When to use four wheel drive?

[cphilip]

Different conditions warrant different drive selection. Stupid to be in 4WD driving on pavement and stupid to not use it with the FEL and/or hills is what seems to be the consensus.

Likely... Im always on hilly ground dirt and pasture and never on pavement. I simply do not need 2 wheel drive 99% of the time.

Now that being said, on my 4 wheel drive trucks... I am on pavement 99% of the time. And engage 4 wheel drive when I need it which is rare but necessary if I am slipping in wet grass. And sometimes just to keep things lubricated.

In the end, I keep the tractor in 4 wheel drive. I seriously doubt this wear and tear theory has much concern when one needs to be in 4 wheel drive almost all the time anyway. The wear should be even and expected by design. Im only at like 68 hours but Ive yet to "need" 2 wheel drive. And almost always need 4 wheel drive.

 

[ovrszd]

My guess is that those of you that only engage 4WD when you think you need it, generally flatlanders. As I have mentioned before, I am off pavement most all of the time and on slopes and/or bumpy or unstable ground. 4WD is the default and is a safety thing for me.

My uses are primarily steep timber. I only engage when needed.

 

[dragoneggs]

My uses are primarily steep timber. I only engage when needed.

Have you slid down a hill out of control before?

 

[/pine]

It's very easy to get absorbed in the tractor work, get interrupted or distracted and forget you are working in 2 WD...then all it takes is just starting down a grade and it can be too late to remember before the rears break traction...

 

[ovrszd]

Have you slid down a hill out of control before?

One time on frozen ground with chains on.

 

[PhysAssist]

I never put my 2WD tractors in 4WD. :rotfl:

Whether I put my 4WD tractors in 2WD depends on the property. Where I live it is mostly sloped and if the tractor is on pavement it is in 2WD, otherwise 4WD. On one farm where it is mostly flat and has no pavement, they are in 2WD unless using the loader or box blade, etc. On the other place where there are largely hills and minimal pavement they stay in 4WD.

There is A SUCCINCT [oops caps lock stuck] description of a truly rational approach!

I also never had any experience with a 4WD tractor until 2011, despite having been a tractor-driving farm worker from 1969 on- [by virtue of being adopted by my aunt & uncle each summer from age 10-18 y/o] i.e., most of my formative years- when by the way, as my pay consisted of room and board- they had me doing a ton of stuff that OSHA and other Big Brother agencies frown on today- from daybreak to at least dusk...

BUT, they had flat farm land, and the worst hazards there were wet sloughs in some of the fields, which had been reclaimed from wetlands.

...And I'm not at all sure that 4WD would have been enough there.

For us, it usually meant getting my uncle's wrecker and running chains/cables from a solid spot to the stuck tractor with the drag, plow, or other implement unhitched, and then having to go around behind and pull the implement out of harm's way afterwards.

Also- it meant getting ROYALLY chewed out by said uncle for having wasted so much time, effort, and gas/diesel- something he was a virtuoso at, needless to say, we got pretty careful about not pushing the boundaries of those areas.

 

[PhysAssist]

Different conditions warrant different drive selection. Stupid to be in 4WD driving on pavement and stupid to not use it with the FEL and/or hills is what seems to be the consensus.

Again pretty much a succinct distillation of the common-sense approach- although you forgot- *or where traction is/could be iffy, regardless of anything else*.

 

[goeduck]

My guess is that those of you that only engage 4WD when you think you need it, generally flatlanders. As I have mentioned before, I am off pavement most all of the time and on slopes and/or bumpy or unstable ground. 4WD is the default and is a safety thing for me.

After seeing some of your pictures you might want to consider wearing a parachute and equipping that B with an ejection seat.

 

[goeduck]

I forgot to mention one time that I have my B21 in 4WD while on pavement (Backhoe off and the drawbar on). I have a concrete boat launch and I have it in 4WD both when launching and hauling out. The ramp is a little steep in one spot just before the high tide level and the last thing I need is do is to go skidding and jackknifing into the saltwater. The ramp does get some sand and leaves on it, not so much seaweed.

 

[dragoneggs]

One time on frozen ground with chains on.

Doesn’t count. Ha ha. Kidding.