Shifting the transfer case into neutral separates the transmission and the
lower shafts which go to the axles. A sprague works somewhat like a ratchet
mechanism that engages when the rear drive slippage exceeds about 8 to 10
percent of the front drive RPM. So, the front wheels turn when being towed.
The exception is the M35s with the air shift front axle engagement ( that
little lever switch that hangs under the center of the dash ). The front
drive is either in or out.
A problem with the sprague drive when operating downhill in the snow or ice
is that the front and rears are mostly turning at the same RPM and so the
front axle disengages. You have to rap the throttle to spin the rears to
lock it in again so that it will pull you around the corners.
Randy
----- Original Message -----
From: John Hutterer <john.hutterer@deltec.com>
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 6:50 AM
Subject: [MV] Pleading Ignorance
> Listers,
>
> I have to plead ignorance when it comes to towing other vehicles. Haven't
> done it yet, but probably will some time. Some of the posts on this
subject
> mentioned that the sprag clutch will engage the front wheels on the towed
> vehicle, and cause them to turn. I assume that the towed vehicle would
have
> the transmission in neutral and the transfer case shifted to neutral. How
> would the sprag clutch engage the front wheels? I admit that I don't know
a
> whole lot about the power train of deuces and five tons, but I would think
> that, with both the transmission and the transfer case in neutral, there
> would be no connection between the front and rear axles. Would someone
> please tell me what I missed here? Not trying to be facetious, just
curious.
> Thanks,
>
> John
>
> John Hutterer
> Sen. Eng. Lab. Tech.
> SIMS Deltec
> 651-628-7107
> john.hutterer@deltec.com
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 05 2001 - 07:58:37 PST