4lo or 4hi for mudding

Manual trans I'm going to use 4lo in 2nd, maybe 3rd gear. 4hi it'll bog down, potentially stall, last thing you want is to lose momentum and become a sitting duck.

 

You really need to know your truck and learn how it handles things and anticipate upcoming holes, but you never know whats at the bottom.

 

a friend's 1998 v6 does 68mph in 2wd lo (did wireing mod) with the auto -albiet he was bouncing off the rev limiter...

my vote is for low range... i have had some experience in mud of a few types...

Gorgia clay (the red sandy-ish stuff) sticks in the tread like gorilla glue and causes my tranny temps to skyrocket very quickly even with a HD tranny cooler in 4 hi...
here in Ohio we have 2 types; both clay, and the thin greasy stuff usually with some light water over it... in the thin greasy stuff 4 hi is quite effective due to the fact that it is thin and will clean out and sling readily and is very easy to push if the bottom of the truck comes in contact with the goo...
in clay it is all it will do to spin at all when in 4 hi and not a hope of keeping even an aggressive m/t clear in the taco so it is best to crawl slow in 4 low and throttle gentle so as not to dig holes. because once you have dug down it slicks over the grass and sticks under the surface of the mud and there will be no more digging.

on the other hand in my (not stock) dodge -as some others have mentioned- 4 hi is best as with 350+ hp a heavy drivetrain and 5100 lb of truck there is going to be wheel spin and in that case momentum is your friend...

 

I like to wait until a few people have posted in threads like this one to see if there's any trends. Can't help but notice.....The guys who live in areas where dry weather and dusty condition prevail seem to favor high gear. Those of us who live where we have mud, deep mud, mud and water, then mud and deep water, along with the occasional swamp seem to generally favor low gear. I've been playing around with 4wds for more than 40 years. When I got my first one, we spent most of our trail time in a place that had holes named after the Great Lakes.....Lake Erie being the worst (best!?!?!) of them. With mud AND water, you have to get a wave going in front of you, stay in time with that wave, and keep a steady speed. Too fast and it's like crashing into a fricken brick wall. Then there's what we always referred to as "suck mud"....The stuff that would suck your boots right off your feet when you tried to walk in it. Low gear or no go.... The "Checkers or wreckers" attitude may work at a demolition derby, but it's a sure fire way to destroy a 4wd. Slow and under control, IN LOW RANGE. ....... Unless your "mud" is a puddle in the middle of a dry dusty desert.