for that?
Sorry if thats a stupid question, but I have never taken off or examined my driveshaft like that.

 

[steve]

How did you know they were bad, whats the visual check for that?
Sorry if thats a stupid question, but I have never taken off or examined my driveshaft like that.

There isn't a visual check for this, you have to disconnect the driveshaft and move the u-joints by hand to tell if they are moving smoothly and easily but without play that would indicate they are worn out.

 

[DougR]

My Talon is so hard to move it literaly takes 2 ppl to move it around the garage and 3 to get it up over the 1" bump into the garage!, Me by myself I damn near pop a ...
Well you get the idea... Looks like Im changing my joints to night forcertain!
Thanks for the tip!

 

[1stGenTSi]

My Talon is so hard to move it literaly takes 2 ppl to move it around the garage and 3 to get it up over the 1" bump into the garage!, Me by myself I damn near pop a ...
Well you get the idea... Looks like Im changing my joints to night forcertain!
Thanks for the tip!

Check to make sure you don't have a brake sticking first, and check that the e-brake is releasing fully. I'm not really sure how worn or frozen u-joints could ever cause excessive drag. They are there only to allow the shaft to flex. The shaft should spin fine regardless of the condition of the u-joints.

 

[steve]

Check to make sure you don't have a brake sticking first, and check that the e-brake is releasing fully. I'm not really sure how worn or frozen u-joints could ever cause excessive drag. They are there only to allow the shaft to flex. The shaft should spin fine regardless of the condition of the u-joints.

I agree. If you follow the thread I think the OP has a dragging brake up front.

I mentioned the driveshaft issue because I had it and it made a big change. I haven't measured the driveshaft angles but I can assure you that it does cause drag without being able to explain why. It's empirical evidence.

 

[Black_Bullet]

Could bad wheel bearings cause the same dragging issue also?

 

[steve]

Sure, but they usually cry out in pain when they go bad.