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Leaving your truck in 4 wheel drive

L

Larry B. 1486

Member
With the weather we are having in this area, sleet and today 11 in. snow , and having to drive 30 miles one way to work, I leave my pickup in 4 wheel drive all the way. 2007 Chevy Colorado. When in 4wd, I never run on dry pavement. I was told today by a local mechanic that I should not run the front end that many miles engaged. I have been doing that for years when ever the roads are snow covered or iced over. Does anyone else leave there front end engaged for that many miles at one time? He said it would damage it running it full time. Like is said I never run it where there is dry pavement.
 
I have an '05 Silverado Z71, owners manual says I can leave it in 4 HI without problems. 4 LO is mileage and speed sensitive!
 
ive got an 010 gmc 2500hdwith a 6 liter and a plow and have had it in 4wheel all winter! when im plowing I do lock the rear end in though. Hoss
 

In 1993 I bought a Ford Ranger new with manual locking hubs, a manual transfer case and limited slip 3:73 rear end. In snow or snow covered roads it stayed locked in. On icy or very slippery conditions sometimes I would use 2 WD since the 4 WD mode disabled the anti-skid.

My brother still drives that truck with well over 200K on the odometer. Never any problem with the 4 WD.
 
There was a conversation about that on here a couple weeks ago. Its not going to hurt anything. I do the same thing if bad weather actually like tomorrow morning. Ill be in 4-wheel for about 40 miles till i run out of the ice and snow. I do try and keep it 45 MPH and under.
 
That's nonsense, I ran my 99 Dakota in 4wd for 20 miles at a time, in snow now dry pavement, 184,000 miles and it still works, I never did anything to the 4wd on that truck, Now my older Chevy's with the manual lock hubs u joints and propeller shaft had to have several things replaced propeller shaft on one truck and you joints on the others. They were a little different system to the ones that are being made today.
 
My 1993 F150 has more mile locked up in 4 X 4 than it does 2 wheel drive. 141440 on the odometer today. The only parts replaced so far have been the outboard u-joint in the front axle.
 
My 95 Grand Cherokee is all time 4x4 and it has 256,000 on it and runs like a champ still replaced transfer case chain last summer at 230,000 miles keep on truckin you'll be fine
 
So many times I forgot the truck was in 4wheel drive until I turned a hard corner. No worries won't hurt a thing.
 
I lock my front hubs in in October and leave them that way until March or April and if the rear wheels spin I pull the little lever on the floor back and lock in the transfer case. They were made to use , I try not to run dry pavement with the transfer case locked in but even that doesn't hurt anything but does put stress on the driveline when turning sharp. Lock em in and drive it like you stole it.
 
Good grief i ran four wheel drive from Knightstown Ind. all the way home one night Coming up I 71 there were only three of us on the road from the 270 bypass around Columbus to U S 30 we saw no one Me in a 88 Ford F 350 a 94 Dodge 3500 with a welder on the back and a Ford areostar van behind us i had the lead at times we had to use the media strip to get thru the low spots in the drifts and U S 30 east bound to Wooster if you did not know where the road went you could not find the road . At times the snow was hood deep . Most of the trip it was third gear and foot on the floor and taking everything the 460 could dish out . Ran from Pontiac (sp) Ill. home in four wheel drive all the way. Plowed snow during the blizzards back i 77 and 78 and drove on the snow and ice packed roads for three weeks before they got down to pavement .
 
I have driven two Fords and now a 3/4 ton Dodge like that when needed without problems. The Dodge front turns all the time anyway. Only has power when the lever is pulled to engage.
 
Now that is something I would not do with my manual lock straight axle front end trucks. You're turning the differential and axel joints over all the time. My neighbor is a mechanic my Ford F250 needed a front ball joint he wanted to replace that and the u joint while he was in there I told him no there's nothing wrong with u joint you're going to replace it with a China made one! we couldn't agree so I ended up doing the ball joint job myself, same with my My brothers truck and he plows with his uses four-wheel-drive a lot more than I do but we both have the factory universal joints in them. But I would not one minute on pavement with the front hubs locked may not hurt anything but you're just turning over the whole front and all the time, and the truck doesn't seem to turn right or it has a tough time turning if I forget to unlock them on dry pavement.
 
