Snowy Boston, love this Truck, but..

[BOT_ROCKET]

Nothing will break, but it could accelerate wear to the transfer case if there is any sort of discrepancy between the front and rear wheel speed.

The jerking/lurching when you turn isn't caused by binding, btw. That's caused by your brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed. Unless you have the locker engaged, there is no mechanical part to bind when you turn. It's jarring to be sure, but it wont damage anything.

Your fuel economy will tank, though.

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[doug910]

Nothing will break, but it could accelerate wear to the transfer case if there is any sort of discrepancy between the front and rear wheel speed.

The jerking/lurching when you turn isn't caused by binding, btw. That's caused by your brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed. Unless you have the locker engaged, there is no mechanical part to bind when you turn. It's jarring to be sure, but it wont damage anything.

Your fuel economy will tank, though.

No, the jerking is in fact caused by binding and nothing to do with "brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed." Drive a 30 year old truck in 4WD in dry pavement and you'll get the same thing and those trucks definitely didn't come with tech to brake individual wheels. The transfer case is in fact locked when in 4WD, so something needs to give to compensate for the difference in front and rear wheel speed in a corner. The tires will most likely start slipping before the transfer case breaks, but each tire is fighting for traction, which is why you get the jerky motion.

 

[cld3md]

Nothing will break, but it could accelerate wear to the transfer case if there is any sort of discrepancy between the front and rear wheel speed.

The jerking/lurching when you turn isn't caused by binding, btw. That's caused by your brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed. Unless you have the locker engaged, there is no mechanical part to bind when you turn. It's jarring to be sure, but it wont damage anything.

Your fuel economy will tank, though.

Thank you for that. It’s a moot point once we leave New England sometime in February. It’ll be RWD forever after that unless off-roading. Can only imagine what it does to mpg though.

 

[cld3md]

No, the jerking is in fact caused by binding and nothing to do with "brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed." Drive a 30 year old truck in 4WD in dry pavement and you'll get the same thing and those trucks definitely didn't come with tech to brake individual wheels. The transfer case is in fact locked when in 4WD, so something needs to give to compensate for the difference in front and rear wheel speed in a corner. The tires will most likely start slipping before the transfer case breaks, but each tire is fighting for traction, which is why you get the jerky motion.

 

[cld3md]

No, the jerking is in fact caused by binding and nothing to do with "brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed." Drive a 30 year old truck in 4WD in dry pavement and you'll get the same thing and those trucks definitely didn't come with tech to brake individual wheels. The transfer case is in fact locked when in 4WD, so something needs to give to compensate for the difference in front and rear wheel speed in a corner. The tires will most likely start slipping before the transfer case breaks, but each tire is fighting for traction, which is why you get the jerky motion.

Thank you for that. It’s a moot point once we leave New England sometime in February. It’ll be RWD forever after that unless off-roading. Can only imagine what it does to mpg though.

 

[shred5]

That’s the difference between 4WD and An All Wheel Drive (AWD) vehicle. AWD have sensors and couplings that allow for slippage when in dry pavement, or automatically switch between 2WD and 4WD as needed.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cu...JFxumKKZ06MlAZxFDzNq1yknSchyb46N1bMlkgpqKbUzw

That is something I didn't know till after I purchased the Ranger.
I did not know it did not have a AWD option like my Colorado.
That is a real bummer here because we get allot of variable road conditions especially when windy. You do not want 4 wheel the whole time but you hit some road sections that can be really patchy.

 

[VAMike]

That is something I didn't know till after I purchased the Ranger.
I did not know it did not have a AWD option like my Colorado.
That is a real bummer here because we get allot of variable road conditions especially when windy. You do not want 4 wheel the whole time but you hit some road sections that can be really patchy.

I'm not sure I understand why it would really make a difference if you know how to use the 4wd. If you're moving, the traction control is more important than the number of spinning wheels, and if you're stopped it moving slowly then hitting the 4wd button isn't hard. AWD is a nice idiot button to keep you from breaking things if you don't know when to turn off 4wd, but I don't see it as a huge benefit in a truck.

 

[shred5]

I'm not sure I understand why it would really make a difference if you know how to use the 4wd. If you're moving, the traction control is more important than the number of spinning wheels, and if you're stopped it moving slowly then hitting the 4wd button isn't hard. AWD is a nice idiot button to keep you from breaking things if you don't know when to turn off 4wd, but I don't see it as a huge benefit in a truck.

We have allot of farm fields. We can have sections of dry and snow covered and back and forth when the wind picks up. Sometime it can be covered for a few feet to miles and then dry and back and forth. We do not always just have dry or snow covered roads.
I really do not want to be switching between 4HI or 2 Hi continually..
I have always found pick ups to be light in the back and AWD is nice if it feels slippage.

I liked it when I would leave for work in the winter and put it in AWD. I didn't have to worry about trashing my trucks transfer case or tires.. It is a nice feature on my Colorado and I am going to miss it.

 

[doug910]

We have allot of farm fields. We can have sections of dry and snow covered and back and forth when the wind picks up. Sometime it can be covered for a few feet to miles and then dry and back and forth. We do not always just have dry or snow covered roads.
I really do not want to be switching between 4HI or 2 Hi continually..
I have always found pick ups to be light in the back and AWD is nice if it feels slippage.

