Author Topic: 4 wheel drive badges (Read 16017 times)

vangremlin · « **on:** March 15, 2011, 12:23:41 AM »

I guess I'm showing my Eagle ignorance here, but until today I did not realize there was a difference in the 80-83 and 84-88 4 Wheel Drive badges that are on our Eagles. I went to get some new badges for Pepe, and American Parts Depot had them for 84-88 but not the earlier years. I figured the only difference was that they stuck on instead of using posts, but found out they used the AMC font for the later years, and I'm assuming they are also plastic. I decided to clean up and reuse my originals, which are metal, have posts, and use the Eagle style font. Who knew lol?

shanebo · « **Reply #1 on:** March 15, 2011, 12:46:31 AM »

Some said automatic four wheel drive instead of just four wheel drive on the badge too Ive noticed...was that after they switched to on the fly...Now Im curious about these badges

maddog · « **Reply #2 on:** March 15, 2011, 12:51:58 AM »

no the automatic4wheeldrive was on all wheel drives only i do believe.

83Eagle! · « **Reply #3 on:** March 15, 2011, 12:56:45 AM »

I never noticed a difference. Interesting.

IowaEagle · « **Reply #4 on:** March 15, 2011, 06:12:08 AM »

Automatic4WD was used on all 1980 models and all '81's with the NP 119 transfer case.

maddog · « **Reply #5 on:** March 15, 2011, 12:37:46 PM »

Quote from: IowaEagle on March 15, 2011, 06:12:08 AM

Automatic4WD was used on all 1980 models and all '81's with the NP 119 transfer case.

just like i thought they were only on the AWD's.

JayRamb · « **Reply #6 on:** March 15, 2011, 01:22:10 PM »

From 1981 to 1984, the badging was metal and the scripting was different for '4 Wheel Drive'. The 'W' & 'D' were both capitalized and metal badging.

From 1985 to 1988, the badging was plastic and the scripting was different as well. It read '4 wheel drive'. The 'w' & 'd' were lower cased as well as being plastic. Some think it was the difference of being true 'shift on the fly' without the pull down and vehicle not being stopped. As well as having the power bulge hood and 100% being built in Brampton.

mudkicker715 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 15, 2011, 01:29:39 PM »

Jayramb I noticed that as I have painted both an 84 and 87 in the past few years.

JayRamb · « **Reply #8 on:** March 15, 2011, 01:32:05 PM »

Quote from: mudkicker715 on March 15, 2011, 01:29:39 PM

Jayramb I noticed that as I have painted both an 84 and 87 in the past few years.

I noticed it on my 84 and 87 Eagles too, plus researched it.

IowaEagle · « **Reply #9 on:** March 15, 2011, 01:50:47 PM »

I think this is a new tidbit we did not have verified before. It was news to me regarding the later years.

mudkicker715 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 15, 2011, 02:08:13 PM »

Black 87

Blue 84

IowaEagle · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2011, 02:10:32 PM »

Looks like AMC saved some money there.

mudkicker715 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 15, 2011, 02:13:38 PM »

No it had plastic cladding at one time. Off roading even lightly would wreck it

83Eagle! · « **Reply #13 on:** March 15, 2011, 04:11:32 PM »

Mudkicker thanks for posting that comparison. I have never noticed that before. Of course at the Omaha meet a majority of the Eagles in attendance were 83's, so I likely would not have noticed something like that.

mudkicker715 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 15, 2011, 04:15:49 PM »

Not a wow a capitol m haha. I feel special.

Actually just wanted to clarify for ie.

thereverendbill · « **Reply #15 on:** March 15, 2011, 05:02:53 PM »

so an 81 kammback would have what badges?

amc78concord · « **Reply #16 on:** March 15, 2011, 06:00:11 PM »

Quote from: thereverendbill on March 15, 2011, 05:02:53 PM

so an 81 kammback would have what badges?

I believe it would only have a "4 Wheel Drive" badge. Because my friend's '81 SX/4 is full time 4 wheel, and it has the "4 Wheel Drive" badge instead of "Automatic 4 Wheel Drive." So this leads me to believe that only wagons who were full time 4 wheel had the special "Automatic 4 Wheel Drive," and all "special" Eagle body styles (Kammback, SX/4, etc...) had the regular badges.

vangremlin · « **Reply #17 on:** March 15, 2011, 09:42:15 PM »

Quote from: JayRamb on March 15, 2011, 01:22:10 PM

From 1981 to 1984, the badging was metal and the scripting was different for '4 Wheel Drive'. The 'W' & 'D' were both capitalized and metal badging.

From 1985 to 1988, the badging was plastic and the scripting was different as well. It read '4 wheel drive'. The 'w' & 'd' were lower cased as well as being plastic. Some think it was the difference of being true 'shift on the fly' without the pull down and vehicle not being stopped. As well as having the power bulge hood and 100% being built in Brampton.

