I just sat down and GM had this info ad and I watched it. What caught my attention is the quadra steer. Now my question is this. At speed the rear tires stay paralell with the front. I was trying to figure out how it might act on ice if the rear end stepped out and you tried to correct.

What a worthless option on a TRUCK. Now you can replace balljoints & u joints on both ends of a truck! What fun!

The commercial went on to show all the other options you could get. So where is the "get my rear end out of this ditch" option? That smart ride system, AWD slip sensing copmuter, rear turning tires is about as helpful as a knife in a gun fight. Oh wait, they do have that, its called OnStar. So when your lost looking for the enarest yuppie coffee stand you can find it. Where did the days os simple, reliable trucks go? Do we need a car that does everything but wipe your rear end? I like KISS.

I have to laugh at the "newer better" trucks that have push button 4 wheel drive. When its 40 below I know my manual hubs and lever for the t case will work, will yours?

 

I tend to agree. This subject came up long ago, just when GM started the ad campaign for quadra-steer.
I am a big fan of "simple" when it comes to trucks. Heck, I don't even have power windows or power door locks. (not having power door locks is a little frustrating though!)
I'm sure, in some situations, 4 wheel steering is a nice feature. But, I figure front wheel only steering works just fine for me. I'll settle for that.
The long term cost issue would concern me. Perhaps the concern would be unwarranted, but it would concern me non-the-less.

 

the rear wheels DO NOT steer above 20km/h

just wanted to get this straight!

 

Actually the ad said they steer paralell when your traveling at higher speeds even above 20kmh. They showed a clip of it in action running down a highway.

I still want to know how they'll recover from a slide.

 

I'd like to know how it'll hold up when it's loaded with a camper and a trailer.

 

I'd like to know how it'll hold up when it's loaded with a camper and a trailer. Personally, when I see a "professional grade" commercial, it makes me think of how amateur their engineering is.

 

Well, in theory, it's supposed to make trailering a LOT easier, and handle better, as the rear wheels will, in a turn, allow for a much tighter, more controlled turning radius. (Even seen a monter truck blow a donut?)

Now, do I believe for a second that this system is going to hold up to the heavy duty service that a truck was meant for, nope.

Can I prove it, nope. Nobody I know was impressed enough to buy one, and I have yet to see one running around. So, that tells ya something right there.
Somehow, I can just see someone putting a "Quadrasteer" sticker across the top of their windsheild, and claiming it improves horsepower. I guess we'll have to wait for their prices to come down for that..

 

If they steer parallel going down the hiway at above 20, then doesn't that mean the truck can be pointed diagonally and still keep the same course? Cool, I want one!

Aren't they only available in the half-ton models? That would mean that larger trailers that might benefit from Crudy-Steer would be out of the question anyway. No wonder we haven't seen any.

 

They steer in the same direction at high speed but not parallel. They don't turn nearly as much as the front tires do. Maybe a quarter as much.

 

I don't get what's to laugh about push button 4WD. That's what they sell now. A lot of people on this board have "push button" or electronic 4WD. Are you laughing at all of us? You have a problem with technology? You think people who buy 4WD vehicle now are stupid, or what? What's your point? Tell us please, what automobile engineers and the rest of us don't know. How many of us need to worry about 40 below? I hope you didn't really mean all this; that you're not a pompous moron.

 

> I don't get what's to laugh about push button 4WD

13hondacr250 ir right on the money.

If you own a Chevy, there is a good chance the push button stuff that is vacuum operated by a heating element will fail and leave you either dead or stranded in cold snowy weather. This was a Chevy related thread was it not.

Ask someone that has worked at a Ford dealer (like myself) and has fixed transfer case switches on many different models how reliable push button 4x4 is compared to manual transfer cases and hubs. Though the Explorer/Ranger/Bronco IIs probably have the worse failure rate of the transfer case switches and automatic hubs, they all fail rather quickly across the product line. They seem to fail the most in bad cold weather.

The most ironic failures of the older automatic hubs is when the grease in them freezes and prevents the hubs from locking

All the Fords with vacuum hubs have had problems brand new from the factory and they tend to be worse in salt/snow areas where they will most likely fail during a snow storm.

I worked at a Ford dealer and my 1997 Ranger was a horror with the automatic hubs failing "whenever" and was unreliable because of it off road. I felt a lot better taking my 86 and 87 Bronco IIs off road with their manual hubs and manual transfer cases. Because I knew, with a spare hub in case I broke one hitting a trunk or rock, they would always work when the lever was pulled.

Automatic hubs and 4x4 push buttons are great for soccer moms like my wife. She does not want to get out and lock hubs or pull levers while driving on road. She just needs the get away traction on road.

If you take your vehicle off road for anything that approaches serious, including farm work, the push button 4x4 systems are a very poor choice.

I have not seen any new Ford manuals since 1999, though there must be a reason Ford tells you trucks with automatic hubs are "not for farm use". So they do not recommend any of the Rangers which are available only with automatic hubs for farm use.

Not to mention you can not put lockers in most of the front axles of vehicles with push button 4x4 and automatic hubs.

Besides all that, why call or infer another user is a pompous moron. Save that for the Aztec owner

 

"pompous moron" is getting personal and is out of bounds - unless, of course, you are using the second defination of pompous, "full of pomp; stately; magnificent". "moron", though an obsolescent term, is an insult by any defination.
Dono

 

Well, I've owned all kinds of 4x4s...GM and Ford. And I'll tell you this: one of the most unreliable setups I ever owned was a F-150 that had manual hubs and manual t-case shifter. So this crap about manual being better than electronic is all a bunch of garbage. At 40 below, any system is likely to fail. So I like to at least have the convenience of not having to get out of the truck IN the 40 below weather to get unstuck.

 

Tech talk related thread with Personal attack.

Thread Closed