I'm a believer in the idea that the only stupid question is the one not asked...
In that spirit, I was trying to educate my wife the other day on how to use the 4WD in order to drive in snow. She wants to take the truck and some girlfriends up to the mountain one weekend, but is scared to drive in snow and ice.
I was explaining not to lock the hubs if she is on the pavement, and how it could damage them, but she asked if she had it in 4WD but didn't lock the hubs, did it do anything? I couldn't answer.
I do it all the time, drive in 4WD but without locking the hubs on an icy road or somewhere I'm slipping, and it seems to help, but a friend said it can't be helping, that only locking the hubs makes the front wheels do anything. Which is true?
Most of my off-road driving experience is in tracked vehicles when I was in the army, I'm fairly new to owning a 4WD of my own...So I guess I'm a newb...We all start somewhere!

 

Wife and friend 1
You 0



:wabbit2:

 

This will interesting to hear some of the responses on this one...

 

4wd will give power to the front, through the driveshaft to the diff but the power is not transfered to the wheels until the hubs are in the "lock" position.

 

Did I pass

 

So by just putting it in 4WD none of that power is actually hitting the pavement...So really the two choices are 2WD or 4WD with the hubs locked?
My main concern is the road up to the ski hill where it is paved but has patches of ice...I don't want my wife to die by skidding off the road, but I also don't want her to ruin my truck by driving on bare pavement with locked hubs...Quite a quandry

 

If its not in 4wd and hubs are locked it won't hurt a thing on pavement

(unless the front is locked)

 

This

Putting the lever into 4WD does little more than turning on a light in the dash and spinning the front diff. It DOES NOT transfer power to the wheels until you put the hubs in the "LOCK" position.

 

Running on pavement with the hubs locked in is fine. Its just turning your whole front end, causing extra drag. When the roads around here are "questionable" I always leave the hubs locked.

Two additional things:
Remember that 4wd does NOT help you turn or stop, only helps you go. So drive according to the road conditions. Dont know how many people up here go to fast off a corner and end up in the ditch, "But I was in 4wd..."

And mud tires are NOT snow tires. The lugs are too big and usually in anything less than 3" are pretty slippery.

 

I leave my hubs locked pretty much all winter, unless I come down from the mountains and won't need it. It just puts extra drag on the front end when you don't need it, no harm done.

 

Gotta disaggree a little on the first point. It does/can help you stop via gearing down. Throwing my auto in 2nd or L in 4wd will slow me down a hell of a lot faster than doing it in 2wd, assuming minimal traction conditions. That's assuming that the MT's are able to grab anything

 

x2.

easiest method for your wife is to go ahead and lock the front hubs in advance, and shift into 4WD only when she hits conditions that need it.

she must remember to shift back out of 4WD when on pavement, or the 4WD gods will become very angry.

final tip: if you get stuck, try airing down before calling a wrecker. airing down solves a LOT of traction issues.

 

These are the most accurate so far IMO...

 

well put

 

you can use the 4wd with the hubs locked on pavement. it wont hurt a thing, definitely if there is ice on the roads.

 

False. If the pavement is anything but covered, only use the 4wd when you NEED IT. These truck (not sure about your cruiser) do not have a center differential. So if your in 4wd, and you try to turn on a high traction service (pavement), your drive train will not be happy.

 

well, im pretty sure the front diff is open like the rear. which would mean that when you turn there is no torque going to the wheel that would be moving slower. unless the front is locked and then it would be different. ive drove about 10 miles in 4hi and felt no difference. i would suggest using 2wd as much as possible due to the poor gas mileage, but when there is ice on the roads i think its worth leaving the 4wd on.

 

Go to a parking lot, lock the hubs, put it in 4hi/lo and let us know how that goes for you

 

ive done that plenty of times, heck i accidentally drove it home from 4wheelin one day in 4hi for about 30 minutes no problem. i mean it may be different for some vehicles but in my truck i havent had any problems. i would still suggest using 2hi on the road for gas mileage, but by reading the posts i would suggest for the driver to use 4hi when driving in the mountains strictly for the fact that black ice is hard to spot and you can be upside down in a ditch before you realize what happened.

 

Yeah, I hadn't had much experience with 4 wheel drive at one point, and was on some pavement, hubs locked, and in 4HI, and she just wouldn't turn. Made all kinds of unhappy noises. Don't do it. Seeing as the front wheels combined turning radius is wider than the rear's, and your driveshafts are locked together in rotation, your tires will try to rotate them at different speeds. I don't wanna know what would let go first. Front CV's? If you're going hubs locked on pavement, 2HI is safe. No 4HI/LO with hubs locked on pavement. With my truck, running hubs locked and 2HI, I get on-the-fly shifting capabilities. May not be the same across all models/years tho.