OK a bunch of misconceptions here;
AWD each wheel has a power connection, depending on the manufacture and the awd system there may be some sophisticated torque management control or a viscous fluid coupling.
Some will advertise a certain torque split in the front to rear some do not, some may have a different limited slip many do not and instead realy on the vehicles abs system to provide a traction or torque equalization factor.
4x4 can manifest itself in many forms;
the main ones would be full time and part time.
Then these can have many configurations.
The old (70's) full time had most commonly Hi Lock, Hi, Neutral, Lo, Lo Lock modes,
there were also a couple of viscus coupling transfer case which attempted to continuously vary the amount of slip between the front and read drives, some of those also had a mechanical lock to over ride the viscous coupling.
Then there are the old style conventional 4wd systems with a gear or chain driven transfer case which is shifted from 2 to 4 wheel drive normally there can be other configurations such as 6x6 or 8x8 when you start getting multiple driven axles on each end of a vehicle.
These would normally send power to the rear axles until shifted into 4wd at which time all axles are powered. These can be controlled manually with a shifter could be just 2wd or 4wd, could have low 4wd, hi 4wd and hi 2wd.
Or you could have multiple shifters to select front or rear drive or both, then one for hi or low.
They can be electrically controlled normally Hi or lo 2 or 4wd.
Then they started throwing in an Auto 4wd there are several variations and I'm not familiar with them all.
The RAM one uses an electronic clutch which sends a varying voltage signal to the clutch to engage the front axle.
This will start to bring power to the front axle then in the 44-44 transfer case once it has at least partially engaged the electronic clutch when the rear output shaft speed exceeds the front output shaft speed the torque applied to the rear shaft will start to drive a ball on a ramp configuration in the transfer case on the clutch pack to increase the ability of the clutch to handle a load by increasing the clamping force on the pack. The electronic part of the clutch can not hold the torque available without the applied pressure from the ball and ramp that is part of the reason why that system always has some rear slip before it engages.
When the RAM system is in Auto 4wd it engages the front axle disconnect so that the entire front axle is ready for power, when the computor decides that you need some front wheel assist it will send a voltage signal to the clutch which will vary in amplitude from several inputs including steering turn angle and perceived slip from the tires which will start the clutch pack to engaging and providing a minimal amount of front wheel assit as the output shaft differential increases the ball ramp will use the torque from the rear to try and apply more clamping force to the clutch pack in an effort to provide 4wd lockup.
This very similar to the so called lock mode which also does the same in that it engages the front axle disconnect and applies a voltage to the clutch it supposedly applies more voltage faster supposedly.
The overide wiring kits that are avilible applied a full 12 volts immediately which did result in a much faster and firmer front axle engagement, even though it is not a full 100% lock as a mechanical system will do.
The better the available rear traction the more torque the front axle will receive, which is the downfall of the system if the rear drive has not or very low traction it will not develpoe the torque to apply the force to drive the ball and ramp to allow the clutch to handle a high torque load.
Enjoy and have a good day
I will be shopping for another car soon ,And I was thinking AWD to sit next to my RAM 4x4 lol
