FEATURE ARTICLE

06
 Four-wheel-drive increases traction, often enough The ordinary, familiar differential is an ‘open’ dif-
to sustain movement and control under conditions ferential. Torque delivered through the driveshaft
that might otherwise mean the driver would choose pinion and differential ring gear applies equally
to stop or would get stuck in snow, mud or sand. through the spider gears to each axle halfshaft,
Four-wheel-drive is not constantly advantageous, regardless of individual halfshaft speed. Aside from
however, because it mechanically couples all the slight friction between internal parts, an open dif-
wheels and drivetrains together; and sometimes, ferential applies equal torque to each axle – with the
surprisingly enough, that connection can work consequence that the maximum torque the differen-
against optimization of traction and control. There tial can apply to its drivewheels is just double what
have been two quite different systems called the drivewheel with less traction can transmit alone,
4MATIC, the first hydraulic, beginning about 1990 the drivewheel that slips first. Once that first wheel
and the second electronic, working through the spins, the vehicle stops progress. This is exactly
service brakes, starting in 1998. We concentrate what we see when a car spins a drivewheel in a
here on the earlier system since you're more likely snowpile or mudhole: Until that wheel regains trac-
to see it in an independent shop. tion, a stationary car doesn’t budge. In the extremes
of limited traction, an open differential gives you
Locked and Open Differentials one-wheel-drive, and, worse yet, drive through
whichever wheel has less traction.
So we move to the locked or limited-slip differen-
“Four-wheel-drive” can be a misleading descrip- tial. “Locked” is an exaggeration, as you know,
tion. In principle, of course, any driveline system because inside and outside wheels must travel dif-
conducting power through the transmission to all ferent speeds in a turn. Otherwise the inside wheel,
four wheels is ‘four-wheel-drive.’ There are, however, usually less heavily loaded as centrifugal force
significant differences arising from the distinction throws the weight outward, must skid forward along
between locked and open differentials. Let’s have the pavement.
that clear first.

Later nonhydraulic versions of 4MATIC,

employing 4ETS, use open differentials front, At the heart of the 4MATIC system is the trans-
back and center, with no multidisk clutches at fer case, splitting the torque from the transmis-
all. They can do this because the later system sion to each of the driveaxles.
uses individual wheel brakes to keep individual
drivewheels from spinning when their torque
exceeds the traction available at that tirepatch. The 4MATIC differentials ‘lock’ in a way similar to
The brakes have the identical effect to that of the the limited-slip differentials you may know from
multidisk clutches in the hydraulic version: they domestic trucks or high-performance (at least fast-
prevent overspeed of the wheel with less traction. acceleration) vehicles. In most of those, a constantly
Similarly, there are two-wheel-drive brake-activat- spring-loaded multidisk clutch links the opposite-
ed drive traction controls analogous to ASD. side axle shafts, through a friction material and spe- 07
cial lubricant, both requiring periodic replacement.
 4MATIC AND ETS
The earlier 4MATICs use hydraulics to engage the This means two wheels, one on each axle, have to
clutches, as we’ll see. slip simultaneously for the vehicle’s motion to stop.
There are also true locking differentials using slid- Such four-wheel-drive will, however, represent a sig-
ing-dog clutches, but these engage with an immedi- nificant traction improvement over plain-vanilla
ate, heavy clank, a force reminiscent of excavation or two-wheel-drive. After all, it means at least a dou-
railroad equipment, an engagement force that would bling of traction, and usually more than that, assum-
be quite unwelcome in a sedan. With an earthmov- ing somewhat different traction at each wheel. Just
ing implement, this doesn’t matter since the grind- as two-wheel-drive through an open differential real-
ing earth moves under the tire lugs and since nei- ly means one-wheel-drive, four-wheel-drive through
ther driving comfort nor speed was a priority, any- two open differentials really means two-wheel-drive.
way. With a sedan, that’s out of the question. On a That’s more traction, but it doesn’t use all the trac-
vehicle driving mostly on hard pavement, you don’t tion available.
want a truly locking differential, not only because A four-wheel-drive system that locks the front and
that would abrade the tires with lower load quickly, rear axles together still has the problem that one axle
but also because it would mean one or the other tire or the other must slip in every turn, because the front
on an axle would have to slide in every turn, actual- wheels will invariably follow a track along a smaller
ly reducing traction even under what should have radius and shorter path than the rears. A long time
been ideal pavement conditions. ago, I had an ancient Jeep that never really got stuck,
but took every turn with unpredictable directional
Torque through the Transfer Case excitement anytime four-wheel-drive was engaged.
You could never tell whether the front or the rear
The earliest four-wheel-drive systems simply used axle would slide loose sideways first – that depended
a second driveshaft from a transfer case to the front on everything from the load to the quality of the grav-
axle differential, where another open dif- el on the road. And your corrective maneuver had to
ferential did its torque- wait until the slip was clearly under-
splitting work. The way, because you turned the
same ‘less-trac- steering wheel in opposite
tion’ limitation d i r e c t i o n s to r e c ove r
still applies, depending on which axle
but with this slid. Excitement, as I said.
advantage: The The obvious manufactur-
average speed ing fix is to include an
of the front interaxle differential, which
wheels would, all modern four-wheel-drives
by solid do. You can’t just add a center
mechanical differential and let it go at that,
linkage, move at however, or you’re back with
exactly the same your original problem:
speed as the All the torque goes to
average speed of the first wheel
the rears (“aver- that slips, and the
age” because each ve h i c l e sto p s
w h e e l o n e a ch there. Four-
a x l e c a n st i l l wheel-drive
move at a differ- with three open
ent speed from differentials
its opposite num- becomes, in the
ber, but each axle’s differen- extreme, one-
tial ring gear turns at exactly the wheel-drive again.
same speed as the other axle’s).

