4wd vs. 2wd

cowboydoc · Sep 5, 2003

I'm from pretty much as far out of the city as a person can be and you didn't even try and get out to the ranches without 4wd. I don't think BIG city or 112 people in the nearest town 65 miles away had much to do with whether a person had 4wd or not.

pruntyc · Sep 5, 2003

The roads I was raised on, you was dragging the bottom of the car most of the time, and you were in soft mud. And we got out, never stopped any of us. Then when my younger sister got the farm and her husband couldnt' get into town without his 4wd. Our mail man went everyday in the mud and foot deep snow, all with 2wd. It can be done.

F350Lawman · Sep 5, 2003

Our mail man went everyday in the mud and foot deep snow, all with 2wd. It can be done.

Yeah, but why would you choose that method??? He's the mailman, he has no choice, you and I do. I COULD, given enough time, break up a sidewalk with a carpenters hammer but I'd prefer a sledge..right tool for the right job! That's what 4wd is to offroad/snow, etc, the RIGHT TOOL.

Bird · Sep 5, 2003

Dick, I'd be the first to agree that the driver is a very important factor and that has a great deal to do with whether or not you get stuck, however. . . there are sometimes other factors involved also. I'm not downplaying your driving ability at all, but there are very few people against whom I would not be willing to pit my own driving ability, and I've been stuck a few times in my life in 2WD vehicles; two that I can think of that were due to my error /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. And unlike many of the guys on this forum, I've never stuck a tractor in a way that I couldn't drive out of, but I've several times been where I know I'd have had to be pulled out if I hadn't had 4WD. And the fact that I've never stuck a tractor, 2WD or 4WD, and others have, is not something I attribute to my driving skill or their lack of driving skill. Some of these guys have posted pictures of their stuck tractors in places where there is no doubt whatsoever that I would have been stuck, too. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

So, yes, driver ability is a major factor, but so is 2WD vs. 4WD, as is type of vehicle, weight of vehicle, type of tires, etc.

Golfgar4 · Sep 5, 2003

Boy Dick,

You're kind of getting ganged up on, aren't you? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I know exactly what all of these fellows are talking about, and quite honestly, I will have 4wd on my tractor when I get it. In fact, 2wd has never been a consideration.

But I support your decision and belief in 2wd being totally acceptable to some people. And you know what? I bet that just about every one of these other fellows support your choice too.

I guess the way I see it is this. Yes, I can cook on an open fire and have a pretty good meal, but it sure is a lot easier to cook on a gas top stove! Or I can use an old fashioned egg beater and get a real fine batter, but an electric mixer is faster and easier. But sometimes, it's fun to use the "old fashioned" way of doing things. Or heaven's to betsy, the old fashioned way might actually be easier or faster! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

As far as I know, you have always been a big fan of 2wd, especially since you seem to be defending it quite often. I just wanted you to know that there are some of us (the majority I believe! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif) that support your right to believe that, and anything else you want to believe in. I admire your willingness to not give in to the "majority". /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

pruntyc · Sep 5, 2003

OK guys, I'll explain more of it to you. First I was raised at a time when there was no 4wd, I'm sure I'm older than most of you. And I was raise in a country that was mostly very steep hills. I never have liked chains and haven't used them but a couple of times, for I remember how they beat the fenders of my stepdads car, when I was young, he used them some times, not often. So I in the early 40's as I was driveing about in the winter time, I found out snow tires worked great, Firestone was the ones that I thought worked best. And I found that if I would work at it, find out what worked to get up the hills. I could go just about anywhere, and most couldn't, I liked that. Then one day I was at my grandfathers and I noticed he didn't have snow tires. Of course like I was saying, he learned to drive on snow at a time, when there were no snow tires. So I asked him why don't you get snow tires? And he said what for, I don't need them. And you know he was right. Here I was a better snow and ice driver than most, and he was a whole lot better snow and ice driver than me. He loved to coon hunt at night and went on those back country roads that were snow covered and never saw a snow plow. And he never had a problem. Sure made me scratch my head. HOW???? So I guess I will have to admit, it probably would be easier to do somethings with 4wd, just like it probably would have been easier for my grandfather to have done it with snow tires. But he didn't try the snow tires, and I haven't tryed the 4wd. There now are you all happy???????????????????????? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

F350Lawman · Sep 5, 2003

So, yes, driver ability is a major factor, but so is 2WD vs. 4WD, as is type of vehicle, weight of vehicle, type of tires, etc.

EXACLTY

Bottom line..if your're a great driver in 2wd and almost never get stuck you'll be even better in 4wd and maybe NEVER get stuck. Some guys make it sound like if you have 4wd it must be that you need it because you lack the extraordinary driving skills of the 2wd drivers. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

4wd and good driving IS the ULTIMATE combination.

When it snows I use 2wd most of the time and when it begins to be a compromise in handling I flick the switch on the dash for 4wd. Now I could get by with 2wd but it's very nice to have those front wheels pulling themselves around the corner. A totally different feeling then working it in 2wd. Other times the snow was so deep my truck would not have gotten out of the driveway in 2wd. Just wouldn't go through bumber high snow I don't care who was at the wheel unless he was REAL good with a shovel. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

P.S. I have yet to try but I will guarantee that if the snows are the same height this year this tractor WILL NOT plow in 2wd without all sorts of weight and chains. Watching my neighbors in their tractors last year I know it WILL plow in 4wd w/o any extra weight or chains.

pruntyc · Sep 5, 2003

I'm not sure about if I wouldn't have gotten out of your drive way. I was living in Detroit and we got a 13 inch snow. Some people were getting out of their cars and leaveing them. I drove over to another part of town and got my pay check and then back and around quite a bit for, to find a place to cash it as some of the banks closed because that is a lot of snow there. I even got behind a car that a wrecker was trying to tow and he couldn't get it to move, and I nugged it so he could get going, and in all those miles in 13 inches of snow with some drifts. So yes I think I would have got out of your driveway with 2wd. Not trying to be a know it all or a smart aleck, just telling you as I see it, from what I've done in the past.

BobG_in_VA · Sep 5, 2003

Which model IH do you have?? I assume an IH utility tractor, but I also assume it does not have loaded rear tires. Personnally, I have a 60 HP MFWD shuttle shift (fully syncho) with a 78" bucket FEL (16.9 inch rears AND loaded). I also have a '57 Farmall 230 tricycle front end (11.2 X 36 rears). One must alway look at what one is doing prior to saying what's "best". Have any of you folks with a Utility tractors with MFWD, or a CUT, ever tried to cultivate corn with it?? Sorry Joe, ain't gonna get it; You'll masacre your crop. Now put the old Farmalls out there which will turn on its own axis without even using the brakes and you got something. Any of you "farmers" out there ever had more than one tractor that was there for purposes such as these?? (Most of this post is tongue in cheek, but a number of you guys will slowly nod your heads up and down as you read this. You're the guys that have "been there, done that, even got the T-shirt") BobG in VA