Real Men have traction...

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Tue, 04/20/2010 - 18:23.

Dave image jeff buster 4.14.10This is my friend Dave listening for bearing noise on the front end of a Jeep Grand Cherokee - going about 30MPH on the lift with the wheels off the ground !

This is also a visual of why Chrysler (and GM) went down the tubes - 1944 era drive train on an 2008 era "luxury vehicle".

IMHO, having four wheel drive on a family car is insane - and this four wheel drive system can't be dissengaged at the hubs and the transfer case - it is all wheel, all the time.

Turning the additional drive shafting, differential gearing, and wheel shafting sucks up fuel like you read about - while traveling America - the most paved over country in the world.

Detroit never got over WWII.  And when Iraq came along, Detroit was right there with the Hummer.    I still don't think that the operations left in Detroil have  gotten the message.

Will US vehicle design ever target fuel efficiency, not macho Super Bowl tire spinning?

And by the way, how big are your tires?

Incidentally, about half the components on the outboard ends in this front end were worn and howling - cost the owner over a grand.   Maybe that's why the call it the Grand Cherokee!

 

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Unloading four wheel drive

Submitted by lmcshane on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 04:49.

  Refocus engineering on quiet, electric light rail...and energy to walking.  The only individual heavy duty machine I can see a need for in new communities would be a pick-up truck for loading and hauling...or a heavy duty mule :)

"Station Wagons" are coming back!

Submitted by Charles Frost on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 13:59.

Detroit has started making station wagons, again, but they are calling them "Cross-Over" vehicles.

You can haul a lot of stuff in a station wagon ("Cross-Over" vehicle), and unlike a pig-up truck, you can carry more that two people in a station wagon when you aren't hauling your stuff.

Also, most "real men" only haul a few loads of stuff that can't be hauled in a station wagon ("Cross-Over" vehicles) once or twice a year, but the "Macho" aspect is VERY IMPORTANT!!!

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By refusing to deal honorably with others, you dishonor yourself.