Recover in 4H or 4L?

I was wondering this the other day..

I've only pulled a couple of people in my Tacoma, it's an SR5 so no ATRAC. I've always pulled in 4H so I can take advantage of TRAC which seems to help. If I'm in 4L I only have power to two tires. I'm also a little worried about the torque involved in 4L .. is it more stressful to the system?

Does it depend on conditions? In snow, for TRAC, 4H seems like a no brainer. But if my 4 tires have good traction is 4L better?

 

I always use 4lo because my 4 banger is weak as hell hahahah

 

As far as recovery it depends on the variables. Typically iI recover in 4LO for extra torque, Btw when pulling a load at low speeds 4Lo is easier on the vehicle due to lower gearing=lower stress. But if your fighting traction issues using 4hi would be the way to in your situation with the track system. Really as long as your not abusing your rig either way is fine just try what works. Ive recovered local power company trucks in 2wd, 4hi and 4lo. No issues yet.

 

One thing that could enter into this is that if you have a manual transmission 4LO saves the clutch because you don't have to slip it so much. With an automatic you have the torque converter which is a lot more able to tolerate having power applied while the truck isn't moving or isn't moving much, but obviously at some point that becomes a concern as well.

 

These are both pretty true, i'll just add that only HP really dictates which range to use, have enough & it'll pull easily/evenly in either range, overall tho' i use 4L because recoveries should be done slow, smooth, evenly with as little extra stress on recovery rig as possible & low range accomplishes this, extra true if man. trans.

 

God I hate hard jerk recoveries nothing says "break something" like a 15-20mph sudden chain snatch.....

Last time i did one was getting a member out of a mud pit in Corral canyon

it took 4 or 5 hard snaps to get him out... fucking cringe when i think about it

 

Never happened...........







ok, it did.... You know how many hits that vid got ?? It's somewhere around 200k ... those snaps were pretty firm, about 5 mph, nothing like the ones in the canyon, those were brutal

 

This was the last one I did...

 

4Lo is the way to go in most situations.