My trucks not stock? Gearing concerns...

Gary Lewis wrote

There's a man that takes the blame.  You could have edited your post.  But, instead you took the blame.  

I'll edit something if I catch it right away.  But I hate it when people completely change something in a post after others have read it  and you end up with people responding to something that's not written there anymore.  It's a much better way to get hard feelings than it is to avoid having people think you hadn't had your coffee yet (even though I don't actually drink coffee).

And you reminded me that I probably should edit it at least enough to get people to read what I read after I was awake rather that get multiple corrections in the same thread.

86-350-460-dually wrote

Thank you all. I must give this a test to find out.  I personally have been afraid to give it a go in 4wd, because of my fears of breaking things haha.  However, we shall find out shortly. Thanks for all the info.

People are a lot more concerned about breaking things driving in 4WD than they need to be.  When you go around a corner the front tires need to go father than the rear, and yes, something needs ti giv for that to happen.  But especially with an empty pickup, traction at the rear tires is poor enough that what gives is just the tires slipping, even on dry pavement.  Not that I advocate driving in 4WD on dry pavement, but mainly because it wears tires faster and feels really annoying.  It's not doing your U-joints and axle shafts any favors, but it's really not all that risky to the drivetrain.

That said, lock the hubs and put it in 4WD.  As long as it's pretty smooth driving in a straight line you can count on the axle ratios matching and the test above will tell you what ratio is in both axles.

I'm one of those worried about driving on dry pavement in 4wd.  In fact, that was one of the reasons I bought Blue, the 2015 Platinum.  The top-end trucks have a feature that is effectively AWD, where you can set it and forget it.  Surely doesn't help MPG, tire wear, etc so I don't use it all the time.  But when my daughter was driving it in what was sure to be a rain storm I had her put it in that mode.

As for editing, I've been known to edit my error after people comment, but put an "EDIT" statement in so's you can tell later that I was originally wrong.

Gary Lewis wrote

I'm one of those worried about driving on dry pavement in 4wd.  In fact, that was one of the reasons I bought Blue, the 2015 Platinum.  The top-end trucks have a feature that is effectively AWD, where you can set it and forget it.  Surely doesn't help MPG, tire wear, etc so I don't use it all the time.  But when my daughter was driving it in what was sure to be a rain storm I had her put it in that mode....

Like I said above, I don't advocate using 4WD on dry pavement.  With part-time transfer cases like we're talking about here it's definitely not good for things, and it feels terrible in corners.  Personally I don't even use it in rain, mostly because I don't feel it's necessary,but also because the crowhopping is still noticeable.

But I've heard people complain about having to shift in and out of 4WD when driving in snow because it'll be icy when they're trying to start at a stop sign, but then the next intersection was salted and the pavement is clear.  I will shift in and out of 4WD when driving like that, but not very often.  Going around a corner or two in 4WD with salt/sand on the roads you hardly notice anything, and neither does the drivetrain.  That's the type of thing that I'm mostly talking about.

And to Adam's concern about not even trying 4WD for fear of breaking things, don't worry that much.  Don't just put it in 4WD and leave it there for the next 100,000 miles!  But go ahead and try it out.  You won't break anything unless it was pretty much broken to start with, and if that's the case you want to find out now rather than whem you're stuck in a snow storm!


And yes, I agree that for people who don't want to think about things like this, newer AWD systems are nice.  My wife had a 2005 Ford Escape,and now has a 2018 Jeep Renegade.  Both are always in 4WD with a diff between the front and rear drivelines and both just work in snow, rain, dry pavement, whatever.  Not what I want in my '71 Bronco, but perfect for her car.