4x4 snow settings

Absolutely! I was just on 2 lane roads that were plowed but any time you faced oncoming traffic the passenger side tires would go in icy snow and slush and the truck was extremely unstable, I switched to 4 wheel drive and it was night and day different!

 

I agree with you both. There's no question that 4x4 gives better traction and a truck is less likely to slide in a slippery situation. But I would suggest that most of the time, even on snowy roads, 2wd provides adequate traction. An attentive driver can switch to 4wd on an as-needed basis.

 

And I know I'll take flak for this comment, because it's a matter of driving preference. But driving in 4wd on a snowy road can give a false sense of security in terms of traction. Just because one can accelerate without loosing traction doesn't mean you can stop or corner safely. In a way, driving in 2wd allow the driver to get a sense of road conditions. Modern traction control reduces the chances of loosing control when slippage does occur and that point, 4wd is a good idea. Don't get me wrong. This morning I drove up a mountain road in 6 inches of new snow over ice. I was in 4wd for 20 miles.

 

Other way to know, if you can't stay straight or get going without the traction control continually kicking in, you can probably use 4hi.

 

4x4 does help with breaking.

 

I live in Alaska, for 8 months out of the year I'm in 4Hi 24/7. There is some binding when I'm making sharp turns in a parking lot for example, but I have yet to notice any issues with long term 4Hi use in either truck I've owned here (F150 and Tacoma)

 

This vid made me lol! When he said on the 1st run the speedo didn't work, and on the 2nd run he said it worked for some reason lolo! Yeah, its the FORD reason haha!

Def 4x4 will give better traction, I use it any time it gets slippery when wet

 

Yes, his result is interesting. The deduction that you can make is that on this truck at least, the ABS and traction control systems are doing nothing to help stop the truck. If indeed those systems aren't effective on a vehicle, then it's clear that being in 4x4 will assist the vehicle in stopping quicker. Indeed it was my experience in older trucks without ABS and traction control that 4x4 helped stopping. But I assumed that modern ABS would have at least some benefit. Has anyone done this testing with other vehicles, like a Tacoma?

 

ABS/Trac/VSC works regardless if it’s in 2 or 4wd. I haven’t done any testing myself, but it makes sense that engine/drivetrain braking to all four wheels would help stop a vehicle better than just 2.

But this doesn’t matter if you have crappy tires. Either snow tires or AT tires rated for severe snow would help tremendously.

By the way, driving in snow. I’ve tried to “tough it out” in 2wd in the past. Just be careful as the back end can come around pretty quick. Now I just go 4hi. I think it’s foolish to stay in 2wd to get a feel for the conditions. Snow on the road—4hi, go slow, and be super defensive.

 

Thanks guys. It was a strange night, to warm for the snow to stick but it was coming down so fast that it was sticking like 3inches on the road. Woke up this am and it was all gone from the roads. I was mosty looking to make sure I shouldn't be turning off traction control or VSC or any of that. My last truck was an FJ and it was just pull the lever and you were in 4 push it you were in 2. Now you have a knob and somewhere there is a computer doing the work of putting it in 4, plus traction control.

 

You want another example, but using a different vehicle/platform? Here you go



ABS is ABS for the most part. You had some older vehicles that only featured it on the front (My '95 Ranger was like that), but today 4 wheel ABS is pretty much the standard. I don't know why I would expect much different results when comparing a system with a true 4WD/transfer-case like that on a Super Duty and Tacoma. An AWD system or something with an on-demand center differential would be a bit different, but we don't have that.

 

If you are in danger of spinning your wheels when taking off from stop signs etc, I go to 4hi. As long as the road is not dry, I typically stay there until I get to a highway.

If road conditions are safe enough to run 55 or better, I turn 4x4 off. If you think you need 4x4 to be safe above 55......you should slow down any way.

 

The same thing happened to me one time on about 5 inches of fresh wet snow over pavement with my 1st Gen. instead of powering over it, the truck was moving and getting stuck in jerky movements. It was not hitting dry pavement and was on a straight part of the road. The tires were packing the snow in front of them as I drove foreward and forming a cup that trapped each tire. You have to either back up and get a faster running start at it, go at it in low with rear locker on (but not on curves!), have dedicated studded snow tires, or chain up.

 

This is not good advice. Should leave TRAC and VSC on...they are excellent aids in 99% of scenarios.