spleify

I just picked up a used set of tires and one of them is worn more than the rest so I want to be sure and NOT run that as the rear drive drive tire. SO when in standard 2 wheel drive is there a main drive tire?

Thanks

07crawler

I believe that would be the right tire..get in the dirt and punch it...the right tire should spin first

genesbro

With open diff both tires are driven equally. The one with the least traction will slip first. If you have had the rearend apart and you look in there, there is nothing to give one side an advantage over the other one, just a matter of friction on the surface you are on.
Look at it like this. The tire with less tread will be the one rotating faster which could cause the other side to slip first. Don't know for sure that would happen as far as slipping but with less circumference the one with less tread will be rotating faster and therefore your spiders will be rotating all the time. Same reason you want to have 5 tires the same size and not carry small spare tire. Diff should only have to work when making turns, not going straight down the road.

mjolnir

here's video that's good for explaining
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI&feature=fvw start watching at about 1:55

blw

That old video was brilliant! First time I really felt I understood how a differential works. Imagine designing with no computers, CNC machines, etc.

JKlad

I'm in a Right Hand Drive country and here the driver's side rear is usually the tire accepted to experience the most wear on traditional open, non-traction controlled diffs. This is because, driving on the left, while left hand turns are usually approached at greater speed you then break going into them, right hand turns are often done across oncoming traffic and you are often stopped first waiting for a break in the traffic, so you are often accelerating hard and promoting some wheel spin on the drivers side rear, which is lifted more off the road due to body roll in the opposite direction and loses traction first.

In the 'States it would be still be the drivers side rear (but obviously on the other side of the vehicle being LHD) but because of left hand turns, not right hand ones since you drive on the right. All this is probably why in the JK with its brake-operated traction control system, many people here on this forum complain that their rear pads and rotors, and the drivers side rears in particular, wear out first and well before the fronts even though traditionally front brakes did all the work.

AZJeeper

Ummm... "computer" = slide rule, "CNC machines" = experienced, skilled machinist, "ect" = well, more stuff we can do now easier and more precise and with cheaper labor, but could still do back then. Ah, back when engineers were engineers and men were men.

...or so I hear. I'm not THAT old. Really.