Trying really hard to learn something from this thread, but a lotta reading between the lines required! The things is, I AM driving with the front prop removed at the moment and there is certainly propulsion from the rear. Also, there was a definite jerkyness when reversing slowly with full steering lock before I removed the prop which I only noticed now that its gone. From what I read..
TheViscous Coupling: How to Test & Replace it
.. this is a sign that the centre viscous coupling/diff was already in trouble. Where I'm a little confused is that if the rear wheels are driving and the front prop is missing and therfore the front bit of the VC is not turning, does that put the VC in full time lock? I know it has little resistance to deal with (from the front at least) but that can't be good??
christ i hope the solution does not end up being to throw a complete new drivetrain at this car. its just not worth the money anymore.
Ok transfer box operation. Drive is taken from back of gearbox through input shaft. On the input shaft is located reduction gear set for selection of high/low axle. Drive from this is taken via a chain over to the output side. The output side consists of a viscous coupling driving two outputs, one for the front axle one for the rear axle. The viscous coupling contains fluid and acts as a centre differential smoothing out any difference in rotational speed between the front and rear axle. Where this movement is small, as in normal driving conditions, the fluid allows the plates in the viscous coupling to slide past each other thus preventing axle wind up. If however the movement becomes quicker as in the front wheels having no grip whilst the back ones have or vis versa the viscous coupling locks up to put drive to the wheels with grip. If the viscous coupling is siezed then there is no compensation for differing axle rotational speeds and you will get windup. The viscous coupling and how it operates is why you can disconnect a prop shaft and still have drive, you CANNOT do that with a conventional centre differential as the unconnected output would just spin and no drive would be passed to the live prop unless the diff could be locked. If you are getting axle windup. You need a new viscous coupling fitted to your vehicle. About £250 or less if you look around. Checking for viscous coupling siezure is simple, jack up one front wheel leave the other one grounded. You should be able to turn the lifted wheel with difficulty, this means your coupling is ok. If you cannot turn the wheel the coupling is siezed. In your case you would of course have to replace the front prop to do this check.