|
|
|
Suzuki Four Wheel Drives
Suzuki four wheel drives are often disregarded because of their little size and small engines. What it really comes down to though is that they weigh considerably less than a normal sized four wheel drive, and as such they are generally more capable. If you take a modified Suzuki and pit it against a modified land cruiser or Nissan patrol with the same drivers, the Suzuki will leave the bigger four wheel drives for dead. They truly are awesome little vehicles, although they are annoying if you are going on longer trips.
The older Sierra’s are the most common four wheel drives which are turned into full on competition beasts, because of the solid front axle. A lot of people put 31, 33 or even 35 inch tires on these cars, and with diff locks, proper gearing and good bar work they will walk anywhere. The engines in these vehicles are simple, incredibly strong and brilliant for four wheel driving. On road however, they are not the best for high speeds. You need to rev the engine up so much to keep it sitting at 100 km/h which really isn’t a good thing.
Front Wheel Drive – FWD
It’s easy: Where the engine only drives the front wheels. Even I said, “That’s it? Are you sure?” In order to tell you the way it works, I have to include the history; so sit down, relax, & just read.
It all started between the years of 1895 & 1898; an automaker from Austria named Gräf & Stift created a “mini car” that was powered by the engine being in front of the vehicle instead of the back. This powered the front axle which made it known as “The First Front-Wheel Drive Automobile”. There are only two manufactured in the whole world!
Anyway, when the actual automobiles first started coming out, that’s when the experiments started with the Front-Wheel Drive. A man named J. Walter Christie was actually working on a FWD car that he can promote & “show off” by competing with it at a variety of speedways in the United States. By 1912, he got confident enough to start manufacturing FWD for fire engine tractors; but sales weren’t as high as he hoped for so he failed… unfortunately.