The transfer case can engage two-wheel-drive only, four-wheel-drive or four-wheel-locked. In the last case, front and
rear axles turn at the same speed.
08
4MATIC Progressive Locks s u p plementary front drivetrain and the transfer
case, but also a detailed hydraulic system, from
So the Mercedes-Benz 4MATIC system employs pump to actuator pistons, to actuate the various dif-
‘locked’ four-wheel-drive when the various sensors ferential locks that come into play under conditions
indicate the need for the additional traction, but not we’ll discuss in a minute. ETS, the new 4MATIC sys-
under normal driving conditions when ordinary two- tem employing 4ETS, in contrast, works mainly elec-
wheel-drive through the open rear differential is suf- tronically (thus the ‘Wire’ of our subtitle), with the
ficient to conduct all the forward drive moment the control unit activating specific wheel brakes to keep
engine can deliver to the wheels, and not under the wheel with the least traction from spinning. ETS
those special driving conditions when – paradoxi- works specifically with two-wheel-drive cars; 4ETS
cally – a locked four-wheel- drive could make a low- applies to those with a front driveaxle. Somewhat
traction condition worse. confusingly, 4ETS is also called 4MATIC.
Perhaps the most important such contrary condi- Here are the progressive steps 4MATIC
tion occurs during hard-braked, ABS-pulsed stops, employs when the wheelspeed sensors and the
particularly in turns. If four-wheel-drive were still steering wheel sensor information point to drive-
engaged under those conditions, it would be possible wheel spin: Driving along an ordinary road with
for the interconnected drivelines either to mask a good traction and no wheelspin, the car works by
wheel’s slip from the sensor’s report and thus block ordinary two-wheel-drive with an open differen-
the control unit’s recognition and countermeasures, tial at the rear drivewheels. This provides the
or to force a wheel with limited traction to turn at the best combination of drive and directional traction
same speed as the others (this last is most noticeable in the absence of a problem.
during a steep turn or rapid steering changes, The older hydraulic system provides open-dif-
when wheelspeed varies at the different ferential two-wheel-drive because the multi-
wheels because each follows a path with disk clutch pack for the center differential lock
a different turning radius and differ- is spring loaded closed, that is,
ent length (and thus, a different engaged. This couples the input
speed). To accommodate turns, one shaft from the transmission to
of the inputs to the 4MATIC control the transfer case planetary car-
unit is a steering wheel angle sen- rier, splined directly to the dri-
sor, similar but not identical to or veshaft for the rear axle. This is
interchangeable with the one used the fail-safe mode of the system,
with ASR, ESP and ETS. insuring rear-axle two-wheel-
The greater the steering wheel drive regardless of any electri-
angle, the larger the speed difference cal or hydraulic fault in the
the system allows mechanism.
between the wheels.
4 M AT I C i s t h e
‘most mechanical’
(thus the ‘Pipe’ of our
subtitle) of the
Mercedes-Benz trac-
tion control systems,
because it involves
not only all the steel
s h a f t s a n d ge a r -
works of the

The system works hydraulically, but it’s also internally lubricated with oil. If the seals on the multidisk clutch pis-
tons start to leak, the hydraulic oil can fill the transfer case and begin to run from the vent. The loss of hydraulic
fluid would be obvious long before that.
09
 4MATIC AND ETS