My 2010 rice burner has a front differential and the older style floor shifter for 2H, 4H and 4L. My owners manual say to run it in 4H at least 10 miles every 30 days to keep lubricants properly distributed in the front end. Makes sense to me, I try to run it in the rain some during warm weather. 110k miles bought it new it has not had a wrench on it except to change the oil. Gonna have to bite the bullet and put brakes on it soon, too much pedal 😀
 
Didn't even look below this post. FOUR WHEEL DRIVE can be used wisely/dumb. Oddly enough, there are folks that 'Just buy them because they seem to be the right thing' My $.36( hey, watch the Market !)
 
It might be a problem for a Chevy,I don't know,but it never bothered any of my Fords.
I had a 77 Chevy with full time 4x4 and no lockouts. I kept it in what was "unlocked" two wheel drive. It didn't have lockouts. It fell apart totally before it got too old,but one thing that did happen to it (among a never ending list),the splines stripped out of the gears on the inside end of the axles in the front differential.
 
If you don't keep those front U-joints limbered up the tend to seize then one day you go around a corner and it turns a quarter turn and binds up and all kinds of weird things happen. Bottom line is this , your rear axle/differential is turning all the time and it somehow manages to stay together , the front axle is just as robust .
 
Put more than that on my Jeep today running on sleet & didn't think a thing about it. I woulden't do it in low range running off a chain though.
 
My old 1979 power wagon is full time 4wd can't take it out, doesn't have lockout hubs, never had any problems. It's a tough old truck
 
There made to run on any pavement in hi lock.That's what it's for.Doesn't hurt anthing because it is a limited slip differential.Turn it off when you don't need it and turn it on when you do.In mine you just turn the knob to hi lock on the go.Not like a ford where you have to get out of the truck to ingague the 4x4.
 
2 yrs ago ran my F250 in 4 wheel drive from Tunica Mississippi to Barnhill Illinois. 400 miles I think, pulling my tractor and gooseneck. Road was absolutely terrible. We were going about the same speed as the storm. Should have stopped and got a motel room.
 
There are several different types of 4 wheel drive. If you do not have one with a differential in the transfer case it will indeed put an extra strain on components when using it on dry surfaces. On snow or ice or even rain there is enough slippage to alleviate the strain so it is not a problem. No different than driving a 2+2 with one tire smaller for any reason and you get wind up in the power train on hard surface. Leaves nice black marks. The old army trucks used to do that also when the sprag locked up on the front wheel drive on larger trucks. They were made so that the front wheels did not drive until a certain amount of slip at the rear wheel. This was done through a sprag just like used in a TA.
 
If your transfer case has a differential between the axles it should be OK. Not all transfer cases have a differential, so then the axles are locked together.

I prefer to drop back into 2HI every-so-often just to check the real-world conditions. For me, braking on snow is usually a bigger problem than accelerating or steering.
 
Yes and no, the rear axel dosent have the Universal joints. It's a straight axel with no joints for turning,, If your truck lasts long enough you will be putting a set of u joints in the front end.
 
Common for Chevys of that era.

I once bought one with full time 4wd that the owner said the trans was out 'cause it wouldn't move.

After I bought it and checked it out in my shop, I found out the splines were stripped on the RF axle. Trans was fine.
 
What Pete said. Read the owners manual and do what it says. My 85 f 250 would wear our expensive parts, but I leave the hubs locked all winter.
 
you got all 4 tires the same size then it don't make one iota of a difference in or out of 4x4.
the jeeps run full time 4x4 on dry pavement and cant take them out!!!
 
In the winter I run it 4 wheel drive if weather conditions warrant the use of it. I have went to daughter house 150 miles and run it all the way in 4 wheel drive because of conditions. I find it does effect fuel mileage being in 4 wheel drive.
 
I'll sometimes stick it in 4wd and run down the freeway for a hundred miles or more never had a problem .
 
(quoted from post at 05:09:10 02/17/15) My 1994 Toyota land cruiser is FULL time 4wd... Doesn't seem to hurt that thing.
Click to expand...
My 97 F250 4x4 was bought new and it had auto hubs and after maybe a hundred uses the LF started to get finicky about going into 4wd so I replaced both with warn manual hubs. Money well spent and that was about ten years ago.
 
If you can make forward progress on the highway in 2wd, that's where you should be. Maximum 30 mph in 3wd. Most of the roll overs on I-90 in the winter and 4wd vehicles using 4wd on light snow and ice.
There's too much skidding with throttle application and let off with 4wd.
 
As long as your nt running for miles on dry pavement, nothing will be damaged. You will have better control (accelerating and braking)in the slippery stuff. Running at normal speeds will not harm anything as long as there is no drive line vibration in 4wd.
 
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