All the four-wheeled vehicles primarily covered by the RC cars and the trucks have two type of drive variations. They are either two-wheel-drives (2wd) or four-wheel-drives (4wd).
Let’s try and understand what they mean and what their advantages and limitations.
Two-wheel drives
Two-wheel drive is the simpler version where only two of the four wheels are supplied power or driven by the power source such as the motor. The other pair of wheels is only to support the vehicle and to provide direction perhaps. These models are generally popular among starters as they are much simpler to build, assemble and use. You can control a two-wheel-drive (2wd) car or truck with limited controls and don’t need an expert to do that. Therefore, the two-wheel-drive vehicles are perfect for kids, beginners and occasional enthusiasts. These designs have limited capability as compared to their more complex version i.e. the four-wheel-drive vehicles. Accordingly, they may only be successful in limited applications and not suitable for some of the most critical sports like dirt racing, rocky terrains etc. due to their limited power, wheeling problems and limited control.
Four-wheel-drives
In a four-wheel-drive vehicle, all the four wheels are driven by power source such as a motor. Though, this definitely adds lot more control points to the working of a four wheel drive RC vehicle, it adds immensely to its capabilities and potential performance. The first clear advantage is getting a boost in power which actually gets more than doubled by providing power to all the four wheels. The four-wheel-driven RC vehicles become capable of crossing almost all type of obstacles, treading almost any type of terrain and facing the toughest of heat. They are highly durable and capable of jumping over the rules and make their own ones. But as we all know that with great power comes great it is quite a task to control these monsters. Not only two more controls are added to the remote control console, two more drives add a lot of dynamics, criticalities and instabilities to the functioning of the four-wheel-drive vehicles. Therefore, you require real skill to handle this responsibility. Also, to realize all these capabilities, you will use these machines in most difficult of the conditions. Therefore, you have to be aware and experienced of all possible problems that you can face and how to handle them. These big guys are definitely for professionals as this is no child’s play.