When the sensors indicate the rear drivewheels

are turning faster than the front wheels, at a thresh-
old determined by the control unit as wheelslip, the
system switches over to its first shift stage, ‘compen-
sated’ four-wheel-drive. ‘Compensated’ four-wheel-
drive is neither an open differential nor one that’s
locked. Instead, the geometry of the transfer case
gears routes 65 percent of the torque to the rear axle
and 35 percent to the front. This allows all four
wheels to turn at different speeds, but within plau-
sible constraints of how much traction they might
have and how much drive torque they can absorb.
The system selects this stage by applying hydraulic
pressure to both the clutch packs in the transfer
case, unloading the spring-loaded center differential
lock and engaging the front axle drive clutch.
The third stage, the second shift stage, locks the
interaxle differential by releasing hydraulic pres-
sure to its clutch (allowing the spring to lock it)
while maintaining engagement pressure to the front
axle clutch. Now we have traction similar to that old
Jeep – it won’t get stuck easily, but a steep turn could
be a problem, were it not for the steering angle sen-
sor, which would signal time to return to the previ-
ous shift stage. To prevent engine surge, the system
briefly engages this stage every time, releasing the
center lock shortly thereafter.
The fourth stage, the third shift stage, adds the
lock for the rear differential, preventing those drive-
wheels from turning at significantly different
speeds. There is no differential lock on the front axle
differential because that could cause a steering
problem. Better that a driver gets temporarily stuck
than temporarily loses steering.
Since the disks don’t mechanically lock, there is
still enough difference of speed between the half-
shafts to accommodate the difference of speeds in
ordinary maneuvers and turns. The system ‘locks’
with a substantial but not excessive resistance to
turning at different speeds. There is, in fact, a test
you perform with a torque wrench to check the fric-
tional force of the hydraulic ‘lock.’ Specifications
vary by model, largely reflecting the weight of the
car and its consequent traction. Like any test involv-
ing a live drivetrain on a hoist with the engine run-
ning, this requires considerable attention to the cor-
rect procedures to prevent an accident.
There are three differentials involved in 4MATIC:
the familiar one in the pumpkin case at the center of
the rear axle, a similar one in front sharing a hous-
ing with the oilpan, and a sun-and-planetary design
The transmission for 4MATIC is identical to the in the transfer case connecting the front and rear dri-
transmission for the car without that option, how- veshafts. There is no locking clutch in the front axle
ever the 4MATIC version includes a ring gear and differential, because locking the steering wheels
10 flange on the output shaft of the gearbox. together would destabilize the car during turns. The
locking clutch in the rear axle differential is essen-
 sions. The reason for using a Ravineaux gearset is
that the geometry allows the sun and ring gears to
turn in the same direction. The relative sizes of the
sun and planetary gears determine the torque split
front to rear when the center lock is disengaged.
Notice this may mean there is still no usable trac-
tion. It is much less likely that traction conditions
will be so poor that none of the wheels will have suf-
ficient traction to move the car, but that is possible.
We can all imagine (and some of us who live in the
North have experienced!) conditions under which
this is just what happens – all the wheels spin, but
the car still can’t move. Like all the traction-control
systems, 4MATIC is limited to working in the real
world with real-world physical limitations. It works
very well, but not magically.

Working with 4MATIC

It seems odd to see front-drive components on a

Mercedes-Benz, but that’s what comes (in addi-
tion, obviously, to the rear drivetrain) with The 4MATIC hydraulic pump is actually two
4MATIC. The front differential shares the oilpan pumps, the first for the power steering. The same
metal housing. hydraulics also serve the hydropneumatic sus-
pension system, if the car includes that.
tially the same mechanism familiar from ASD, which
we discussed in an earlier issue. Notice each of these Here are some service points when working on a
differentials is necessary for all but the most primi- 4MATIC car. As with any hydraulic system, air bub-
tive of four-wheel-drive systems. And the Mercedes- bles and leaks sometimes occur. You can often flush
Benz system is far from the most primitive. air through the system by merely toggling the serv-
The interaxle differential does not look much like a ice valve forward to the test position and running the
differential, but here’s how it works. The transmis- engine. This opens the circuits and lets the oil flow.
sion for a 4MATIC car is the same as for the others, If there is still air in the system, you can vent it from
but the tailshaft ends in a ring gear shell rather than the caps on the rear differential pistons and by loos-
the output shaft and three-lobed driveflange that ening the hydraulic lines at the transfer case until
couples to the driveshaft through the flexible rubber the oil flows clear – usually only a few seconds. By
joint (the ‘Gobbo’ joint). The internal teeth of that anecdote, the most common part requiring replace-
output ring gear shell engage what initially appear to ment is the pump, but this is probably because the
be the planetary gears on a carrier. Closer inspection, pump is the high point in the system and loses lubri-
however, reveals a second set of planetary idlers driv- cation first if there’s a leak. This tandem pump
en by the first set, and these second gears engage the forms a unit with the power steering system and also
sun gear at the center. provides hydraulic pressure for any vehicle with
This arrangement of sets of planetary idlers on the hydropneumatic suspension.
carrier is called a “Ravineaux gearset,” and grizzled The accumulator, a compressed nitrogen chamber
StarTuned readers long on the job may recall that was atop the hydraulic control unit, includes a diaphragm
the central gearset of the two-speed automatic trans- to separate gas from oil. If that diaphragm eventually 11
missions long used in domestic automatic transmis- Continued on Page 14
 4MATIC AND ETS

