QUESTION OF THE WEEK 2WD or 4WD for Your Ford?

QUESTION OF THE WEEK 2WD or 4WD for Your Ford? - Ford-Trucks.com

 

4x4 is a must

 

Using a 4x2 to prevent the abuse on my 4x4s. Never said I was sane..

 

Well, I have both.
Around Arizona, I can get darn near anywhere in the desert and mountains with my 2wd truck. And I have put a couple jeeps to shame with it.

My 4wd super duty is a hill climbing machine! And when I chain it, it drags the trailers through snow and mud like nothing!

So, there arnt many places that a 2wd can't go, but for an all out work horse and easy fun, I like the 4wd truck.

 

90% of what I do is highway and freeway, so no sense in taking a 20% hit on economy for the one time I may need it. For a toy, though, 4x4 can be fun.

 

My 2014 F-150 King Ranch is 4x4. Mostly because I have to be at work no matter how much snow there is. But it can be handy during hunting season driving through the occasional muddy corn field.

 

Use 4X4 up north here in Maine.

 

My 64 F100 is 2wd but it is only for sunny days and occasional use, for everyday use a 4x4 is a must. I work for a public utility and I have to be at work regardless of weather.

 

Depends on where you live I guess. 2wd will get you anywhere you need to go in AZ, 365 days a year.

 

I grew up in central Maine, and snow doesn't matter there. Thirty years ago my parents didn't have a 4x4. My dad didn't get one until the mid 90s. We had a Cavalier wagon, with Kelly Springfield studded snow radials that would do just fine. The local road contractor did a really good job, which I hated as a kid. If there was less than three feet in a storm the most we got was a late start for school.
The salt worked, although the cars got eaten up pretty bad.
It's worse out here, they don't put anything on the roads and don't seem to know how to plow either. But then even a 4x4 doesn't help. There are videos all over youtube of Seattle area folk unable to cope with the slick roads in any vehicle, right up to a city bus.
4x4 is for getting you unstuck, if you use it in slick conditions it actually makes it more likely that you will lose control. First, you may have more confidence than traction, and second, the front and rear tires need to turn different speeds. Locking them together will make it plow straight through a corner.

 

Growing up in mid coast Maine I have to echo Jared's comments. My dad never had a 4x4 till 1976 and that was because he started working shift work at the mill and thought better to have the 4x4 to get to work before the plows got out.

In truth, he'd been fine without the 4x4.

 

4X4 - snow around here and I do go into the back country to hunt and fish

 

It was in the way up from La Guaira to Caracas, a vibration in the drivetrain started when the truck went over 30Mph. Finally the loud noise and several bumps in the bottom of the truck, then all the impulse was lost and the truck started losing speed. I made my way to the overhang and stopped safely... By then thinking my transmission had died on me. Being in Venezuela, it's dangerous to be stranded on any road, and this one can be quite dangerous (having slums all around for most of the way), so I got off the truck to inspect as fast as possible... My rear driveshaft was broken, and it was hanging from the slip yoke to the rear differential, I wore my gloves, pulled/pushed until the rest of the driveshaft came off the slip yoke, engaged the manual hubs, started the truck, pushed the 4WD button and off on my merry way I went, there would be time at home to fix the issue properly. The story could have ended in quite a different fashion if I were driving a 2WD.

 

4x4.

We don't get snow all winter in the south. But it's nice to have when we do. And it's a dream on wet boat ramps.