Silly 4x4 question

[LD1]

He was asking basic 4wd level '101' questions, and we're throwing curveballs.

Agreed. And I cannot add anything as it pertains to the OP that hasnt already been said.

Just dont like leaving mis-information floating out there. Thats exactly how we get to this point. People spreading bad information that they read somewhere, and goes uncorrected. If it wasnt for the mis-information, I wouldnt have posted in this thread.

 

[3930dave]

I'll go off on a tangent, then hopefully tie it back into this thread....

Late 2000s, I went to a one day motorcycle safety seminar presented by our Provincial Police, and sponsored by BMW. It was really well put together, and it was immediately obvious that the folks presenting (members of the force's precision riding team) were Riders, who just happened to be LEOs.

When talking about starting up in the Spring, after being off a bike all Winter, the sargeant used the following story to illustrate the importance of taking the time to re-familiarize yourself with control placement/layout/function before exercising the tachometer:

Start of the season, some brand new police bikes had to ridden some distance to another detachment. Members of the riding team assemble at HQ, fire up the bikes, and head off late in the day. Seems the new bikes had slightly different control layouts than previous models. One of the riders (fortunately, the last in line) went to signal his lane-change as he pulled back in front of a transport truck that they were passing, and managed to instead, flick the emergency kill switch and shut his engine down.

He was able to recover safely, but that example will always stick with me - that was a significant mistake that was made by a very experienced rider, mostly due to just a slightly different control layout.

I think OP has received useful feedback in this thread - all good. Dense, multi-layered information may take more than one read through to extract all the information, but that's normal - the first important take-away is that 4wd systems are both more complicated, and also less-bulletproof, than they first appear.

Later parts of this discussion have me thinking about how we used to teach ourselves Winter driving skills in the olde days..... go find an empty snow covered large parking lot late at night, and play. That's the only way to really learn Winter vehicle limits.

Tractor wise, there's a good parallel with going out to play in a safe area to gain complete understanding of what exactly each control does, what the traction limits are, and what to do when it looks like you are about to get stuck. Bonus points if you do that in a spot that is easy to access with a recovery vehicle, AND you have one around.

Understanding exactly what each control does is a big part of safe operation of any machine. Reflexively putting hands/feet where needed w/o having to think about it is where muscle memory can save the day.

Rgds, D.

 

[gwstang]

"It's not only engine braking that you get by using 4wd. When 4wd is engaged the rear differential is tied to the front differential, so applying the brakes to the rear also applies them to the front. "

I have wondered how that works. Makes sense now.

 

[airbiscuit]

I'll go off on a tangent, then hopefully tie it back into this thread....

Late 2000s, I went to a one day motorcycle safety seminar presented by our Provincial Police, and sponsored by BMW. It was really well put together, and it was immediately obvious that the folks presenting (members of the force's precision riding team) were Riders, who just happened to be LEOs.

When talking about starting up in the Spring, after being off a bike all Winter, the sargeant used the following story to illustrate the importance of taking the time to re-familiarize yourself with control placement/layout/function before exercising the tachometer:

To also get off tangent, a few decades ago a DNR firefighter operating a Cat and ditching plow died when a forest fire crowned and overtook him. When they did the investigation, they found that there were several different variables, whereby if even one had been different,the fatality would not have occurred. One of those was the fact that the different firefighting agencies had different radios that couldn't communicate with each other. Perhaps the biggest variable was that he was operating a brand new cat. Unfortunately the controls were the reverse of what he was accustomed to. When he saw the fire coming he jammed the lever, but instead of raising the ditching plow, he buried it and killed the engine. He was unable to recover from that error and the scorching heat overtook him.

You are correct to remind us that we need to understand our equipment, our controls and situations that could surprise us.

(If you ever want a good read - "Young Men and Fire" is a book about the deaths of 13 smoke jumpers whose fate was sealed the minute they jumped out of the plane.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I figure I'll leave well enough alone and keep it in 4x4.

I run my B26 almost always in 4 WD as long as I am in my pasture. If I go on any hard surface like a road or concrete drive, I put it in 2 WD to traverse that area. If I forget, I can see the black marks on the concrete where the front tires are spinning (they turn a bit faster groundspeed than the rears) when I am driving straight down the concrete.
My LS P7010 almost always is in 2 WD unless I need 4WD for traction. It has auto-engage on the front wheels anytime the brakes are pressed which keeps you from loosing traction when going downhill like you hear a lot of here on TBN.