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4x4 vs. 4x2
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Comments
Having 4x4 traction does not mean I won't get stuck. But if I do get stuck, it will be in a worse place!
Comments?
Steve
I live in TX and pretty much never go offroad, but I am planning on towing a boat. Would it be good to have a 4x4 to get the boat out of the water and up the boat slip? Or is 4x2 good enough? (perhaps with a locking rear)
(3000lb or less boat)
Thx,
Steve
unless you know you will be at a very STEEP and very SLICK ramp, i'd just get a 2WD. best advice for pulling up a boat ramp is to slowly give it the gas, don't let your wheels start to spin. it helps having automatic trans. I did wish i had locking diff. sometimes. I think if you just get a locking diff., it should really be all you need.
The new GM's are a great truck and deserve consideration. We are lucky that we have three good automakers today to be competing.
Huntman
I use to have an 1983 ranger 4x2,2.0L 4 cyl.,4 speed manual. The major pain was to get initial momentum going on the snowy roads, especially when trying to start moving on an incline. This truck did not have a limited slip rear, which might have helped with traction. I would put many bags of sand or cement in the bed, over the rear axle, which helped out a bit. Good tires are a must. Other than traction, it handled snow like any other car I've owned.
Bob
I purchased the Chevy over Ford (I lean more toward Fords) because 1.) Ford has gone to electronic transfer case engagement and I would rather have a good, old fashioned lever (I have two friends who have had repeated problems with their solenoids); 2.) I could get the Chevy at a very good price (the 97's were out and the dealer was anxious to sell).
I use 4x4 regularly. I do a lot of desert and mountain driving due to my love of ghost towns and abandoned railroads, I do a lot of historical research on them and write for various periodicals. It also snows periodically here in the valley, the Sierra Nevada behind me is always snow covered in winter and going to my neighbor's house two miles up the road may have a foot of snow while I have none in my yard.
I've had several 4x4's and have not experienced increased maintanence or repairs. I get an average of 21-22mpg with the S-10 on most trips, which may include 70mph backroad driving, low range crawling, and 45mph 4x4 hi range dirt road driving. In two wheel drive highway only driving, I get the same, 21-22mpg.
I see many city folks are driving the latest 4x4 SUV's and trucks. Since a large ski area is just north of me, I see the highway crammed with them each weekend. You can always expect someone in his/her fancy, leather lined 4x4 is going to end up belly up off the road because he/she thinks that since they have 4x4 they're invincible. They're not. A 4x4 goes great forward and backward in the snow and ice, but it can spin out just as easy as any other vehicle in the same conditions. When chains or snow tires are required on the highways, I keep it at the state mandated 35mph even though I'm in 4x4. But I get passed or have a dozen impatient skiiers on my tail, then they roar off at speeds legal and sane only on dry pavement. I have at times needed to call 911 on the cell phone because another Lexus, Range Rover, Mercedes, or 4-Runner ends up as expensive junk yard fodder because of their incopitence, impatience, booze or drugs (or all of the above) on the highway.
you are right on the dot about these SUV driving hipsters. that is why it gets even more dangerous when these idiots drive these things, at speeds it's not designed for and talk on their cell phones all at the same time. if they can afford these range rovers, mercedes and lexuses...raise their premiums or take SUV driving lessons.
I'm not against using 4wd to get up your driveway, or to start out from a stop sign, but as soon as you hit second gear get back in 2wd. 2wd can reach unsafe speeds, but you have a little more clue that it is unsafe, 4wd puts you into unsafe speeds no problem.
I'm also not saying that you should be stuck before you hit 4wd. When you see it happening use that shift on the fly, once you are stuck it is hard to get unstuck. But don't drive in 4wd if 2 will do. This won't save you from getting stuck everytime, but you are more likely to be close enough to civilization that the tow truck is willing to go.
I own a 2wd '88 S10. In a summer rain storm I have trouble getting started uphill. I drive it in a MN winter, but never again. I'm in the market for a 4wd. Yes I can drive without 4wd, no I don't want to try it, I've been too close to stuck.
I figure that a set of tire chains will be effective in case of severe weather. I'm in PA and we can get hit once or twice a winter.
I've never owned chains and don't know how difficult they are to install. Can you share your experience?
As for chains, if you use them regularly, you'll find tricks for making it easier. Although by the time you usually need them it's in rotten weather and no matter how good you are it's a pain to do so in such conditions. Add having to do it on the side of a busy highway during that rotten weather, well, it sure makes 4WD look real good!
A locker, in the same condition locks up the two tires so they both spin at the same speed no matter what.
So in a locked condition if you were to make a lot of turns, I guess it would scrub the tires, but neither one of them stay locked(or limited:) during normal driving if I understand correctly, and I've seen pictures of trucks that are on the side of hills with both difs and the lockers always have better traction when they ease it up the hillside.
Mike
P.S. Snow... That's that white fluffy stuff that falls from the sky every few years and melts when it hits the road...right. (Dallas, TX)
Yeah, right ;-p
Mike
(waiting for my Blk Sierra Z71,5.3 sportside.)
I just traded in my 1998 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 for a 1999 Dodge 1 ton 4x2, one reason here in Arkansas we don't have that much snow/ice and being now retired I don't have to get out in that stuff. One reason I had a 4x4 was that I tow a 5th wheel RV, when I park the trailer at the house I have to back up my gravel driveway and the slope of the driveway transfers the weight to the front end making the rear light causing me to spin out. The 4x4 allowed me to back up w/o spinning. I said the heck with it, went back to a 4x2 and if I still have the spin out problem I'm going to have someone come in with a blade and cut down the driveway slope.
Another thing, maintenance is less with a 4x2 than with a 4x4. Mileage is better with a 4x2, ride is better. Cost is much less.
The place it will help is to keep you out of some of those situations where you may lose control. Just accelerating through the gears up to hwy speeds can cause a fish tail if you hit some black ice in a 2wd pickup. With all four tires moving, you avoid that situations.
I've also had situations where I am in a parking lot after a recent snowfall just spinning my tires in 2wd. As soon as I slip in 4wd, I can move. That comes in real handy when you are trying to exit a parking lot onto a busy street.
Just thought I'd share that little story with you.
All comes down to what you are used to, I see no more accidents here than I did when I lived in UK and we had (usually) an inch or so a year. Becuase people weren't used to it there were loads of accidents.
I know of people locally who drive little 2wd cars and manage without trouble virtually all year because they have grown up with the conditions. Virtually all that will stop them is an unplowed road.
Now what is this "snow stuff ya'll are talking about". :-)
Shut Up, Shut Up, SHUT UP.
Thank you
I am not sure what that snow stuff is either, can you please explain it to us Arizona People.
so we can join in the the conversation
I have heard it's white and falls from the sky..
Oh well that what happens when you live in AZ...
Wow it's going to be 88 in Tucson today... What wonderful weather :-)
Aaron
One of my friends has a trailer home on an island in the middle of a small lake. He likes watching you southerns drive the boat around the island several times. Sometimes you can hear them disscussing how they got it there. No, no airplanes or helecoptors. Not even a boat, just a simple semi tractor. (He has a class A license and a friend to borrow the tractor from)
Andy Jordan: Please move elsewhere. We are too crowded up here as it is. I happen to like -25 tempatures. It is the heat that bothers me, and to me too hot is anything about 55.
I am sorry if the wit and irony of my previous posts went over your head, I'll try better next time.
Now we have a whole new batch of pickup/SUV buyers that never had 4wd when they grew up. Never learned the limits. Now when I'm crawling around when I know the conditions require it, even with 4wd, those new guys are sitting in the snow bank, pissed because their 4wd must have failed.