Shift Modes

The earlier, hydraulic 4MATIC works through the axle; and there are three multidisk clutches: two in
transfer case and rear differential, so it is worth- the transfer case and one in the rear axle. Here’s
while seeing exactly what happens when the system how they sequentially engage as traction conditions
functions normally. There are three differentials: in require (reflected in the sensor input information):
the rear axle, in the transfer case and in the front

Most of the 4MATIC engagement work occurs

in the transfer case, the
gearbox that delivers
torque from the transmis-
sion output shaft’s ring
gear to the front and
r e a r d i f fe r e n t i a l s .
Initial drive torque is
100 percent to the
rear axle, switching
to 35/65 front/rear
or 50/50 front/rear,
as calculated by the
electronic control
unit from the wheel-
speed and steering-
wheel-angle sensors.
The final shift mode
engages the interaxle
(transfer case) differential
at 50/50 and, as needed,
locks the rear differential.

First Stage
Normally, the 4MATIC car runs
under the same two-wheel-drive
as every other
Mercedes-Benz.
Engine output
torque through
the transmis-
sion twists t h r o u g h t h e
transfer case to the rear-axle
output s h a f t . T h e front multi-
disk clutch engages through its
preload springs. The rear multi-
disk clutch (to the front axle drive) remains dis-
engaged. Keep a 4MATIC car on good, dry pave-
ment and don’t nail the pedal to the floor, and
this could be the constant shift mode of the sys-
12 tem for many thousands of miles.
Second Stage
of the gear wheels in the transfer case’s Ravineaux
If the wheelspeed sensors report a difference gearset. Except for the momentary pause to confirm
between rear drivewheels and fronts beyond a cer- engagement of the rear multidisk clutch before the
tain threshold (a somewhat flexible threshold front releases, all three of the car’s differentials are
depending on the steering angle sensor input as well open at this point, and you have drive to both axles.
as the vehicle speed), the first traction-control meas-
ure is to engage the front axle drive. The system Third Stage
does this by engaging the multidisk clutch at the If there is a difference in wheelspeed from front
rear of the transfer case. Once this clutch engages to back even with the compensated four-wheel-drive
securely, the system then immediately disengages engaged, the system locks the center differential.
the spring-loaded front transfer-case clutch. A check The mechanism for doing so is to vent the pressure
valve and fixed orifice preclude disengagement of at the front multidisk clutch, allowing the spring to
the front should the rear engagement fail – to insure re-engage it. Once both transfer case multidisk
the vehicle can still drive with at least rear-axle two- clutches engage – the rear by pressure applied, the
wheel-drive under all circumstances, as well as to front by pressure released – both output shafts
prevent engine overspeed. rotate exactly together. As explained, this improves
This shift mode is called “compensated four- traction as long as the vehicle moves in a straight
wheel-drive” because the torque to the wheels falls line, but can be a problem in a turn. However,
into a 35/65 front/rear proportion as a geometric 4MATIC includes the steering wheel sensor, so that
consequence of the relative sizes and configurations problem should not occur.

Fourth Stage modes, the system locks the rear axle to make its
wheels turn at the same speed. This final state of
The front differential is a permanently open dif- the 4MATIC system has both rear wheels turning
ferential because otherwise there might be a prob- exactly together and the front wheels turning an
lem with steering. The rear differential is usually average speed exactly equal to the rears. Only if all
open, but if there is still a difference in drivewheel these measures are insufficient will the driver have 13
speed, after all the corrections of the previous shift to call for help.
 4MATIC AND ETS
Continued from Page 11

