center shaft removal?

[speedoboy31]

would there be problems with removing the driveshaft between the carrier and the rear diff? would this lessen the summertime wear on my viscious coupler(5mt awd)? help gas mileage?

[scuzzy]

pretty sure you'll burn up your center diff if you do that; but someone else can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

[ciper]

The car probably wont move. The gas savings would probably be immeasurable since the rear differential is still spinning

[speedoboy31]

this thought only came to mind because i've been told that the main reason that couplers fail was improper tire matches--front to rear. i also thought when the coupler fails, the rear wheels don't give the right amount of assist/or none. this lead me to believe the cars are primarily front wheel drive and the rear power was delivered via a "pto" with a coupler to allow some slippage. maybe i'm way off base.

[ciper]

Couplers failing because of tire mismatch - Yes
Failed coupler causing the rears not to work - No
Primarily FWD - Only for automatics

When the coupler fails it acts like an open differential with equal torque to all wheels.

[speedoboy31]

not trying to aggrivate,but what signs are exhibited by a coupler failure? front wheel drive only? rear wheel only? 4wd lock? i only have limited experience with 4eat's. that may be where the confusion lies.

[ciper]

Most 4eat dont have a rear center differential. Its more like a motorcycle clutch. If you install the FWD fuse it runs the clutch fully open so only the front wheels get power. If you unplug the center differential electric connector it will lock it up completely like an old 4x4.

I can't answer your question directly because it can fail many different ways. For an idea search for "torque bind" which is a failure of a seal which causes the center differential to lock.
On the other hand the clutches could be really tired and you will end up with a mostly fwd car.

I thought originally you wanted to know about the 5 speed. If the center coupler fails in the 5 speed it will usually result in an open center differential. In other words equal torque to all four wheels.

[speedoboy31]

thank you ciper for your responses. they've answered my questions pretty thoroughly. by the way, i was mostly asking about 5mt awd trans.