Yes - that would be the viscous coupler... I remember going to the
Chicago auto show in '86.  The VW display had a VC with a crank on one
side of it and a shaft sticking out the other.  The rep had you try and
stop the shaft from rotating with your hands while the crank was turned.
If cranked slowly, you could keep the shaft from turning.  When the
crank moved quickly (i.e. a big difference between front wheel speed and
back wheel speed), you couldn't stop it.  The VC is their way of making
up the small differences in wheel speed on pavement between front and
back and still have both axles pull together when one loses traction.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of David Marshall
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 3:50 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Interesting observation while rotating tires on my Syncro.

Yesterday I was rotating my tires, like I do every 5000km to ensure nice
and
even wear.  I tried turning the rear wheel when it was off the ground
(transmission out of gear) and it was very hard to turn it.  I could
turn
it, just very slowly.  Then for the heck of it, I took out my 3/4"
breaking
bar and tried turning the wheel by the flange nut to see if I could get
it
to spin any faster, it went a little and then stopped in about 1/16 of a
rotation, if I applied less pressure it would slowly spin again.  The
observation that I made is while turning the rear wheel is the drive
shaft
was spinning.  So, is the result of slow spinning wheel a function of
the
viscous coupler?  The same happens when I lift a front wheel off of the
ground as well.  I am interested in seeing if other people have the same
thing happen to their van.

Thanks.

David Marshall

Fast Forward Automotive Inc.
4356 Quesnel-Hixon Road
Quesnel BC Canada  V2J 6Z3

http://www.fastforward.ca    mailto:sales@fastforward.ca
Phone: (250) 992 7775        FAX: (250) 992 1160

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