[color:"purple"]I was wondering if our 95 Sportage has any type of limited slip in the rear? Driving in the snow the last couple days it seems the rear is always wanting to slide towards the ditch, which is downhill on the road.
We went to Estes Friday and I had to put it in 4 wheel drive just to go down the street straight.
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Lift Both rear weels so that they can turn freely. tyrn one of them ex. like when the truk mooves forward. the other should do the same meening like the truck moves forward. if it goes the opposite you dont have it.

LSD was an "off the lot" option on U.S. 1995 Sportages but from the condition you describe it sounds like your Sportage doesn't have it. I would expect it to track fairly straight if it had LSD. But sounds like it doesn't, and my '98 without LSD would do the same thing as yours.

After about 1997 or so LSD wasn't available in the U.S./Canada as a factory installed option. You had to purchase the LSD unit and then have it installed. But it appears that in most of the rest of the world LSD is real common in Sportages.

[color:"purple"]I just thought without any type of LSD when you spin on snow one tire will spin and that will keep you going straight. I know in the Explorer with the no-slip locker when it spins it always wants to go downhill.
I have to say in snow that isn't very deep like after they plow the street the Kia doesn't do well at all in 2-wheel drive. It feels like it's really light in the rear and heavy in front. This is really our first snow since last year we only got one good snow, but it was deep enough I used 4-wheel drive right out of the driveway. [/color]

what you're describing is just a trait of both wheels either having traction or both wheels not having traction. if both have the same amount of some traction, you will get the same effect too. say they are slipping, but gripping about 50%. as long as they are doing the same on both sides, it will act as if the diff is locked becuase both right and left sides will be getting the same amount of power. if one side gets a little more traction and the other side slips a little more, and you gun it, you will know if you have an LSD because it will keep doing the equal slipping thing on both sides. but yeah, the only way to test it is to lift the rear axle up, both tires, in neutral, with no parking brake, chocked front tires and spin one rear tire. if the other rear tire spins the same way, you have it, if it don't, you don't. or, you could take the diff out and look inside. if you have side and spider gears, you don't have an LSD, if you have a big shiny cylinder, you do.

You could always drain the oil and use a probe/finger to feel the shape of the diff, or possibly look at it with a torch.

Gary, torch = flashlight, correct? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Why not just shift back and forth between 2H and 4H on the fly as required? As long as your mechanical hubs are initially locked in with a movement from a stop in 4H you can do that. If you see a patch of snow...go into 4H, once past it, go back into 2H. As long as you don't back up in 2H your mechanical hubs will remain locked in.

BTW...Estes Park is a pretty town. Been there several times but not in the Winter.

Sorry about that, you are correct. I didnt have my "Americanizer" switched on in my head.

Cute. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> At least you weren't switched to "Frenchizer".

Le burnt out = flashlight. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/butwiggle.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />