2WD Or 4WD?

[Extreme1]

4X4 Baby!

Bought mine to tow the snowmobile trailer to the races. They don't cancel races unless you can't see the sleds so when there is a race, we gotta get there!



If it's just a little icy, we can still pull at normal speed without the trailer trying to pass. Nothing like a 5 hour trip turning into an 8 or 9 with 2 wheel drive.

 

[C Schomer]

I got 2wd for 5th wh towing and I don't need the truck in the winter. I got stuck on a beech one day. One front wheel hit a soft spot - that's all it took. The front end is so heavy, the back wheels just dug holes. Even if you don't do 4 wheeling you need 4wd for places like I found! As far as highway driving in snow, I do fine with some extra weight in the back. Craig

 

[Papa Joe]

Doc, you been talkin' to the Mrs. , ain't cha??



Mine, not yours... ... ... ... ... ... ...

 

[JHerrlich]

I can't live without 4wd. I'm going up to Trinity County here this weekend to go roam around and try to avoid getting stuck.



As for the ARB in a Dana 80 (please forgive me for going off topic here), I've heard that the one for the Dana 70 fits but you have to tap bigger holes in it.

 

[KatDiesel]

You mean there is a such thing as a 2 wheel drive truck????? What the heck is that good for... ... ...

 

[merryman]

I don't go "4 wheeling" or "off road" just to do so, but have used the 4x4 feature a number of times to get out of situations as simple as getting on wet grass on a slope, or as interesting as being put in a situation by a wild driver of having the choice between a head on collision and taking to the ditch. It was a long way to town and of course the guy who came around a sharp bend in the middle of the road did not stop. With out 4 wheels turning I would have had to call a tow truck from many miles away---after a many mile walk or hitch hike to a phone-----wouldn't be with out it.

And of course when you head into the Elk woods, it can allways get interesting.

Vaughn

 

[vross]

I vote for the 4x4. Mud, snow and ice combined with poor road seem to be the Alaska standard. It is impossible (almost) to find a 4x2 in this part of the world. The truck needs to pull the trailer and I pay the expense to have the extra drive wheels, differential, and transfer case available for when I need them. I am not lucky enough to own two Dodge trucks. This one has to do double duty to get to work and play. I have had to use 4x4 to get up more than one steep, wet, silty boat ramp.

 

[John]

Originally posted by MikeR

I think the next poll should ask who has actually 4 wheeled theirs

Mike, that's one of the reasons I purchased my Polaris 6x6... because I can use 6 wheel drive to get me WHEREVER I want to go (and have plenty of cargo space to carry all the hunting/fishing/camping stuff I want to take)... it will do it cheaper, better and uses less fuel doing it. And did I mention that it's one he!! of a lot more fun to ride? A Cummins powered Ram is about the most useless 4x you could have (for serious four wheeling)... the shear weight (or length for that matter), not to mention the weight bias make it an absolute joke in all but reasonably tame off-roading situations (IMO of course... based on over 20 years of four wheeling all reaches of this State). I tell my work buddies that it has an RTI of about 10.



On a positive note though, there was the time when one of the rear tires on my Ram was almost totally burried in mud (on my property, while trying to move a fallen tree)... I thought for sure I was not going to get out of that one, but that mud slingin' bad boy powered right out. Whew!



I know one thing, if I was to do that on a regular basis I would have to go back to the BFG Mud-Terrains (the A-Ts are not worth much in the mud... they resemble a set of tires you loaned to Piers or Stefan, only brown ).

 

[Archive]

Cool! 82% are 4x4. .

 

[RATTLINRAM]

No need for 4x4

Ya know, the salesmen tried his best to sell me a 4x4 and that's all they had on the lots when I bought mine. But the main reason I wanted the CTD was for pulling a 5er. We don't get much snow, even though we did get about 20" or so the day after I bought my 2wd ("Just a slight DUSTING the weatherman forecasted"), I still managed to make it home from work, though, very slow and careful I might add.

If I need to go anywhere that requires 4wd, I'll take my CJ5 with the 33's which will probably go some places a 4x4 CTD can't.

(Oh man... ... ... . I can feel the flames now) No offense to you 4x4 guys, but I bought the type of truck that fit my needs the best and I haven't had one regret yet.

 

[o_mccarroll]

$35,000 for an off road vehicle to flog in the mud? Not with my checkbook! I could do a lot better off road with a much lighter vehicle for a lot less money. 4x4 comes in very handy sometimes, but the truck was not bought with off-roading in mind.

 

[John]

Re: No need for 4x4

Originally posted by RATTLINRAM

If I need to go anywhere that requires 4wd, I'll take my CJ5 with the 33's which will probably go some places a 4x4 CTD can't.

