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Four-wheel drive vehicle operating system

  • US 4,883,138 A
  • Filed: 04/27/1988
  • Issued: 11/28/1989
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1987
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. In an operating system used in a vehicle equipped with four-wheel drive having a center-differential which is shiftable between a differential-locked and a differential-free drive mode of operation and between a two-wheel and a four-wheel drive mode of operation, and a free-wheeling device with a clutch means incorporated in an output shaft of an axle differential in association with wheels which are non-driven when the vehicle is in said two-wheel drive mode of operation, said clutch means being adapted to disconnect the transmission of driving power between said axle differential and said non-driven wheels when the vehicle is in said two-wheel drive mode of operation and to connect a transmission of driving power between said axle differential and said wheels when the vehicle is in said four-wheel drive mode of operation, the improvement comprising:

  • transfer case shift means operable between at least two positions for selecting said two-wheel drive mode and four-wheel, differential-free drive mode; and

    shift control means responsive to an operation of said transfer case shift means for shifting said center-differential to from one to the other between said two-wheel drive mode and four-wheel, differential-free drive mode, said shift of drive mode of said center-differential being accompanied by an intermediate transition of said center-differential to a differential-locked drive mode.

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