Gotta have a four wheel drive...NOT!!!

[abheye]

I work with 21 guys and two ladies. 3, yes, THREE of us drive two wheel drive vehicles!!!! The rest of them have big bad 4x4 rigs. I tow a 16 ft trailer, and a 24 ft camper, Drive 17 miles to work, and live near Buffalo NY, where some think it snows a bit, but have a 2wd pickup. TV ads push these trucks, and most people really think they need it! You know who you are. As soon as I move to where it snows or rains year around, or I have to drive on dirt roads, then I might consider it. Watch or read the ads and see the hill climbing and forest running they do! I know it's an image thing, ego boost and all, but PLEASE don't tell you really yank that thing into fourbye4 more than twice a year! Now, go to the gas station, they know you by name!!

 

[Mosey]

I live in southern IN where it only snows 3 or 4 times a year. I have a 2WD Chevy pickup and my wife drives a 4x4 Chevy Suburban. There have been days that I could not get up my driveway and she makes it with no problem. The Suburban can make it up the hills around here, which are pretty steep in places, where I can't make it and have to wait for the ice to melt before I can get to town in the pickup. So, even though we don't use it much, it's worth the extra $$ so it's there when we need it. I hate getting stuck. My next pickup will be a 4x4! 4 wheel drive comes in real handy when we go to visit family in northern IN and MI in the winter!

 

[manganos]

Boy did you open up a can of worms Come talk to me when you can follow me in my Jeep Cherokee (4wd station wagon). If you want to see a couple more pics visit the http://photos.yahoo.com/vamangano link I've got 100's more on some DVD-R's too hehe..

I messed up the attatchment. See next post for pic.

 

[manganos]

ahhh forget it but anyways ..... you'll have to trust me.

 

[chim]

First of all, there's a whole lot of things I have that I don't "gotta have", but I work, get paid, spend wisely and have no debt. No harm done to anyone else, except for breathing in my harmful diesel fumes.

One of the great things about the US of A is that we are allowed to drive almost anything we want - most states have inspections that vehicles must pass. Although I don't use it a whole lot, I prefer to have 4WD. When something really needs pulled (especially off the blacktop) 4WD Low does the trick. I have been at events where we parked in grass fields, and the rear tires spun. When it does manage to snow around here I like the extra control I get with 4WD.

I haven't been without a 4WD since 1970, the last 15 years or so the company I work for has provided one.

By the way, is your B7500 a 2WD?. I'd bet there's an old 8N driver out there wondering why in the world they make tractors in 4WD....................chim

 

[RanchMan]

<font color=blue>I work with 21 guys and two ladies. 3, yes, THREE of us drive two wheel drive vehicles!!!! The rest of them have big bad 4x4 rigs.</font color=blue>

Is this really about 4wd capabilities or more about what you think of your coworkers? /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

<font color=blue>As soon as I move to where it snows or rains year around, or I have to drive on dirt roads, then I might consider it. </font color=blue>

So you find your 2wd adequate. Great! But by your own admission, you don't own a 4wd and essentially "refuse" to, so how do you know that you wouldn't find 4wd a useful thing to have? Did you own a 4wd vehicle in the past and have "bad luck" with it? I'm a little curious how you've become such an "expert" on the "down sides" of 4wd. I mean, driving around for a few days in a buddy's rig isn't the same as owning, so I'm just curious how you "know" 4wd is "useless"...../w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

<font color=blue> I know it's an image thing, ego boost and all, but PLEASE don't tell you really yank that thing into fourbye4 more than twice a year! </font color=blue>

Hmmmm. Just because you "feel" you don't need 4wd, it's interesting you immediately stereotype everyone who owns one as some image conscious egomaniac. (coworker thing again?)

Sure, truck commercials ALWAYS have pushed the "toughness" and "capability" of vehicles regardless of 4wd or not - but that's not a recent innovation. Sports cars commercials push the handling/"sportiness". Van/SUV commercials push the "roominess"/"flexibility" aspects. Yes, advertising is just that, something to make people "feel" a certain way in order to push product.

Advertising and "feeling" aspects aside, believe it or not, there are lots of folks out there that don't give a flying flip what someone else thinks of their vehicle. Personally, I've always bought things to please myself - not to impress others. Sure, some folks out there are just the opposite, but it seems like you are "getting down" on 4wd because of people, not because of it's capability.

There's probably no convincing you otherwise, but that's OK. I'm secure in the fact that having owned both types of product, I understand and have experienced the "real world" differences. Although not necessarily a "high value" for some folks, 4wd is better suited to my needs than 2wd.

Do I use it more than twice a year. Yup. Does it offer more capability on the whole? Yup. Has it gotten me out of a "bad situation?" Yup. Has it even prevented the loss of the vehicle itself? Yup. Do you believe me? Probably not, but that's your issue, not mine - seems to me that your initial post was pretty much "begging the question" for someone to tell you otherwise. Welp, there you have it....

