davekp Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 Just purchased a 2020 Gear Up. The salesman said to use 2 wheel drive on pavement but the owner's manual say use 1 wheel drive except on sand or gravel. What's the concensus? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott E Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 On 2WD Ural motorcycles when you engage 2 wheel drive with the lever you are locking both wheels together. You will have steering problems if you do that on pavement because both tires are firmly gripping the pavement surface. This causes the bike to go straight and makes turning very difficult because one or the other tire must lose traction in order to steer. That also puts a lot of undue pressure on the drive system. I would suggest never engaging 2 wheel drive unless you are on a lose surface where one or the other tires can easily lose traction, such as sand or gravel. Dnepr 2 wheel drive motorcycles such as the MT-16 use a different system known as split torque. There is no control to engage or disengage it. The way it works is there is an additional gear box on the sidecar wheel so the reduction gear ratio is lower than the motorcycles rear wheel. There is a freewheel on the input of that sidecar reduction gear that remains unlocked so long as the motorcycle tire is gripping the surface. When the motorcycles tire losses traction and starts slipping the sidecar freewheel automatically locks up and starts driving the sidecar tire with additional toque due to the lower gear ratio of the sidecar gear box. When the motorcycle tire stops slipping it over runs the sidecar gear box and so the freewheel unlocks automatically so you are back to single wheel drive. I added this description because some people think there is no difference between the Ural and Dnepr sidecar wheel drive systems and so they will tell you it's OK to engage 2 wheel drive on a Ural on a hard surface because 2 wheel drive is always engaged on Dnepr motorcycles with a split torque 2 wheel drive system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooden Nickel Posted February 11 Report Share Posted February 11 Davekp, If you are in Central and need information from a reliable dealer, call Gene or Kenny at Holopaw Ural. Either there was a misunderstanding or your dealer doesn't know diddly about Urals. I've only owned 1 WD Urals and still my first dealer explained the 2 WD system quirks to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott E Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 16 hours ago, Wooden Nickel said: Davekp, If you are in Central and need information from a reliable dealer, call Gene or Kenny at Holopaw Ural. Either there was a misunderstanding or your dealer doesn't know diddly about Urals. I've only owned 1 WD Urals and still my first dealer explained the 2 WD system quirks to me. I kind of get the feeling the salesman knows nothing about Ural motorcycles. It's possible that Ural was a trade in and as you say knows nothing about it other than it has 2 wheel drive. I'm too old now to go off road so if I were purchasing a Ural it would be a CT single wheel drive model. If I ran across a used gear-up 2 wheel drive Ural at a very good price I would buy it but might never engage the differential lock lever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooden Nickel Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Scott, When I had my first Ural, a Tourist, and my wife was still alive, I had her out with me in ruts so deep that I got stuck on a steep downhill. I mentioned to her that Ural also made 2 WD bikes. She said, "Why on earth would you want to go on worse roads than this?" That said, there were times when I lived in Central Florida that I might have had more confidence on sandy forest roads or the beach. There is also a chance that not having the 2 WD option kept me from doing stupid things. 😌 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davekp Posted February 12 Author Report Share Posted February 12 Maybe I just misunderstood the salesman. Anyway, what you guys say makes more sense. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilge Keel Dave Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 The Dnepr MT-16 drive is just a simple differential, no free wheel, no lock up, it is a full time two wheel drive. There are two sun gears, one on the differential that is located in the bike's final drive, the other is on the sidecar. The cardan shaft from the differential to the sidecar turns twice the wheel speed in reverse direction from the wheels, This is to reduce the torque through the cardan shaft and universal joints, so that they will not be damaged when the sidecar wheel slams onto the ground after flying the chair, it is a very robust system. A locker system is available for the MT-16 drive, there is even a boss cast into the top of the differential housing for the locker lever. Oldtimer Garage in Poland sells the kit for Dneprs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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