NH TC25D, leaving in 4WD

[deepsnow]

Any reason not to leave the tractor in 4WD mode more or less permanently? So far (+26 hrs), work load & terrain has required 4WD assist. Have been leaving 4WD engaged while parked overnight(s). If the snow ever shows up 4WD assist will be necessary to push/pull/load snow. Probably need 4WD just to get up a cleared snowpacked drive. Basically in 4WD mode till Spring.

 

[Bird]

No problem leaving it in 4WD if you stay off hard surfaces like pavement. The tires need to slip a little and they will on grass, dirt, gravel, snow, ice, etc., but not on dry pavement.

 

[DVerbarg]

Deepsnow,

Not sure about the Boomer Class II units but know that on the class III units there is no problem (like Bird said). I found that I did not need to manually override to full time 4wd but let the transmission (Sensi-Trak) determine when 4wd was necessary. This usually works well for me but admit that I engage full time 4wd when working on slopes.

DaveV

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I tend to look at 4WD like on my truck... I'm in 2WD most of the time... until I need it...

Also constant MFWD will cause unnecessary wear on the front tires... and I'm not eager to change the tires until I need to.../w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif
{besides... what does it take an extra 4 or 5 seconds to engage?}/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[jinman]

I think it depends predominantly on what you are doing most of the time. I have 165 hr on my TC45D and I suspect all but about 20 of those have been in MFWD because I constantly am going up and down steep slopes or just working in loose dirt where I get much better directional control. I think tire wear on dirt is almost nil. I'd fully expect to replace my tires from old age before the tread wears out if I didn't regularly work on paved surfaces. That has been my experience with my two other tractors. Essentially, I'd just say you have to use good judgement based on how you personally use your tractor and the terrain of your property. When mowing, I always switch to 2WD, but when doing dirt work or pushing trees (which I do a lot of) I stay in 4WD. ...my two cents worth.

JimI

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...based on how you personally use your tractor and the terrain of your property. When mowing, I always switch to 2WD, but when doing dirt work or pushing trees (which I do a lot of) I stay in 4WD...</font color=blue>

Jim is absolutely right, everyone uses their unit differently... the one point I was trying to illustrate... the MFWD is switchable... but if you're knee deep in muck most of the time... ya gots to use it... most of the time... /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[JohnT]

Deep,

In the past I would park my TC45D in my shop - concrete floor - after hard days work still in FWD. I don't do it anymore, because the left front wheel would drag - not freely rotate - as I backed out of my shop. Note: this didn't happen all the time, but it did happen more than a couple of times. These days I make it a habit to take it out of FWD, while still in dirt or grass, before driving into the shop. It has never happen again.

John

 

[MikePA]

This reminds of the time my wife first had to use 4WD in our Chevy pickup. She and her sister had trailered the horses to a local trail ride where they parked in a field. She needed to come back home for a few hours, so she unhooked the trailer, and went to leave. The rear wheels began spinning on the wet grass (spring time), so she put it in 4WD and drove home.

When I got home from work, the truck was parked at a very odd angle in the turnaround part of our driveway. Additionally, there was a light, but distinct, black trail of rubber that began at the road and continued directly to the right front tire of the truck. (In order to enter our driveway, you have to make a 90 degree turn off the road. To get into the turnaround, you have to make another 90 degree turn.)

I did not go directly into the house, rather I went to the truck having a pretty good idea what I'd find. She had driven into our driveway, on drive pavement, in 4WD. The reason the truck was at such an odd angle was it could not be driven any further into the turnaround because the driveline was all bound up. I got the truck out of 4WD and then politely explained the facts of 4WD to my wife.

Well, she took this instruction to heart. The next time she got stuck in the truck, again with the trailer but this time loaded with a horse. She forgot the truck had 4WD and spun the rear tires. Finally, her riding instructor heard the spinning tires and came out to where my wife was parked/stuck and asked, "Doesn't this truck have 4WD?". My wife's response, "Oh, you're right, it does.". 4WD got her unstuck and this time she remembered to take it out of 4WD before she got back on the road. BTW, you should have seen the front of the trailer after the rear tires spun. At least I knew the limited slip differential worked because both sides of the front of the trailer we covered in mud. The only thing I could do was let it dry, then scrape it off with a wide blade putty knife.

Moral of the story: If you're going to use 4WD, as others have advised, make sure the tires are on a surface where they can slip. Also be very careful about changing wheel/tire sizes between the front and rear axles from the sizes that your tractor came with.

 

[paccorti]

As everyone has said it all depends on your personal preference. Lately, I've been digging out my pond. As you can imagine this is a wet, slippery kind of mess. There are lots of opportunities to get stuck. I stay in 2wd all the time except when I really need 4wd. For me, it is comforting to know that when I lose traction I still have some reserve traction (fwd) that I can engage. Obviously that is not practical if I needed 4wd all the time.

I might add that digging out a pond has been one of the fun-est jobs I performed with the tractor. Lots of soft dirt (mud) to move. Makes the pond look better. Lots of sliding, slipping wheelspin throwing mud all over the place. It's great /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif!

Peter