Originally Posted by aa21830

This may sound silly, but when I was a kid in the 80s, Lego came out with their "Technic" sets with gears and wheels and u-joints and stuff. I had a set with a plastic differential for building cars and trucks. To this day, whenever I think of how a differential works, I go back to that Lego set...

Originally Posted by Blazer1087

Thank you all for the answers. I guess I didn't understand what 4wd was about. Transferring power to the wheel that's slipping makes no sense to me, seems like it would spin faster and do nothing! My 4wd never worked when I bought it so I have never used it. I fixed it this year and was looking forward to using it when It snows. I guess I will find out more about it when it snows.

Originally Posted by cleburne red

To be more accurate, 2wd is really 1wd, and 4wd is really just 2wd. With regular open differentials, only one wheel on each axle will be receiving power, which is the one with least resistance (traction). The only way to have true "four wheel drive" is lockers front and rear.