I have owned my last 2 wheel drive pickup

[QRTRHRS]

"Riding into the sunset" as I simplify and downsize, I only have one vehicle, an E350 11 passenger van with two of the passenger seats in storage so I can haul things as needed. The van gets stuck on snot! The braking system traction control is useless.

So, when I need to get back to my barn with a trailer load of hay, I am back to where I was growing up in northern eastern PA, putting my chains on. No big deal with a set of slotted blocks to drive up on.

When it snows, I don't need to be out in it anyway. I plan ahead and if I have an appointment, I simply reschedule as needed. Works for me.

 

[Jstpssng]

"Riding into the sunset" as I simplify and downsize, I only have one vehicle, an E350 11 passenger van with two of the passenger seats in storage so I can haul things as needed. The van gets stuck on snot! The braking system traction control is useless.

So, when I need to get back to my barn with a trailer load of hay, I am back to where I was growing up in northern eastern PA, putting my chains on. No big deal with a set of slotted blocks to drive up on.

When it snows, I don't need to be out in it anyway. I plan ahead and if I have an appointment, I simply reschedule as needed. Works for me.

Not all of us have that luxury. I often have to drive drive roads where no sane person would go. I travel ice and snow covered woods roads all winter, sharing them with 100K lb log trucks or bigger. If I don't want to drive in a snowstorm it's a vacation day for me, and I prefer to save those for better days. Actually, those are the days I try to get to the office, which is 95 miles away.

 

[Modeere318]

Big diesel pickups are the worst as far as light in the rear. A Cummins weighs 1100 lb - twice the weight of a gas engine. I found to my dismay that if the front tires are in anything soft and you try to back up, the rear tires don't have enough weight on them to back up. Have to use 4wd and have the front tires help.

But I detest the new electric-engaging transfer cases. I want a manual lever that I can pull and KNOW that it is now in 4wd. Here's a screen shot some guy posted after getting stuck in his new electric-everything 4wd:
View attachment 733520

He ended up getting pulled out by a couple Jeeps, and no idea why the "system" suddenly decided to disable 4wd.

You can probably blame it on the traction control feature. I had a Buick Rendezvous whick did that. I figured out that I had accelerated to test the traction like I done many times before. Then I didn't have all wheel drive. Had to turn it off and then restart it to have all wheel drive.

 

[jyoutz]

You can probably blame it on the traction control feature. I had a Buick Rendezvous whick did that. I figured out that I had accelerated to test the traction like I done many times before. Then I didn't have all wheel drive. Had to turn it off and then restart it to have all wheel drive.

It’s the heavy Cummins motor. I had a 99 with Cummins before traction control. I had to use 4x4 in any slick conditions. There is no weight on the rear axle and plenty on the front.

 

[Oaktree]

Are you old enough to remember when Chevy and Dodge went to vacuum lines to engage the front end? Talk about a cluster...

Didn't know Dodge did it, but I had an early 90s Blazer with that arrangement. Never really had much of a problem with it. Remember having to replace a vacuum switch at some point, don't recall what the symptoms were, but don't think it prevented it from going into 4WD.

 

[Oaktree]

I know the topic is trucks, but the traction control on my wife's Prius will leave you stuck on a dead level icy road. The computer detects poor traction on both wheels and simply stops. Never would have believed it had my wife not gotten "stuck" like that at our mailbox.

Not quite that bad, but the TC on the turdra I had for a company truck in the late 00s/early teens would suck you right into the ditch in snow or mud off road. Don't recall if there was a way to turn it off.

 

[jjeff]

Question are we talking about a vacuum line operated transfer case or what gm used to lock the hubs automatically? I believe in the 70s some old GMC trucks didn't have manual lockouts but folks would put manual ones in later.

 

[Jstpssng]

Question are we talking about a vacuum line operated transfer case or what gm used to lock the hubs automatically? I believe in the 70s some old GMC trucks didn't have manual lockouts but folks would put manual ones in later.

I was referring to the front end, which used vacuum to engage the front end. My 91 Dakota had the system, but by ‘93 the front was turning all of the time, you just engaged the transfer case to have 4WD. There was no way of putting manual hubs on, that was an altogether different system. (Although Ford did have hubs which you can lock from the cab, but also had a manual override.)

 

[jjeff]

Ahh the old "Dakota's" don't see many of those on the road anymore. Unless it's on a rollback or stinger.

 

[Oaktree]

Ahh the old "Dakota's" don't see many of those on the road anymore. Unless it's on a rollback or stinger.

Define "old". My 01's still going strong, you see a lot of 2nd gen ('96-04) around. 3rd gen, not so much...Daimler really screwed that one up.
Other than maybe Rangers, more than any other less-than-fullsize trucks. Pretty rare to see an S-10 or Japanese trucks that old.