Rear wheel torque

I have been searching for about a day online and cannot find a definitive answer for the jeep 4.0 / 8.25 chrysler rear setup. I want to know which rear wheel gets the most torque: the driver or passenger side? I had one tire that was on the front and the center is worn more (about 1-2 32nds less than the others) due to I believe over inflation. I now rotated the tires but would like to put the one with the most tread on the side with the most torque. Guys have told me in person that the rear passenger side gets the most torque, but like I said I cannot find anything online about this. Maybe there isn't a certain side that gets more torque? If anyone knows please post. Thanks!

The amount of torque an open differential sends down each shaft is ALWAYS 50/50. This is due to the spider gears being pushed with equal force by the carrier because they are mechanically meshed. An open differential was designed to solve the speed differentiation issue, but its design isn’t capable of biasing torque across the differential and what that means is that what one wheel gets so does the other…always.

Well, with an open diff, going in a straight line, each wheel get roughly the same torque assuming you're on dry pavement.

I see Tim beat me to it.

Right, torque stays the same, wheel speed may differ due to turning, slippery surface or even different tire size (think mini spare tire).

Tim_MN said:

An open differential was designed to solve the speed differentiation issue, but its design isn’t capable of biasing torque across the differential and what that means is that what one wheel gets so does the other…always.

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Except when you have a loss of traction, like one wheel in the air!

In essence these are correct BUT, do to engine rotation, the pinion rotation and attempt to climb the ring gear and the whole equal and opposite forces law, with a standard clockwise engine rotation going forward the right rear tire tries to lift off the ground. With equal traction the right rear will almost always break loose first.

trippled said:

In essence these are correct BUT, do to engine rotation, the pinion rotation and attempt to climb the ring gear and the whole equal and opposite forces law, with a standard clockwise engine rotation going forward the right rear tire tries to lift off the ground. With equal traction the right rear will almost always break loose first.

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My emphasis added. That means it loses traction.

The OP question was about torque, not traction.

:sure: I have to lol sometimes at these threads on forums.

1 - The discussion really has nothing to do with which rear tire sees more torque. As mentioned, an open diff distributes the same amount to both sides assuming traction is equal. HOWEVER. That's not the issue here. We should be talking about torque loading due to engine rotational forces acting on the chassis. This is why the drivers side front will lift slightly under power, meaning the pass rear does end up seeing more load under power.

2 - I have never seen a rear tire wearing quicker than the other under normal circumstances (drag cars, yes). Simply rotate the tires as normal, get an alignment and check your tire pressure often.

:cheers:

Thanks for the info guys So it sounds like the passenger rear MAY get an insignificant amount more TRACTION under acceleration. My "idea" was to put the tire with more center wear on the side that gets less traction, so it seems I'll need to swap the rear tires now. I'll be waiting a few days to do that since I threw my back out by twisting weird when I initially rotated all 4 on Sunday. I know full well about rotating the tires and have always done so, I just happened to have them aired up quite a bit more than usual due to the past winter and was lazy and hadn't checked them until I noticed the one was searing more in the center due to being over inflated.

YMMV; but I run (unloaded) 28psi in the front with 26psi in the rear tires. Been doing that for over 20yrs with all my XJ's and almost any tire size!