Yes, the 81-84 used the Eagle type scripting or fonts. The later years use the AMC scripting.

vangremlin · « **Reply #18 on:** March 15, 2011, 10:05:38 PM »

Here is a picture of the 4 Wheel Drive badges off Pepe, which I repainted. More pictures in the Pepe's Paint Job thread.

rollguy · « **Reply #19 on:** March 15, 2011, 11:05:33 PM »

I think the later style was carried over to the Cherokees as well (plastic, all lower case).

shanebo · « **Reply #20 on:** March 15, 2011, 11:26:31 PM »

I never knew that about the badging...Thats pretty darn cool!

doneagle · « **Reply #21 on:** March 16, 2011, 11:04:10 AM »

HI that is news to me .see you can learn some thing new every day..and if you don't it is a wasted day............Don

IowaEagle · « **Reply #22 on:** March 16, 2011, 09:02:32 PM »

Quote from: teneagle on March 16, 2011, 11:04:10 AM

HI that is news to me .see you can learn some thing new every day..and if you don't it is a wasted day............Don

Well said Don. Unfortunately, it seems like I have to delete something to add new info.

doneagle · « **Reply #23 on:** March 16, 2011, 09:45:45 PM »

Quote from: IowaEagle on March 16, 2011, 09:02:32 PM

Quote from: teneagle on March 16, 2011, 11:04:10 AM
HI that is news to me .see you can learn some thing new every day..and if you don't it is a wasted day............Don

Well said Don. Unfortunately, it seems like I have to delete something to add new info.

HI Are you telling me that your hard drive is not up to modern standers..................Don

shanebo · « **Reply #24 on:** March 17, 2011, 12:03:51 AM »

Im trying to retain all this...I hope one day to be an Eagle trivia master....evidently I have a long way to go

doneagle · « **Reply #25 on:** March 17, 2011, 12:10:15 PM »

you are in the right place

IowaEagle · « **Reply #26 on:** March 17, 2011, 08:42:47 PM »

....... and the learning never stops!

shanebo · « **Reply #27 on:** March 17, 2011, 11:11:53 PM »

Just in the few months Ive been on the nest my Eagle knowlede has grown 10 fold!!

83Eagle! · « **Reply #28 on:** March 17, 2011, 11:20:31 PM »

Quote from: shanebo on March 17, 2011, 11:11:53 PM

Just in the few months Ive been on the nest my Eagle knowlede has grown 10 fold!!

I think that is what happens to us all. I know it did for me. I learn something new nearly daily on here.

AMCKen · « **Reply #29 on:** March 18, 2011, 12:24:11 AM »

Quote from: amc78concord on March 15, 2011, 06:00:11 PM

Quote from: thereverendbill on March 15, 2011, 05:02:53 PM
so an 81 kammback would have what badges?
I believe it would only have a "4 Wheel Drive" badge. Because my friend's '81 SX/4 is full time 4 wheel, and it has the "4 Wheel Drive" badge instead of "Automatic 4 Wheel Drive." So this leads me to believe that only wagons who were full time 4 wheel had the special "Automatic 4 Wheel Drive," and all "special" Eagle body styles (Kammback, SX/4, etc...) had the regular badges.

My 81 SX4 with automatic and non-switchable says "4 Wheel Drive".

IowaEagle · « **Reply #30 on:** March 18, 2011, 06:21:59 AM »

I wonder if AMC did that in '81 with some models???

shanebo · « **Reply #31 on:** March 19, 2011, 12:56:03 AM »

A mid year change maybe?

IowaEagle · « **Reply #32 on:** March 19, 2011, 08:58:00 PM »

Select shift came out later in the '81 model year. The early 1981 model year brochures don't even mention it. But, looking closely at the cars in the pictures you can see the "4 Wheel Drive" emblem already on the cars, so it appears they started using them at the beginning of the '81 model year. My brochure was printed in August of 1980 so its probably a very early one -- AMC must have rushed that one into print to include the newly hatched SX/4 and Kammback models.

thereverendbill · « **Reply #33 on:** March 20, 2011, 10:17:00 AM »

looks like I have some digging through boxes in my near future, hopefully before the kammback arrives home

El Matador · « **Reply #34 on:** March 21, 2011, 01:25:46 AM »

Based on my observations, the "Automatic 4WD" version is 1980 only.

1980 - "Automatic 4WD"
1981-84 - "4 wheel drive" version 1
1985-88 - "4 wheel drive" version 2

All emblems discussed above were metal (the "Eagle" emblems changed to plastic later on), and were pinned on through holes in the body up through 1984. Starting in 1985, the font was changed and the emblems were stuck on (as were all of the other emblems on the car except the B pillar Eagle heads). This "new" style wasn't actually new at all - it was previously used on early '80s full size Cherokees.

83Eagle! · « **Reply #35 on:** March 21, 2011, 01:30:33 AM »

Interesting.

IowaEagle · « **Reply #36 on:** March 21, 2011, 06:16:59 AM »

So AMC was being frugal and reused something they already had.

AMCKen · « **Reply #37 on:** March 21, 2011, 07:05:00 PM »

Quote from: IowaEagle on March 21, 2011, 06:16:59 AM

So AMC was being frugal and reused something they already had.

And it works for us as we can swap lotsa parts from many years. : )

doneagle · « **Reply #38 on:** March 21, 2011, 08:30:17 PM »

HI AMC has allways used and reused trying to save money for other models.........Don