I liked it when I would leave for work in the winter and put it in AWD. I didn't have to worry about trashing my trucks transfer case or tires.. It is a nice feature on my Colorado and I am going to miss it.

Agreed. AWD doesn't provide much value in terms of objective functionality, but it's definitely nice for the lazy man (me). Ford offers 4A (auto) in the Lariat and above F-150's, so it would have been nice to see the feature in the Ranger too.

 

[chasvs]

That is something I didn't know till after I purchased the Ranger.
I did not know it did not have a AWD option like my Colorado.
That is a real bummer here because we get allot of variable road conditions especially when windy. You do not want 4 wheel the whole time but you hit some road sections that can be really patchy.

The issue comes into play when you are turning where the wheels move at differing speeds because of the turn radius. If you are just travelling on the highway or county roads without significant turn radius differences 4WD can be left engaged. When you get into areas of typical city streets with 90 degree turns, etc. it's time to disengage 4WD unless the streets are snow covered or otherwise slippery.

 

[VAMike]

"just a little slippage" is a matter for traction control, not 4wd.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

No, the jerking is in fact caused by binding and nothing to do with "brakes trying to equalize your left to right wheel speed." Drive a 30 year old truck in 4WD in dry pavement and you'll get the same thing and those trucks definitely didn't come with tech to brake individual wheels. The transfer case is in fact locked when in 4WD, so something needs to give to compensate for the difference in front and rear wheel speed in a corner. The tires will most likely start slipping before the transfer case breaks, but each tire is fighting for traction, which is why you get the jerky motion.

Tire squeaking is caused by binding. The jerking in 30 year old trucks is U joint binding. The jerking in new trucks is not the same as jerking in old trucks.

 

[doug910]

Tire squeaking is caused by binding. The jerking in 30 year old trucks is U joint binding. The jerking in new trucks is not the same as jerking in old trucks.

I'm sorry but you're misinformed.

"Tire squeaking is caused by binding." - Binding where? Also what kind of dry pavement turns are you making in 4HI to make your tires squeal???
"The jerking in 30 year old trucks is U joint binding." - Not true, but nonetheless, which U joint? There are quite a few. A U joint physically cannot bind itself unless you take it out of it's range of motion that it was designed for. Which never happens.

The transfer case's job is to split the supplied torque so that the front axle always gets 50% of the torque and that the rear axle gets 50% of the torque. Never more, never less, as it locks the the two axles together. This means that the front axle is always spinning at the same speed as the rear axle. This is all fine and dandy if you're going in a straight line. When travelling around a corner, the front axle needs to spin at a different speed than the rear axle due to the different arc lengths of their intended path. If the t-case is locking the front and rear axle speeds together, the engine is torque is fighting with the forces generated between the tire and road. This "binding" effect, which is just opposing forces within the drivetrain, is taken up by drivetrain components. Usually, the first to give (i.e. the "weakest link") is the tires' traction, but because you get weird flexing from each tire, you get a bunch of forces in various directions, resulting in a jerking or rocking motion. This concept applies to ANY 4x4 system.

Now, yes, modern electronics may have some effect to the jerking motion. If you do not have your diff locked, the electronic systems may try to brake individual wheels as it detects short bursts of slip in each tire. However, this effect is most likely negligible to the average consumer. If you're not convinced, please turn off stability control, and drive in 4HI in your brand new TACOMA in a parking lot.

 

[treimche]

I have to disagree with those who say AWD is not advantageous over 4 wheel drive. You really need to have experience of driving on roads with varying conditions, as @shred5 described. We get that crap here too. It can be completely clean and dry one minute, then glaze ice the next. AWD is a HUGE advantage over 4x4 in this case where you don't need to worry nearly as much about which wheels are powering the vehicle down the road. You don't really want to drive in those conditions in 4x4 because it is partially dry, but you don't want to drive in 2wd either because you risk the rear tires spinning and throwing you sideways.

Earlier this week on the way to work in the morning I damn near lost it on the highway in my Ranger. Temps were like -10 so all the chemicals they spray on the roads don't work well to melt the ice/snow, but they pretty much create ice. I got slowed up by a slower car so I switched lanes, accelerated (lightly) back up to speed because I figured the road could have been icy, and it was. Rear tires spun and Ranger started going partially sideways at 60mph. Between the Ranger's skid control and myself, it was quickly corrected and on down the highway I went. The moral of the story is that if I would have been locked in 4 wheel drive (or had AWD) this would never have happened.

I will say this though, switching between 2 hi and 4 hi in the Ranger is ultra smooth. I've never heard or felt a clunk or anything, which is the complete opposite from my previous 2 Toyotas.

 

[RoadBoss]

Just wondering if would be a problem if used on mainly slick, snowy roads and came to a dry area.

if you come to dry patches where you are going pretty straight for a short period of time you really don't need to turn off 4wd.

its just for long stretches, or if you're making turns where you need to turn it off. also occasionally forgetting to turn it off and making a turn on dry pavement really isn't going to cause any problems, it will just feel like something is wrong.
if you do it a lot it will certainly accelerate wear on the drivetrain and tires, but every once in a while is really not a big deal.

also the ranger switches so easily and smoothly between 2wd and 4wd it doesn't take long to get used to it.

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