leaks, the accumulator can cease priming hydraulic Traction by Wire

components and can allow the system to make peri-
odic ‘water-hammer’ clunks as the pump cycles. If ETS and its multi-axle analog, 4ETS, are simpler,
the noise goes away with the service valve in the test electronic variants of ASD and the earlier hydraulic
position, suspect the accumulator. 4MATIC. The simplification comes from the absence
A mechanical problem that may set you to scratch- of the hydraulic distributor-lockup components
ing your head comes if you remove the front drive- involved in ASD and 4MATIC. Don’t be misled, how-
shaft. With the rear driveshaft, you can bend it in ever, there is still plenty of hydraulic work afoot –
the middle at the center bearing to shorten it and but through the brake system. Instead of controlling
remove it from the car. But there is no joint in the wheelslip by locking one or more differentials, ETS
short front driveshaft. Instead, you pull back the selectively actuates the brake on whichever drive-
rubber boot at the front, loosen the locking cap and wheel slips. Not all ETS cars have four-wheel-drive,
slide back the splined coupling. Pay close attention but those that do employ plain open differentials all
to centering the shaft in the flexible joints on around, counting the unclutched sun-and-planetary
reassembly, or you could have a running noise that in the ETS transfer case as plain and open.
will be very hard to diagnose. Match-marking the Such traction increase must obviously toggle on
parts with chalk or paint is a reasonable precaution. and off very rapidly, as fast as the driving conditions

change. This is possible only with a digitally con-

trolled automatic system, one that works directly from
sensor inputs rather than just from driver controls.
The driver, after all, has many other tasks to perform.
Like ASD, this could mean there would still be dri-
vewheel slip if there were more delivered engine
torque than the available traction could employ. In
such a case, both drivewheels would slip, not just
the one; but a driver with any level of awareness of
driving dynamics should have noticed the problem
and lightened his foot. To encourage development of
this awareness, the instrument panel includes a
warning lamp that the system is at work retaining
traction, and that the driver should accommodate
his expectations to the physics of the available
wheelpatch-to-pavement friction.
ETS works in ways quite familiar to people who
know ABS, ASR and ESP. Preventing drivewheel
spin by applying the wheelbrake, in fact, could be
marginally more effective than locking a differential,
since the system could control all four wheels at dif-
ferent speeds effectively. With the open front differ-
14 ential, the older, hydraulic 4MATIC cannot do that.
Off road,MoreOffroad and Way Offroad!
Four-wheel-drive for vehicles that mostly remain on paved
roads serves a different purpose from four-wheel-drive for trac-
tor-lug wilderness explorers. Just as with the other traction-con-
trol systems, this one increases the effective use of the limited
traction to help maintain optimized control for the driver, even
under circumstances of unexpectedly slippery surfaces or other
such control risks. Cars driving on pavement have different, but
not less serious need for traction controls. They may not be
called upon to climb over a fallen log or obstructing boulder, but
they may have to deal with a pothole, a patch of black ice and a
graveled surface, all within a fraction of a second and at different
wheels. The drive traction enhancement is similar, but for quite
different purposes.
4MATIC and 4ETS cars are the subject of our major feature
this issue, but four-wheel-drive is nothing new to Mercedes-Benz. While these cars can drive on unimproved
roads and even briefly on relatively smooth fields, the company builds other four-wheel-drive vehicles more
suited to greater distances from the pavement.
No doubt, you’re familiar with the M-class Mercedes-Benz,
Stuttgart’s entry into the SUV market. It actually hails from
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but it’s still a Benz. We plan to carry fea-
tures covering the M-class in upcoming issues of StarTuned.
A bit more rugged and a bit
more suited to offroad travel is
the Geländewagen. While this
is an established design (the
bulletproof 'Popemobile' has
been around for years), the
carmaker has been importing
them to the USA since 2000 so
you should be seeing them in
your workbay.
Finally, and most gnarly of
all, is the Unimog. Probably
the most capable offroad vehi-
cle on wheels, if you can’t get somewhere in a Unimog, you should probably
reconsider whether you really want to go there. When somebody with a
Monster-Mudder truck gets buried in the muck, he has to find a helper to
come with a Unimog. When
somebody with a Unimog gets
mired, he has to find someone
who can come help with a
vehicle that clanks along on
its steel tracks. There are vari-
ous sizes and types of
Unimog, from about the size of
a pickup to a match for a quar-
ry truck. ‘Mogs have been
imported in small numbers for many years, often used for
heavy construction, railroad switch engines, expedition moth-
er vehicles or, equipped with some of the huge variety of spe-
cial-purpose implements (even snorkels – really!), doing
everything from digging ditches, plowing snow and blasting

15
out rain sewers to cutting weeds and planting telephone poles. If you want to learn more about Unimogs, let
us know. We would, too!