4 wheel drive High question.

[Blue88Comanche]

My user manual says I can use 4x4 high an speed on slippery or loose surfaces. Can I use 4x4 high on the street if it is heavy rain? Or what do they mean by slippery?

[jimoshel]

What they mean by 'slippery' is if you go to fast and lose traction, you're going to slide off the road. 4wd on a rainy, wet surface will help maintain control. If your tires are bald then nothing is going to help.

[jeepcoma]

"Slippery" to me means dirt, sand, or rocks. I would never, ever use 4x4 on pavement, except if I was stuck in the snow. You do not want to use it continuously unless it's around-town speeds and the entire road is covered with snow.

 

I disagree that 4x4 in the rain will help maintain control. It won't help you steer, stop, or avoid hydroplaning. It won't give you more traction. In fact, it might enourage you to drive faster than road conditions warrant due to overconfidence.

 

4x4 is useful for propelling you forward only, which is good for getting unstuck from snow.

[Eagle]

Slippery means the tires are slipping on the surface even at low speed. I would not use 4WD part-time in rain under any conditions. It might be safe to do so in very heavy rain if you have tires that lose traction easily on wet pavement -- what I refer to as "greasy" tires. The problem is, of course, that one section of pavement may be more or less slippery than another section. If the tires have traction, in 4WD the system binds up and things break.

[Blue88Comanche]

thanks for the input! I was wondering about the 4x4 high on the road thanks for the info. :D

[acfortier]

Hell, you could really run 4x4 on pavement if you wanted to, but don't plan on taking sharp turns...

[Sir Sam]

All I have to say is that I :heart: my NP242.

[xjrev10]

All I have to say is that I :heart: my NP242.

:cheers: for a DD yes. I had one in my 00 XJ. It never left full-time from November to April.

[Sir Sam]

All I have to say is that I :heart: my NP242.

:cheers: for a DD yes. I had one in my 00 XJ. It never left full-time from November to April.

 

Wow, sounds like a long $#!&ty winter.

[Eagle]

Hell, you could really run 4x4 on pavement if you wanted to, but don't plan on taking sharp turns...

It's surprising just how gradual a turn it takes to result in one wheel traveling enough farther than another. The Trac-Loks in both my 87 MJ and 2000 XJ are quite tight, and they tend to ratchet a bit on corners. But all it takes is the sweep of an exit ramp off a limited access highway, for example.

 

And that's just the difference between the two wheels on the rear axle. Going around any corner, the rear axle travels a tighter radius than the front axle, so it really doesn't take much driving at all to start binding up the transfer case.