quick 1986 gl wagon 4wd/tire size question

[cocheeze]

it is getting crazy cold here in portland, and i deliver for a living, so i am going to need to start kicking my subaru gl wagon into 4wd here soon when it starts to get snowy or icy...

 

i have 175/70 R13 tires on the front, but i have 185/70 R13 tires on the back.

 

Does this mean i cant use 4wd without damaging something?

 

I was told by the person that sold me the front tires that it might cause problems with my 4wd...

 

any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

thanks!

 

casey

[GeneralDisorder]

It will be a problem only if you aren't on slippery surfaces. You can drive all day in 4WD if you are on snow with mismatched tires.

 

If you are interested - I have a nice set of agressive mud/snow tires with steel studs (no longer sold) in them that have never been run. They need mounting on 13" rims. I would let the set go for $125. They are Toyo 720 Snow Steel Extra's.

 

 

GD

[zyewdall]

Yeah, in snow you should be fine, however it may have a tendancy to fishtail pretty bad, like a rwd vehicle, since the back end will be trying to go a bit faster than the front.

 

On a non-slippery surface, expect to come to a halt in 10 feet if you have it in 4wd...

[MilesFox]

with no center diff, and 4wd engaged, you will have a difference in rotation between the front and rear axles, and will bind at the trans since there is no diff.

 

however, if you had an odd size wheel on one side, the axle and diff will assume the rotation of the smaller tire for the ratio

 

you can mount the wheels diagonally, and have an even rotation across the front and rear axles, as the difference in rotation will be spread across the larger tires equally

 

this will work as the front and rear diffs are open, and the ceter is not really a differential, but a pto