4X4 Best Practices for Snow Covered Roads

Andrew Highsocks says 4hi is the biggest safety feature you have.
Better to have it turned on and not need it, than need it and not have it turned on.

I mean, he doesn't see a lot of snow in South Africa or Australia but I still think about it when traveling snowy roads in winter.

 

Used to give the example to customers in our service department about not using part time 4WD on any sort of pavement as follows:

imagine making a slow, very sharp left hand turn. The left front wheel is almost staying in place, making a vary small arc while the right front wheel is making a very much longer arc and therefore turning at a faster rate. If the wheels need to turn at the same, or very similar rates, to prevent damage to front differential or transfer case, that inside front wheel that's not going very far (the left front in this example) needs to be able to slip on the surface in order to turn at a speed similar to the outside front wheel (the right front in this example). This was helpful in explaining that "clunky" or "jumpy" feeling people would get when the tires were not on anything slippery and that inside front (left) wheel would be binding everything up not being able to rotate anywhere close to the speed the outer (right) front wheel was going.

Probably not scientifically accurate but I found that it usually got the message across. Oh and following with, "here's how much a new differential or transfer case costs" (I can't remember which was the one that got trashed on the Cherokees back then) was also an attention grabber that drove the point home.

 

It seems that people giving advice on when not to use 4hi also don’t have a clue about what a differential does.

 

Are you saying that using 4hi is ok in the dry because of the differential?

 

The best winter driving advice is to slow down. Don’t crest hills at high rates of speed and brake before you start going downhill. Don’t brake going downhill, if you went into it to fast you’re now f***** and along for the ride. This is the most common mistake I see southern truckers make on our highways. They put the pedal down climbing steep hills because they got the weight and the traction and so they’re not loosing momentum ( loosing speed uphill on slippery roads is a dangerous situation for a tractor trailer as well) but then they don’t realize that at the top of the crest is an equally as steep decent on the other side. They maintained 60mph uphill but now the weights pushing them downhill and the trucks creeping up to 80mph because our hills are steep. They touch the brakes, tractor looses traction, and now the trailers pushing them into a jack-knife down the hill. It’s not a pretty site to see.

And unfortunately our hills are steep enough that cars and dummies with 4x4 make the same friggin mistakes, they crest the hill realize they’re going to fast smash the brakes and the car or large truck and or suv looses traction on the front end and goes for a nice fast spin downhill.

 

umm well I definitely use 4hi off-road in the summer. Should I only be using it when it’s raining?

 

We don’t have a central diff like AWD vehicles do. You can only use 4x4 on surfaces that your tires can slip on in case your axles bind.

 

Are we talking driving along on semi snow covered / sleet covered / sometimes bare / sometimes drifted in highways, or are we just trying to squeeze our mall crawlers between to Prius’s at ikea.

are you guys saying you should be playing with that selector to the conditions while driving. So if I hit 5km of dry pavement I should go 2wd and then when I see a drift of somewhere the plows not getting down to the pavement I should select 4hi?

 

Best advice for snow covered roads...don't drive like an a-hole.

 

Best advice, stay home

 

Bruh, sounds like you’re the one who doesn’t know how your diff works haha.

 

I

If it’s a straight road for 5km, then leaving it in 4x4 is fine.

When I go ice fishing, it’s a 6-7 hour drive trough the mountain passes. All sorts of conditions, ice, packed/unpacked snow and bare pavement. I switched to 2WD and back to 4WD about 10 times. It’s also good for the actuator, keeps all the parts moving.

 

I

If it’s a straight road for 5km, then leaving it in 4x4 is fine.

When I go ice fishing, it’s a 6-7 hour drive trough the mountain passes. All sorts of conditions, ice, packed/unpacked snow and bare pavement. I switched to 2WD and back to 4WD about 10 times. It’s also good for the actuator, keeps all the parts moving.

 

Don’t forget to always fully turn traction control off

 

this is indeed the best way to prevent binding on sharp turns and heavy snow. If all 4 wheels are spinning fast around a tight corner then no problems at all

 

I

If it’s a straight road for 5km, then leaving it in 4x4 is fine.

When I go ice fishing, it’s a 6-7 hour drive trough the mountain passes. All sorts of conditions, ice, packed/unpacked snow and bare pavement. I switched to 2WD and back to 4WD about 10 times. It’s also good for the actuator, keeps all the parts moving.

 

Sorry for triple post guys.

 

I 100% agree with this statement and on long drives with truly mixed conditions I do the same. Nothing wrong with working that actuator.

It kinda seemed like op was asking what the safest way to get home was and he’s getting a typical mixed bag of Tacoma world replies.

how about this if it’s a snow fall warning in your area then use 4hi that day and keep it below 60mph to be safe. If the snow fall warning was the day before but they don’t have your area fully cleaned up yet then use 2hi and don’t drive above 60mph. I actually find the traction control system in these vehicles far superior to any VW or GM product I’ve owned in the past. It can keep the truck on the road without issue below 50mph.

 

As someone with poop AT tires I can honestly say my setup varies by my mood more than the weather. I’ll drive on the highway in 2hi in heavy snow (did yesterday) if I’m not in any hurry, typically get a safe distance behind someone and pay attention to how they’re vehicle is handling the conditions.

If I’m late for work and conditions are poor it’s 4hi with traction on typically passing in the not plowed yet passing lane but paying attention and looking for wheel slip.

or if it’s the first snowfall or two of the year then it’s 4hi with all assist off, working the driveline between S2 to s5, practicing safe drifting conditions before it’s a required in an emergency situation, driving through the ditches on the highway to get around stuff, this is only possible until we get a crust layer. If I tried such foolishness now I’d just be a dummy with snow up to my frame on the side of the highway.

 

I live in Northern Canada in a small community. Tons of snow, -40C temperatures, basically winter hell from November to April. Truck is in 4hi for months at a time, never had any issues. Once every couple weeks or so I'll put it back to 2wd, then back to 4hi while waiting for it to warm up, just for piece of mind. I drive primarily snow covered / packed asphalt (town doesn't use salt, just sand), and occasional highway driving.

Just use your judgement, if you feel like your wheels can't slip then be careful using 4wd as it could cause issues with your drivetrain. If conditions are slippery, thats what 4wd is designed for.

In my experience, running dedicated snow tires out-performs all weather tires. 4wd+snows and you'll only get stuck when you deserve it lol.