 

[Wingnut]

Considering where you are (TBN), I was pretty sure most of the posts would disagree with you ... so, never being afraid to toss my hat into the ring ... here I am.
Being from big snow country, where I actually learned to drive in a standard on an icy parking lot (a LOT of years ago) ... I learned how to hanle ice, snow and rain early. I have never had a 4 wheel drive ... figure one tranny is enough to keep repaired and don't like wasting gas unnecessarily (yeah, I even drive sticks rather than auto tranny if possible since they, too, get better mileage).
I do regret, maybe once every two years, having bought a 2wd ATV ... but not since I discovered how well chains on the back work. I've dug myself into the snow and had to tow it out exactly once.
Like air bags, having 4 wheel drive gives one a false sense of security and makes them take chances they might not in a "lesser" vehicle. Off-road? Hmm, back in my younger days during the CB craze, I belonged to a club and we'd have hare and hound contests on the weekend and I had no problem getting my little Corolla into places to hide out in the boonies. More than once, I drove back to town to get a wrecker to pull some guys with 4x4's out. Of course, I knew I was in a 2wd car and didn't try to ford rivers, traverse swamps or climb trees.
They have their place ... but I agree that 90% of them never get used (properly) in 4wd ... especially all those with the fancy graphics packages.
And, although I have no idea why a discussion on 4wd in cars and trucks has anything to do with tractors ... yes, I have 4wd on my L3710 and have used it 3 times so far to get myself back out of a soft spot. And then I take it out of 4wd and continue on. But then, it is a tractor and is expected to be off-road, in the field and doing work ... not "play"
OK, guys, fire away ... /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Dozernut]

Wait a minute, come to think of it my dozer is a 2 wheel drive! Your right! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif 4 wheel drive, we don't need no stinking 4 wheel drive! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif To each his own! I would rather have this handy tool than be with out it! By the way, mine gets "yanked" into 4 wheel drive, probably a couple of times a week!

 

[bgott]

I agree! I used to follow the four wheel drive guys out in the boonies in my '67 Olds 88 and a few other $100 cars I owed when I lived in Nevada. I went everywhere they went. I even pulled a few out when they got in over their heads. Of course, that's back in the day when I didn't mind spending four hours with a shovel and a high lift jack getting myself out of a bad spot and, being I was driving $100 or less cars, occationally walking off and leaving one.

 

[RanchMan]

Wingnut -

I'll just throw out a quick "practical" example of where I use 4wd on a regular basis. This is by no means the only example I can cite, just something that is "real world."

My ranch has about 210 ft. of elevation change across it. One particular hill on my road system is a fairly steep grade (I consider 20% fairly steep) with lots of very sharp rocks (ranging from fist to basketball size - at least after the dozer "made" the road). There is some dirt too (that turns very slick in rain) and even though I've used the box blade & FEL to "improve" things a bit, it is impossible to remove all the offending material.

Anyway, yes, I can climb this hill on a dry day without 4wd. (I won't get in to the "wet" conditions). So why would I use 4wd if 2wd "works?" Tires.

See, due to the nature of the hill & rocks (again, not "creek stone" but very sharp edges), if I use 2wd there is a fair amount of wheel spin on the rear tires (even with a limited slip diff) - result? Cuts on the sidewalls of $140 tires. With 4wd, due to the extra pull of the front tires, I can "creep" up the hill with virtually 0 wheel spin and no damaged tires.

Does everyone have this issue? No, but I'm not unique either - I've seen this happen before here in Texas on other ranches. If I want to get to the "lower 100" on my place, believe it or not, that road has the least incline compared to every other route. Sure, I could pay thousands of dollars to "fix" my one 1/3 mile hill (actually there are other areas on my place with the same problem) but that would be one spot. Since I go on other folks property (invited of course) that have similar issues or poor roads, my one "hill fix" wouldn't help me there. I could replace tires more often, but $300 every couple of weeks is not a good option in my book either. The practicality of driving my tractor to deliver "stuff" all over the ranch? - er - not. (the tractor doesn't have any "cargo area" and stuff in/on a trailer has a tendency to bounce out or is unprotected from the elements.) 'Course I could always sell my ranch too and not "have" to go "off road." Again, not a "solution" I choose to pursue.

So, for me at least, in this one example (again, there are many others I could bring up, but don't really see the point), yes, 4wd is a very practical, useful feature. My point is not to retort and give every possible situation, just to give a "real world" example as you have.

I'm not saying everybody "needs" 4wd nor that you can't do "a lot" with a 2wd. All I'm saying is that before someone says that they are essentially "worthless dollars" spent on a vehicle, the should look at how other people use them and not stereotype everyone as idiots who don't know the value of a dollar or irresponsible people who try and get themselves in to trouble. I think it's an insult at best, intellectually dishonest at worst.