How important is 4WD on a duallie?

[JDgreen227]

I thought I posted this, but maybe I didn't. I work outside a lot during summer and sometimes there is pavement all the way to the stage, sometimes there isn't (at least once a week.) When there isn't I have plenty of equipment that is not meant to be pushed across grass, so I really need to be able to park my trailer as close as possible to where that equipment is being setup, otherwise it will be manual labor pushing heavy things on hard casters across wet grass, and that is really hard to do!

I uploaded a picture of some of it (there's way more not in the picture.) If you click it you see that #7, a case on casters full of amplifiers. That case weighs 300# and it is basically impossible to push it across grass without two guys. Those large subwoofers are on similar casters and weigh about 170#. Plus carrying all those small items a few dozen more feet, it doesn't sound like a lot of work, but try doing it a few times a week for a whole summer, and you too would appreciate the utility of 4WD allowing you to park your truck as close as possible!

I use my 4WD for real work on a routine basis. If you can push a 4000# trailer up a wet, grassy hill in reverse without doing any damage to the customer's grass and without using 4WD, you must have a better truck than me or more skill on the pedals. 4WD saves me time and money!

Jeff, yes, YOU DID POST how much you used 4wd but I did not read your initial post fully. Sorry that you had to repost the info. Me bad.....

 

[Diamondpilot]

I go some where at least once a week I could not without 4x4. Just used it 10 minutes ago after a bunch of rain. I would not have made it 3 feet without it.


Chris

 

[scoutcub]

Get the 4wd. I've been in at least 2 situations with an 06 dually where I was in a bad way and would have been absolutely screwed if I couldn't reach up and engage that magic little 4wd button......the peace of mind is worth $$$$$$.

 

[earljr59]

Newbury,you have a lot of experienced truck drivers giving very good advice from many years of ownership. Brand loyalty aside,all of us who have owned 2wd duallys know how helpless they are. I had a gmc and dodge ext. cabs and they were equally awfull in wet grass and on my hills in the winter. Yesterday I had a trailer load of lumber and couldnt backup in dry grass/sloped yard. Kicked in 4wd and saved the day.For all the 2wd owners that dont need 4wd thats fine,but for my uses I will never own another 2wd truck.Dually or not I have never heard anyone say they regret buying a 4wd. And they seem to resale better around here as well,be it for work or pleasure.

 

[slowzuki]

Oh ok, well, I use 4wd for less than 1/100 of 1% of the mileage on the truck, but it pays for itself. I rarely need it for more than 100 ft, but any time its wet and theres a trailer attached, and I'm off pavement, it gets used.

I rarely use 4x4 in the snow in the winter, we gets lots of it but I only need it 2 or 3 times a winter just to get up our steep driveway. On the highway, 6-12" of snow is fine in 2wd with good tires.

If you are really careful about not having to back out uphill from wet places, and don't take trailers off pavement, I'd say no 4wd is fine. But once you have 4wd and get used to it, you will find your self getting stuck in a 2wd truck all the time.

Nowhere here do I see any inkling of just HOW MUCH anybody, especially OP, drives in or actually uses 4WD!!!

 

[JDgreen227]

Oh ok, well, I use 4wd for less than 1/100 of 1% of the mileage on the truck, but it pays for itself. I rarely need it for more than 100 ft, but any time its wet and theres a trailer attached, and I'm off pavement, it gets used.

I rarely use 4x4 in the snow in the winter, we gets lots of it but I only need it 2 or 3 times a winter just to get up our steep driveway. On the highway, 6-12" of snow is fine in 2wd with good tires.

If you are really careful about not having to back out uphill from wet places, and don't take trailers off pavement, I'd say no 4wd is fine. But once you have 4wd and get used to it, you will find your self getting stuck in a 2wd truck all the time.

I don't know about that last statement... From 1991 thru 2000, I lived in a rural area that got heavy snowfall and wasn't all that well maintained during winter. I drove a '90 F-150 13 miles one way to work, often started work at 6 am before the plows were out. It was a 2wd, no posi, had really good snow tires and about 400 pounds of steel plate over the rear axle. Yet I never got stuck or off road in about 200 commutes in really bad weather. I think a really careful, capable, experienced driver can get by with 2wd for commuting purposes 95% of the time, even in snow belt states. Yet, it's that 5%, when you are in a really low traction situation or towing, that even the most skilled driver can use an edge, that 4wd really pays for itself. In severe weather, when I make a run to the store with my GMC, I will leave it in 2wd the whole trip, except when I get home, and I have to back up an incline to get in my north barn, with a few inches of clearance on each side for the mirrors...wife tried in in 2wd one time, cost $400 to replace one side mirror....

My main issue with 4wd is that too many bad drivers think that because their vehicle has 4wd, they are magically immune to the laws of friction, gravity, and inertia, and they drive like they are.

 

[slowzuki]

My last statement is only that when you have 4wd, you will put your truck places knowing you've got 4wd to get out. It takes a while to adjust to erring on the side of caution after having 4wd.

 

[Renze]

I dont have a lot of experience with pickup trucks as they are scarce in Europe, but i do remember pushing my cousins Dodge 2500 2wd from a farm yard, spinning like crazy on the grass behind a farmyard, after unloading it. This cousin wanted a 2wd because he mostly made highway trips all over Ontario, and he said 2wd would improve his annual fuel bill.

In heavy trucks, Poclain is selling a hydrostatic front wheel drive, which MAN was the first to sell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnlxU5vXN40&feature=related

MAN HydroDrive - YouTube

It gives the benefits of 2wd (lower weight, no rotating driveline mass=lower friction=lower fuel consumption) with the added traction of 4wd.

These special orbit motors, when the front wheels roll without pressure from the pump, all pistons will be pushed back into null position and the hub will rotate freely just like a non-driven hub.

Its about time they put that on pickup trucks too...

 

[Soundguy]

i wouldn't think running a 4wd truck in 2wd would drastically kill it's fuel economy over a 2wd truck.

it will be a lil heavier.. but in the real world at the end of the year.. what's that equal in fuel? a tank every multiple thousand miles?

soundguy

 

[JDgreen227]

i wouldn't think running a 4wd truck in 2wd would drastically kill it's fuel economy over a 2wd truck.

it will be a lil heavier.. but in the real world at the end of the year.. what's that equal in fuel? a tank every multiple thousand miles?

soundguy

As the OP of the thread here on TBN about reducing fuel consumption by removing the FEL from my tractor when not actually using the FEL, I better keep my mouth shut about this one....:laughing: