Do you put it in 4lo to save brakes or just leave it in normal and downshift?

4lo should be used for when you’re off road. Using four wheel drive, and especially 4lo on a paved road will cause issues with the drivetrain.

Normal and downshift. Brake before the corner and coast through the corner.

quote:

Originally posted by jeffxjet:
Normal and downshift. Brake before the corner and coast through the corner.

This, definately do not use 4wd.

Normal and downshift for steep mountain ROAD... 4 Low for steep mountain TRAIL.

Asphalt ? Concrete ? Gravel? Dirt ?
Wet ? Dry? Icy ?
Snow ?

Two mile stretch ?
Five?
Nine miles ?

auto transmission or manual?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable, June 24, 2020 11:30 AM

Please be more specific as to what kind of 4wd, road and weather/road surface conditions.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
Do you put it in 4lo to save brakes or just leave it in normal and downshift?

If part-time 4wd and it's an actual road , whether paved or not, you don't need 4wd at all, let alone the low range. Low is for getting out of a jam.

We live on a mountain windy rock road, sections with 15% grade. Put my truck in 4 wheel going up and down for 5 miles. Smoother ride in 4WD going both up and down. Going down 1st gear 4 high in the summer, 4 low in the winter. Going up in 4 easier on our road too. Going down steep black top roads, manual shift transmission, summer 2 wheel, winter conditions 4 wheel. No drivetrain problems with 3 Dodge 2500 Diesels pickups loaded with 1500lbs, bought new sold all with 200K+ miles. Currently driving a bought new F150 with 130K.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
4lo should be used for when you’re off road. Using four wheel drive, and especially 4lo on a paved road will cause issues with the drivetrain.

That’s what I was taught many years ago but some guy at work was trying to convince me otherwise. It didn’t seem like a smart idea to use 4wd on dry pavement to me.

Thanks all for the confirmation. I’ll just make sure my brakes are good to go before we go. Portions of the road are 26% grade.

Yeah, he's wrong about that. You can hold the trans in a lower gear in 2 HI by engaging the "M" option on the shifter to let the engine help the descent, but don't use 4 LO.

Burma Grade to Briceburg?

Downshift, brake as needed. We have a ton of Steep to very steep dirt roads on the ranch, some paved roads, and a fair bit of roads covered with asphalt grindings. 4wd is used on dirt, or coming *up* one particularly steep grindings road to avoid tearing the road up spinning a tire. Never (deliberately) on asphalt wet or dry here. I could see it on a boat ramp though.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
4lo should be used for when you’re off road. Using four wheel drive, and especially 4lo on a paved road will cause issues with the drivetrain.

That’s what I was taught many years ago but some guy at work was trying to convince me otherwise. It didn’t seem like a smart idea to use 4wd on dry pavement to me.

Thanks all for the confirmation. I’ll just make sure my brakes are good to go before we go. Portions of the road are 26% grade.

The only exception I'm aware of is the V6 4wd 4Runner from '02-'09. They can be driven full time in 4high (not 4low) on pavement.

Gotts to love the expert advice. The bottom line is that it depends on the conditions! There is no one size fits all. What was a piece of cake under dry conditions is not the same as wet, ice or snow. There could be layer of ice under that new snow etc. What transmission? Auto or manual lock hubs?
Experience is a great teacher if you survive the lesson! The 'road' will be your guide, narrow, rocky, snow, ice, dry, wet, vehicle speed etc.etc.
Listen and choose what works best for you! There is no one answer!

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Asphalt ? Concrete ? Gravel? Dirt ?
Wet ? Dry? Icy ?
Snow ?

Two mile streach ?
Five?
Nine miles ?

Oh, come on now. Why would anyone ask a question AND attempt to include relevant details permitting respondents to provide thoughtful, intelligent answers?

Here's my wild assed stab in the dark that's as good as anyone's at this point:

2wd with the rear axle locked, transfer case in high. This permits either/both rear wheels to provide engine braking without any engine braking on the front wheels allowing all of the available traction the front wheels have to be used for steering. Using any traction available to the front wheels for braking, limits how much is available for steering. Once you've exceeded the available traction on the front wheels going downhill on a windy mountain road, you are screwed. I've done this on flat roads in a CJ7 with a locked transfer case and locked front and rear axles. A case could be made that by having everything locked, you can use the throttle to keep the wheels turning and maybe regain steering. With the CJ7, I wasn't good enough on the throttle to stop doing back to back 360s and stay out of the ditch. I'll also offer up that I was going much faster than I should have been each time it happened.

Depends what type of 4WD
My 2000 Jeep WJ with select track had
4 high Full time - open center diff - ok all the time no matter the surface

4 high part time - locked center diff, only on loose surfaces or straight line.

4 low - also locked center.

on my outback I push the hill decent button -

remember when we didn't have 7 choice's?
you were either in it
or not

My 75 year old Ford GPW has 4 options not counting neutral: Out High, Out Low, In High, and In Low, but I've never driven or owned a 4wd vehicle older than that.

Downshift to match uphill speed, put engine brakes in stage three, leave it in eight wheel drive.