Quote Originally Posted by phines View Post
Okay VX gurus, I need to get this cleared up and I'm hoping one of you will have the answer. If I disable the TOD and have manual hubs, will the front drive shaft/axle still turn? I keep seeing and hearing mixed answers regarding this issue, but does anyone know for sure?

IF the drive shaft and axle are NOT completely disengaged, is there a way to do that without physically disconnecting it?

Thanks for any info you guys can give me. I really appreciate it!
Paul, I am not sure what you mean by "If I disable the TOD" .
But having had manual hubs on all my previous 4wds, I will give the following answer -

For a standard 4wd where you can select 2wd high, when you set manual hubs to the "unlock" position, your wheels will turn without the drive train turning. So, as you drive, the cv's, front diff, and front tailshaft do not turn. This saves wear and tear, and improves fuel consumption because there is less friction loss.

The above also applies to the JDM VX with the 2H position (as per my VX).

For the USA VX with constant TOD, you can still fit the manual hubs, and in the "unlock" position they will disconnect the wheels from the drive train. However, as you drive along the front drive train will still turn as it is fed from the TOD. It just will be doing nothing to help propell the vehicle.
This will still help in reducing wear and tear, as there is no load on the front drive train. It will also give you a slight saving in fuel economy, but not as much as I enjoy.

The bad point is that if you get into trouble, you only have the rear wheels driving until you get out of the car and "lock" the hubs. If you hit a sudden patch of ice and snow, you may not have this opportunity before the other half of the accident scene reaches you.

Short answer is that to have best effect with manual hubs, you have to find a way to switch off your TOD, and there are several threads you can search here for that.

The other big advantage with manual hubs, is eliminating the sledging when doing a tight turn in a car park etc.

PK