Chevy & GMC Vans

I’ve been out in the snow testing my 97 Safari AWD, and I couldn’t help but notice those front tires aren’t spitting snow when I get stuck. It seems like they might be pulling a little bit sometimes but this is my first AWD anything. Could someone please enlighten me on how my AWD should be working?

On your 97 AWD, you should have the front tires spinning all the time. It is 100% mechanical and there are no switches or motors to engage.

To test: jack one front tire up and try to spin it. It should only rotate enough to take up any slack in the diff and transfer case. If the tire spins freely, look to see if the drive shaft from the diff to the transfer case spins.

And remember too, you have an open diff in the front, so only one wheel may be spinning (if the other has better traction).

Put your back wheels in snow, mud, gravel or wet grass with the fronts on pavement. Nail the throttle. If you sit and spin, you have a problem. If you quickly motor out, the system is likely working as designed.

LiftedAWDAstro wrote:On your 97 AWD, you should have the front tires spinning all the time. It is 100% mechanical and there are no switches or motors to engage.

To test: jack one front tire up and try to spin it. It should only rotate enough to take up any slack in the diff and transfer case. If the tire spins freely, look to see if the drive shaft from the diff to the transfer case spins.

There's about 4 inches of slack, and the drive shaft spins. I only tried one tire though. When I'm getting to the top of hill climbs or getting stuck in deep snow, those tires aren’t spinning. I'm thinking it doesn't have the power to spin them like a 4 wheel drive. I don't know though. Am I expecting too much from it? It seems to go well in the snow on the pavement. When I punch it, the back tires spin and I start moving like the front tires are pulling but they’re not spitting snow.

Does the tire only spin part of a revolution and then stop? Does the front drive shaft spin freely? This is all troubleshooting with the rear tires on the ground.

The 4.3 has more than enough power to spin the front and rear tires especially on snow.

When you get on a hill and get stuck, roll your window down and look at the front tire. Give it gas and slowly turn the steering wheel. You should be able to get the driver side tire to spin. If you have a helper look at the front drive shaft carefully you should see it spin.

Where are you located?

Here's how I tested my 1994, which is the same set-up as yours. On loose gravel, I held the brake and pressed the gas, and the rears began to spin and then quickly slowed as the transfercase pulled in the front end and the van began to move as the engine overcame the brakes. If you continue to hold the brakes, the rears will slip again and the whole process will repeat.

Prolly not a good idea to make a practice of doing this, but it lets you know real quick if the transfer is good or not.

I tried it on the '99, and it wouldn't even get 1/2 a turn of a rear wheel before the van moved, but it also has a G80.

i have a 99 awd and in mine i got the lsd in the back it drives really good on the snow the difference on the 99 is that the system will only kick in when the rear tires loose traction.. and then it distributes the power 60/40, 60% rear and 40% front.