4x4 Snow Question

You dork, I said "once I hit dry pavement". Jeez. And what's so wrong with hitting 100mph in 4hi anyway? Offroad racers probably do it quite a bit.

Anyway, I didn't have a problem swapping drives on wet roads. I figure just a little bit of slippage is enough to keep from harm.

 

LOL Maybe I'm just one of those guys who's only been 100mph+ on the race track. I cringe whenever I hear it's being done on the street/highway.

 

^^^ THIS

Rather tear up my 4wd than hit some black ice in 2wd and potentially kill someone spinning outta control.... did that once and got way lucky..... not going to push it again.

 

Yeah, I'm kinda confused about this whole thread. My 4wd stays on regardless of how fast I'm going in the winter. I don't think it says in the manual anywhere not to drive it at excessive speeds, only to not engage it at speeds higher than 65, and that's most likely do to the driveline and actuator meeting up.

This is actually the first I've heard about 4wd on pavement being a bad thing. I understand that turning too sharply you can tear your cv's apart especially with the 8.4" rear diff, that thing will push you around the corner at the expense of your front driveline components, but just going straight or on curvy roads where you aren't jarring the cv's I think you're fine

 

Us silly Alaskans and our 4wd.....

 

guess so what do we know anyway.

 

I leave my 4WD locked in for days at a time , depends on conditions

 

What difference does that make ?

 

OIC

 

Bah

 

See ben I think thats just retarded, if the roads suck just keep it in 4hi and use it and be safe. You dont get some special prize if you can drive around in 2wd during the winter, you aren't a pussy if you use 4wd...better safe than sorry. It's a rwd truck for christs sake, it is going to drive shitty in the snow and ice. On the way to my GF house (and this was a flat road at 15mph) when that storm blew through and was making the roads all slick I had it in 2, and at a certain point every time i accelerated it started to throw the back end to the right. As soon as i put it back into 4hi, bam, no more problem. I mean if you have it, and the roads have over an inch or 2 of snow, or its icy, or you know its a bit slick just use it, because it does help and its better to be safe than sorry.


Also on the speed thing, i am almost positive, and i read this in the owners manual, that you can go just about as fast in 4wd as you can in 2wd (maybe 5mph less?), you just cant engage it over 65 or so.

 

Not exactly. Everything is frozen for a good 5 (or more) months of the year up here. On any given day you could encounter snow, ice, dry pavement, pavement that looks dry but has black ice all over it, slush, ice with a thin layer of water on it.... or any combination of the above.

In my experience, hitting black ice in 2wd will spin you around like nobody's business with a rwd vehicle, even driving extra slow for the conditions, in a perfectly straight line.

Sometimes the pavement is dry and I drive around in 4wd for days until it snows again... or it warms up a few degrees and ice forms. Sometimes 90% of it IS dry, but the other 10% isn't. That's not a risk i'm willing to take. I got lucky once and I don't want to push it.

If there's snow and below freezing, i'm in 4hi. I have owned several trucks with 200k+ miles that have been driven like this for 20+ years. No problems with the 4wd system.

I know it isn't great for the 4wd system, but i'd rather have to fix/replace my truck than be dead. I guess the roads are slick enough here to not tear up the system too badly!

 

Well, a perfect illustration could be today. The roads are black, they aren't really wet, and they have snow everywhere but the ruts. So changing lanes in 2WD quickly becomes hazardous because as soon as you leave the ruts you're in 4WD terrain. Every turn lane that isn't well utilized is full of snow as well, so when I leave my house to go to work, I have to go from my unplowed street to a paved road with aforementioned ruts, back to a turn lane thats solid snowpack, then make a u-turn onto the same rutty street.

Now I can do all of that in 4wd if I'm careful about the angle of the U-turn. I've done it every day since it snowed no problem. Get up and beyond highway speeds all the time on paved roads that may not be "dry" but they're certainly not rained on.

 

Here's a snapshot I just took from my driveway security camera. We just got over 1" of fresh powder on top of the packed icy snow that was already there. I can't back up this drive in 2WD to get into my garage. Switch to 4WD and no slipping at all. Same with driving around, you NEED to be in 4WD to be in control. Fun to watch those who are not.

 

Definitely put some thought into it I try to take care of my trucks!

I used to drop it out of 4wd when I thought it was dry.

I then hit a patch of ice on the highway in 2wd. I was going under the speed limit on a straight stretch of road. Fishtailed into the shoulder, over corrected, spun the other way across both lanes of traffic, was facing the wrong way on the highway as I slid to the opposite shoulder, somehow got the truck under control enough to avoid rolling it in the median, spun some more, ended up back on the other shoulder in a snow bank.

Lucky that a) for some odd reason no one was anywhere near me at 4 pm on the highway b) I somehow didn't roll the truck c) the only damage on the truck was a busted tail light.

Even when I think it's dry enough, I don't risk it anymore. I thought it was that day.


My "formula" is snow on the ground+below freezing=4wd.

 

Agreed and I feel the same way about the situation like many others in this debate. It simply drives like shit in 2WD and I don't feel safe especially if the kiddo is in the backseat. Most of our main roads are clear/black ice but lane changes or side streets will pose a major threat to spinning out. It's not about driving any more carefully, the RWD just plain sucks in 2WD.

 

I was trying to get home as fast as possible. Some guy was doing 92 across Missouri so I followed him and let him run interference for me. And I kicked it up to 100 for the hell of it here and there. That was a fast trip from St Louis to Kansas City. The Highway Patrol was pretty much non-existent. The truck guzzled gas like crazy though.

 

totally saw the black ice coming! I just wasn't fast enough....

 

I drive on everything from slushy city roads to back holler icy snow crusted shit roads, the driving really isnt that much of a difference. And you put your truck in 4lo around town? Wtf that seems unnecessary and I would never do that and I have a feeling not many other people do that either. If you are using it for going down hills then low gear in 4hi is really all you need, and even then I have had instances driving down slick ass roads where engine braking and using the low gear still send me sliding. And I know I have said this, but 4wd does mroe than just help you get going better and easier, it keeps the truck tracking straight, it can help you turn, and if you use engine braking yes it can help you stop. I dunno man, 4lo on public streets just seems really unnecessary.

 

Steep decents in snowy conditions are a good reason for 4LO