Oh for shit sakes.....When you push the four wheel drive lever forward on a Dodge Diesel with a 2000 pound Cummins over the front wheels in 3 feet of snow. Straight piped, with 5000 pounds of cattle in the trailer behind you, square up your jaw, and give it half throttle to lock up the torque converter at 2800 RPM...That seperates the men from the Boy Scouts.
I'm the guy you stare at with contempt.. when I pull up in my cloud of black smoke, as your sitting outside of Starbucks sipping your 5 dollar coffee..
Unless you have differential lock..or welded Diffs.....Your mostly turning only two wheels...Although front wheel pull is superior to back wheel.
If your Diff. Lock is engaged for traction ...You don't have control, or you will wear out a thousand dollar set of tires in half the time.
Locking diffs are designed for mud or snow...Pavement is just sandpaper to them
Cars and Light SUVs with "AWD" are mostly a sales gimmick. A complex system that doesn't work most of the time. They Tested on the Video:
-only one tire on the roller - - many of the cars failed
-the two front tires on rollers - - most of the cars failed
-the two rear tires on rollers - - most of the cars failed
-the two left tires on rollers - - most of the cars failed
-the two right tires on rollers - - most of the cars failed
-three tires on rollers - - most of the cars failed
BMW, Range Rover and Audi failed all of the tests, the RAV4 and Subaru do both rears or both fronts on rollers - but not both tires on one side, The Volvo station wagon made it through each test. It looks like all three differentials have to be able to lock if you actually want 4 wheel drive. That's the old system that my relative has on his Dodge Power Wagon and I had on my Toyota Land Cruiser. If you don't want to be fixing the front differential all the time, you have to have locking hubs and lock them to 4 wheel.