Hard to steer w/ 4wd engaged?

I stand by my statement of never use 4x4 (lo or hi)on pavement. Of course in snow/ice this is different, but other than that I wouldn't suggest it, especially on dry pavement.

Its a great debate on every Jeep forum I'm on whether or not its ok to use 4x4 on the pavement during floods. I personally say better safe than sorry and just leave it in 2wd.

You do need to drive the truck in 4x4 every month, but this gives you an excuse to take it off road. If you don't wanna wheel just take it off pavement on a dirt road/parking lot.

 

Steve,

the ABS computer needs all 4 wheels to rotate independently and the axles to rotate independently as well - in part time 4WD both axles are forced to rotate at the same rpm. That's why ABS will not function properly when in part time 4WD. For that reason in the early years of ABS many trucks had ABS working only on the rear wheels.

All owners of vehicles with full time 4WD and a lockable center diff will tell you that as soon as they lock the center diff (and thus creating the same constellation as part time 4WD) a warning will be displayed that ABS is off (all the other new electronic gadgets like stability control etc are also off).



Using engine braking is not very smart.
If your wheels start slipping (no matter whether you use your brakes or your engine compression, you could break traction on slippery stuff) you have no safety net like ABS to reduce the engine compression.

 

Who's Steve?

Still not on the right wave-length as you are...but that's ok. I'm blaming my age for it.

I'll continue to use engine braking as I have for many many years. It's the easiest, slowest, and most controlled manner of slowing down on snow/ice. If my wheels start slipping -then I was going too fast to begin with OR I'm decelerating too quickly. You gotta use common sense.

ABS is extreme. It engages in extreme situations (wheel lock-up). If you're doing daily routine driving and there aren't any 'emergency' situations involved..... To me - if you're on snow/ice and have pressed on the brakes enough to force the ABS to start engaging, then you're using TOO much braking (and/or going too fast to begin with) which could result in self-inflicted slippage.

 

Funny enough, I've already linked your page here like 3-4 times. Every month or so someone comes along wondering why they can't engage 4x4 on dry pavement. Needless to say I just post the page of the busted jeep transfer case. That usually shuts them up.

Nice site btw.

 

Well, Janster, I like to address people with a name. What I found on your web site was Steve & Jandy. I picked Steve. Sorry if I picked the wrong one.

 

i just want to make sure i fully understand...this thread is mostly about engaging and steering on concrete right? if i'm in sugarsand or other off road condition i should be safe engageing and disengaging my 4WD at any time and also should not have any problems steering in 4WD right?

thanks

 

Yes. Do not use 4wheel drive on dry pavement. Hell, even if you're trying to turn in a snowcovered parking lot, you can feel the drive line bind up and start to jump the wheels.

I don't know what sugarsand is, but if it's anything like normal sand, yeah, you'll have no problems. You may notice some jumping when turning at full tilt in off road conditions, but it will be less noticeable.

 

Yes, off-road you should have part time 4WD engaged. The fact that ABS no longer works with part time 4WD engaged is actually a plus (on some of the better full time 4WD you can switch off ABS for off-road use):
http://www.4x4abc.com/4WD101/ABS_offroad.html

By the design of the part time 4WD layout your ruck will have the tendency to understeer - on-road and off-road. Meaning your turns will be wider than you would want them.

On anything soft, like snow or sand, really tight turns will get you stuck, 4WD or not:
http://www.4x4abc.com/jeep101/soft-sand-turn-straight.html