(Oh man... ... ... . I can feel the flames now)

That was EXACTLY my point RATTLINRAM, such a large, heavy truck with a terrible weight bias is about as useless as t*** on a boar in REAL off-road situations!



Not only that, who in the heck would dare flame a Cummins/Dodge owner that is also a Harley owner?! The nerve!

 

[wrk2mtch]

My Cummins is the first 4x4 I've owned and I won't go back. Camping on memorial weekend and towing a camping trailer up a very steep road that was mostly sand with a cliff on one side made me happy to have more than just the rear wheels going.



My '69 D-200 had such stiff suspension in the rear that I could use traction going up paved roads when it was raining.



Besides, the cool factor is just too much to resist!

 

[Archive]

Re: No need for 4x4

Originally posted by RATTLINRAM

No offense to you 4x4 guys, but I bought the type of truck that fit my needs the best and I haven't had one regret yet.

The best point... buy what suits YOU and YOUR needs... after all, you are the one paying for it! Well, most of us, anyway!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

John, I personally try to avoid mud if at all possible - mainly because I HATE cleaning it off. If you are ever going to be up my way let me know and we'll cruise out to the sand dunes - you'll be amazed at what these trucks can do in REAL off road situations when they are set up properly. I blast over the dunes just as good as two of my friends in their '67 and '77 Broncos - (and my truck weighs as much as BOTH of theirs put together) and they are built too, the '77 was featured in Four Wheeler a couple of years ago. It does better on the dunes than my wife's '95 Wrangler (enough that I stopped taking the Jeep) with the 4. 0L auto - I know not a real Jeep!! Only thing that's stopped me off roading thus far is trails that are too narrow to fit through.



-Steve

 

[JTBMC]

4x4 Much easier to get me long butt in to, actually 4wd is used almost daily in and around my farm to pull loads up and over hills.

 

[GSchlegel]

When winter comes, I just throw between 1,600 and 1,800 lbs. of sand bags in the back of my 3500 4x2. Knock on wood, but I haven't been stuck yet including this last winter and all the snow we got. My job had me traveling all over the state of Nebraska every week, so I'd been out in several blizzards with her and as long as you think ahead she will get you through. (Had to wiggle around several front wheel drive cars. ) Prior to purchasing my truck, I thought long and hard before I reluctantly decided I didn't need another 4x4.

Gene

 

[Doc Tinker]

Once upon a time, I worked for an airport limo company. We had a two wheel drive dually Dodge wrecker that we used to haul in the Dodge vans "limos" that happened to break down all the time (some of those vans had well over 300k miles on them).



In the winter of '82, I think it was, we had much more snow than usual. One storm dumped over two feet of snow and with high winds that created drifts well over four feet. One of the guys called in and told the boss he couldn't make it in. The boss said, "We'll send someone out to get you. " Guess who was appointed the job? Yep, It was me!



Off I go, in the ol' wrecker. Hoping that the county plow had been down my buddy's road. "At least I have the winch on the ol' wrecker, if I get stuck. " I thought to myself.



When I got to that narrow, two tracker road, I discovered that the plow didn't make it there before me and noboby had even attempted to drive through. What were four foot drifts, every where else, was just plain four foot of snow on that bit of road. I grit my teeth and rammed the gas to the floor, hitting the wall of snow, doing sixty. Well... it felt like sixty, probably really only thirty. The snow was over the hood, and the push bumper just blasted most of it away. Down that two tracker road I flew, blind as a bat, from all the flying snow. I'd catch a glimps of a tree, here an there, and I used them to guide me down that two tracker lane. For about a mile, or so, that ol' truck and me ground along. Who knows what might have happened if I'd encountered another idiot, hell bound the other way. But it didn't happen, so I made it to my destination, much to the dismay of my co-worker, who had already settled in for a peaceful day in front of a warm fire.



The trip back out was rather boring, I'd say, since I'd already cut the path down that two tracker highway. My co-worker and me, laughed our asses off, thinking about that ol' two wheeler truck getting through what his neighbors wouldn't even try, with their high and mightly four by fours.





Doc

 

[MuddFlapp]

I use mine every time I leave the ranch, my driveway is a mile of logging road that I have to take care of myself. If I climb out of here in 2wd the inclines would be nothing but wash boards. & try pulling 7000#s of trailer, horses & gear without it.



I love my truck!!!!



Gene Earl

 

[MuddFlapp]

I use mine every time I leave the ranch, my driveway is a mile of logging road that I have to take care of myself. If I climb out of here in 2wd the inclines would be nothing but wash boards. & try pulling 7000#s of trailer, horses & gear without it.



I love my truck!!!!



Gene Earl