The standard non locked 4x4 works as expected. Front and rear axles get power, electronics buzzing and vibrating as the car tries to find the best applicaple wheel to provide power to. On the road it is seemless and makes no unusual sounds or feelings.

My history with 4x4 is a long list of normal truck type part time 4x4 systems. I expected that in the H3 if I were hit the button second from the left, the high range 4x4 lock, I would experiance serious binding and feedback if I were on a blacktop surface and turned the steering wheel and started to move. In a truck like I am used to, this would provide a serious bind in the drivetrain, the steering wheel would start to pull and if you forced it you would potentially do damage to hard parts.

So after dropping my daughter off at school this morning I decided to go behind the school to an empty section of the lot and hit that 4x4 high lock button. I do not have locking axles, mine is a base model. After the few flashes of the light, the 4x4 high/lock went solid to indicate that the car had made the requested changes in the driveline. I rolled forward a bit to see if it provided any unusual feedback and I got nothing. Then I turned a mild arch and slowly curved around, again feeling for any feedback. Nothing. So I turn left to full steering lock and eased it forward into a very tight radius turn and again got no feedback from the vehicle. I then turned right to full steering lock and eased it into motion again while paying close attention to any feedback indicationg that the vehicle did not enjoy this activity. I got nothing.

Now, should I suspect that I am not getting the feedback that I should? I was expecting it feel "old school" once I hit the second button indicating High 4x4 lock. I admit that I did not repeat this procedure with the far right of the 3, 4x4 low lock.

Can anyone verify that I should have experianced binding and an unhappy driveline from trying to turn on a parkinglot surface while in 4x4 lock mode?

 

You should feel massive feedback a full lock on dry pavement. Do a search using the keywords "plastic steering fork" and "actuator". Good Luck

 

you should have seen grass chewed where you turned up since the two driveshafts are locked in 4hi lock.

lo lock is exactly the same but with a 2.5 or 4 to one reduction.

you really know when you are in lo as you go nowhere as the engine is screaming. just try it so you know.

youve been at this for a few weeks now, surely you can tell huh?

 

I'm intimately familiar with 4x4 and low range in trucks. In my other life I had a $100K in a 4x4 sled pulling truck, 1070 HP 521ci Ford. I built my chassis, my engines and diffs, my tranny.

What I'm unfamiliar with is this electronic crap, hence me asking what is normal and what is not.

The situation is typical of a broke or melted fork. At this point I understand that should the Torsen lock as designed, it should go normal old school 4x4. Mine does not. I still spin the front when I put it on a hillside that it could not possibly climb, but yet I can put it into low range (only a true idiot wouldn't know it was our was not in low range) I can do figure eights in a parking lot with no binding.

The case is on the way out and the fork will be changed it with the aluminum one. All is good.

 

ok larry, you should be teaching us.
i never heard " Torsen lock "mentioned in the hummer book but you know better. the point was that you may not feel binding in grass. rsc mentioned pavement. one turn on the front street would tell you.

 

If you have a non adventure H3 you have 3 Torsen differentials. There is one inside each axle and one in the transfer case. The one in the T case is what allows you to have the AWD function.

The Torsen in the H3 is geared for about a 4:1 torque transfer. What that does when combined with traction control is that if a wheel is airborne, the truck applies brakes on that wheel and the Torsen differential will multiply that brake torque by 3-4:1 and send that toque to the wheel not airborne/on ice/in mud.

The transfer case, when in AWD utilizes this Torsen differential to allow the front and rear drive shafts to rotate at different speeds.

When you hit the button for lock, the Torsen is completely locked solid as if the drive shafts are a solid unit. That lock happens when the plastic fork is pushed up against the Torsen assembly and moves it to the lock position.

Mine does not move to that lock position.

Being that I've never dealt with a Torsen, I wanted to ask what I should expect if the T case was locked and I was turning in a parking lot. I got that response above, there should have been dramatic feedback just like all the trucks I've owned.

So I got the aluminum fork, I'm replacing the U Joints while I'm here, and on the 13th when I go to the eastern Pa hummer gathering, I'll have real 4x4.

Thanks for your input. I appreciate the help and conversation, it's how we learn new tricks!

 

no torsen diffs in hummer, sorry. same as 49 chevy.
the tc lock happens when the fork moves a sleeve on the input shaft into the sprocket that drives the chain to the front.

read on in google.

 

Your right. It's only the H1 that got the Torsen. We got the junk :-(