I'm wondering if somebody can explain how exactly this system works
on the CRV and how good it is. Is it true all wheel (4 Wheel,
limited slip) Or do just one rear and one front tire give traction
and it adjusts power between rear and front as required?

I used to own a Ford Areostar All Wheel Drive and on more than one
occasion got stuck in 6-8 in of snow. Only two wheels actually
spun. One front and one rear.

I find when you ask salespeople this question they'll say whatever
you want to hear to sell you the vehicle.

I like the looks and features of the CRV but I want to use it to go
off the beaten path so to speak. I train my dog and often need to
drive into farmers fields down some pretty muddy, slippery roads with
sometimes 1 or two feet deep mud baths or slippery soft ground in the
spring that you could easily sink and get stuck. Now my buddies seem
to have no trouble with their 4WD trucks like GMC full Size or Dodge
Small size.

Any comments appreciated

About all I can say about the CRV 4x4 is it plows snow pertty good I haven't gotten it in the mud yet.(It belongs to my wife & so far she only lets me plow snow)

I suppose with better tires it might do ok in mud but if you hit some tracks from other 4x4 you'll bottom out.

I also have a 94 Dodge Ram 4x4 that I can crawl underneath w/o jacking uo & change the clutch,oil & etc I have to lift alittle the Honda to do it.

Responding from Toronto Canada. Driving my V in snow all the time. How it works
is the rear wheels engage as the fronts slip. I'm pretty sure both rears engage
as it feels more like driving a rear wheel drive in snow than front wheel drive,
even to the point of fishtailing. The other thing I would say is that when I've
run my V on a hoist all 4 tires run at the same time as if it were a 4 wheeler.
My rears will also engage if I go around a tight corner.
Hope that helps.
Ben

What type of hoist is it on when all 4 tires are turning?

From what I've heard it is an Open Slip differential which I believe
means that all four tires won't turn, or even two front or two rear
tires.

Basically from what I'm getting is it is like a rear wheel drive and
front wheel Drive combined.

Even some true 4X4 Trucks don't have limited slip differential so
that only 2 tires rotate. 1 Front, 1 Rear.

Rgds

Just a normal hoist at my mechanic. All tires in the air. Reverse and
forward.

Interesting?

 

I’d like to get a definitive answer
because I believe that contradicts what I was told.  Though I’m not
a mechanic so do not exactly understand how it works.

 

I suspect if you were to apply pressure to
one of the rear or Front tires it would stop turning and would not have much or
near as much resistance as the other tire?

 

Again I’m not a mechanic, just
looking for a mechanic type to explain this to me and how it relates to the CRV’s
Real-Time 4WD system.

 

 

Thanks for your info.

 

Have you tried calling or emailing Honda directly?

forgive me if I missed it, but I am wondering what model years your guys are
talking about..

If it has to deal with 01 or erlier, all four tires do spin, (hehe) becuase I
have spun them on snow befor. and the car slowly drifted in a diaganol
direction forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KC8PKZ
Ryan Moore
RyanPM@...
(CHECK IT OUT, ITS AWSOME!) http://kc8pkz.8m.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mines a 97 and I agree with you. I think all 4 spin.

All four can spin. However if you find yourself in the snow and one front
tire and one rear tire has a lot of traction then it will not spin. The
other front/rear tire will spin freely and leave you stuck. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have even had a situation where only one front tire spun... that was in an
exceptional type of terrain though... took 5 people to push her out...
actually that was my old 4wd Civic Wagon now that I think about it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Rene

Rene is correct! :-)

The north America CR-V's RT4WD system doesn't have any limited slip differential
to prevent slippage. So, when one wheel is stuck (not moving), all the power
gets transferred to the other side. This limits offloading as sometimes, you
want power at the spinning wheel.

When all 4 wheels are off the ground, they will all spin together, either
forward or backward.

I'm not sure if you folks have read this in the past but it has some good info
on the RT4WD characteristics. I also have a video where they compared the
Freelander's 4wd system against the CR-V. It is interesting to note that they
pitched the V's to be superior offered! ;-)

http://www.hondasuv.com/crv/viewforum.php?f=37

Bing

I can’t find an email address for
Honda.  I tried looking.

 

So if what you say is correct.  Equal
power is not being sent to all four tires.  Not even equal power between
either the front two tires or rear two tires.  This from what I understand
is not a true 4WD in that the differentials do not lock which mean as you said
you could have 1 tire that is firmly planted but ends up not spinning.  If
it where to spin you could potentially get unstuck (if that is  a word J ).

 

 

Rgds

 

Correct. A true 4wd is rare to come by. I can only think of one from the
factory (that's attainable by the average person) and that's the Toyota Land
Cruiser. The Hummer and H2 are also true 4wds (IIRC) but a little more
expensive. My Father has a Toyota Tacoma with a locking rear differential
that makes it a true 3wd vehicle. If we had some kind of traction control on
the CR-V we could get around this limitation by applying the brake (actually
the computer applies the brake) to the tire that is moving faster thus
causing the differential to "think" the the other tire with more traction
actually has less and therefore allowing it to do the "spinning" and at the
same time (possibly) pulling you to safety. Make sense???

Rene (Who also owns a GMC Siera 4WD that has been stuck in the snow at least
3 times in the last week. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It used to be many of the 4WD trucks, GMC,
Ford, Dodge were available in locking differentials both front and rear. ?Is
this not the case anymore?

 

If not then the CRV is probably comparable
in performance other than potentially clearance with the GMC, Ford, Dodge,
Subaru, Pathfinder, 4Runners?

 

 

 

Rgds

 

Well my truck is an 88 with no locking differentials. They are available as
an aftermarket add-on. I know of a lot of newer trucks and a nice few older
trucks and none have locking differentials on them.

The only way the CR-V is not comparable is in the fact that 4wd only works
when slip is detected. Therefore you have to run the V harder to make sure
the front wheels are spinning to ensure she is in 4WD. My dad used to get
stuck on all the time in the old wagon we had. He treated her very gingerly.
I jumped in and took over the controls and kept the revs (therefore tire
spin) up and never had a problem unless it was in extreme circumstances!.

The truck I have is nice in that I can just put her in a low gear and
the )fake) 4wd pulls her along nicely without revving all over the place. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Rene

I'm not sure I understand?
 
What do revs have to do with it.  There is either power going to the tires or their is not?  If THE CRV real time 4WD is supposed to detect slippage and adjust all four tire speeds then it should be designed to do so at somewhat a low rev?
 
If you are stuck with the CRV.  You would think that as the vehicle detects slippage it will adjust.  I guess somewhat based on revs but I would not think you need to rev at 4000 RPM to start the other tire (or TIRES?) to turn more?
 
 
This is a good discussion, I'm learning a bit each time.
 
 
 
Thanks for the input and responses.
 
 

As others have mentioned though, all four tires will turn but if tension was to be applied only 1 front and 1 rear tire would turn or spin since the CRV does not have a limited slip differential?
 
 
 
Rgds