RE: Wider tires on the front!

[Brendan <bman@swva.net>]

At 11:45 PM 8/2/97 -0400, Graydon D. Stuckey wrote:
>On Wed, 30 Jul 1997, Todd Phenneger wrote:
>
>> 	I hope this hasn't already been answered but, what about extra wear and
>> tear on the center differential.  I know that on the 4kq, URq, and 5000q
>> the center diff is open but even though those tire sizes are close to the
>> same overall diameter, they could be a little off.  Would this cause extra
>> wear and tear on the tires or not.  Just curious.  Thanks. 
>
>You azre right.   I would prefer not to have the extra wear and tear on 
>the centre diff, but in this case, I was willing, at least for a while, to 
>take that risk.

You think?  I'm certainly no expert, and haven't read up on this, but just
thinking about it myself I would tend to disagree.  If what you are
suggesting is true, that slightly different diameter tires front/rear
causes more wear on the center diff, you are then concluding that anytime
the front and rear travel at anything but the *exact* same speed, the
result is extra wear on the center diff.  Let's think about that.  Assuming
you have *perfectly* aligned wheels, anytime you turn the wheels of your
car away from dead straight ahead would result in extra wear on the center
diff.  Anytime you go over a bump would cause extra wear on the center
diff.  Anytime you go from a completely flat road surface (be it 0 degrees,
+xxx or -xxx degrees) to another road angle causes extra wear.  All of
these things require the center diff to compensate for the front and rear
wheels traveling at different speeds.  With this in mind, do you really
think that a very slight difference in diameter between the front and rear
is going to cause a measurable amount of increased wear on the center diff?
 I can't see it, but I'd be interested in hearing from an expert on this. :)

Brendan