The funniest thing I've ever seen is during the incredible freezing rain we get up here in Oregon. The wind can push parked cars across parking lots. You need to wear golf cleats to walk. There were 4wd pickups and SUVs every 100 yards piled up on the shoulder and center median. In those conditions, the ultimate vehicle (although you really shouldn't be driving at all, but you know humans, we always find a way to justify it) is a Subaru with studs.
With that said, I agree that you see alot of 4wd vehicles in the ditches. Experience and knowing your vehicles limitations are the key. Everyone should take their vehicles on empty rural side roads or large parking lots and just practice quick accelarations, fast turns, and braking on snow and ice. These are not things that you will necessarily want to do on crowded streets, but if you know what your vehicle can do, you have a much better chance of reacting in the right way and possibly avoiding an accident in an emergency situation if confronted with one, such as someone pulling out in front of you or sliding through an intersection.
There are a few keys to helping you avoid getting into accidents and staying out of the ditch with a 4wd:
First, remember that your vehicle doesn't stop any faster. You've got leave plenty of room in front of you, even if you're normally used to tailgating in the summer.
Second, you can't regain control any better if you lose control at hwy speeds, so you have to make very gradual lane changes on the hwy and you need to build speed gradually. The unforgivable sin at hwy speeds is breaking traction.
Third, when in doubt, take your foot off the gas and avoid hitting the brakes. If you lock the brakes (anti-lock brakes lock on ice), not only are you not stopping, you also have no control over the direction you are heading.
If you keep these things in mind, the chances of putting your 4wd in a ditch or getting in an accident are greatly reduced. If ypu've got a 2wd rear wheel drive truck, there are way too many winter driving precautions to list. It can be done and is done all the time, but like I said, it's a lot more dangerous to you and the other drivers on the road.
to repost one of my periodic rants on this subject:.... (climbing on his soapbox and risking a serious nosebleed from the height)
we have a serious problem in this country with "magical thinking"....
Afraid of being constrained by bad weather? Buy an SUV/4WD, ignore the operating limitations of the vehicle, then drive it as if there was no bad weather, and be amazed and outraged when the vehicle wrecks as a result of "driver error". After all you paid GOOD MONEY so you WOULDN'T HAVE TO THINK about slowing down or controlling the vehicle in the bad driving conditions. You PAID for the MAGIC TALISMAN and it DIDN'T WORK! How DARE it!
Afraid of crime? Buy a gun! Which is of course just a tool. Don't bother to take shooting lessons or learn to use the tool safely and effectively. You paid GOOD MONEY for the MAGIC TALISMAN! When the criminal takes it away from you and you become another statistic?.... How DARE it!
Alternatively, blame all crime on the possession of the MAGIC TALISMAN (i.e. gun) by the wrong sorts of people (you know who THEY are....) just ban the MAGIC TALISMAN and the crime will magically disappear. And when it doesn't... find an excuse for restricting the possession of MAGIC TALISMAN's even further. After all YOUR SIMPLISTIC MAGICAL THINKING" couldn't be WRONG could it?....
Pant, pant, pant.... Climbing carefully down from the soap box, and wiping at the bloody nose...
Front Porch Philosopher
SUV, Pickups, & Aftermarket and Accessories Host
Rocles, fair point, idiots are idiots regardless of what they drive.
Meredith - wow, remind me not to upset you (again).
The one factor that remains constant in 4wd and 2wd vehicles is the driver. When you see a 4wd in the ditch, do you suppose the driver would have been any less cocky in his 2wd? A ditch diver is a ditch diver.
With that said, even the safest driver can end up in a ditch. It happens in snow country. I've been fortunate to stay out of the ditches. The last time I went into a ditch in the snow was about 19 years ago, with my rear wheel drive 70 GTO. I was an inexperienced 17 year old with way too many horses under the hood and way too much confidence behind the wheel. How does the Bob Dylan song go? I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.....
Drivers as a whole are getting worse regardless of safety features and conditions. It is entirely too easy to get a license let alone keeping it! It seems like technology can't catch up to the lowering standards of the drivers themselves.