Danielw1

In the past recent snowstorm we had, I left my truck in 4H to and from work. I've just never liked switching in and out every time I need it, maybe its harmless and better than leaving it in but I wanted to know what others are doing.
Roads I drive on were snow/ice then hwy that was partly just pavement (never over 50mph). It seemed better to leave it in 4 than try and engage at stop light and r/r xing. Other than snow I only use it in slippery mud going in and out of goose hunting fields etc..

nlitend1

When the road has no snow.or ice back to 2wd regardless of speed at the time.

nlitend1

And yes its pain in the ****. Lariat next time for the 4A.

Trailbreak74

Not sure what options your truck has but if it's like mine you can shift on the fly. No reason not to shift into 2wd if the road is clear. Can easily shift to 4wd again if it gets bad.

Patchy roads are a pain, but if I think more than two wheels could be on ice at a time I go 4wd.

KYBuckeye

Yep. I wouldn't leave in in 4H longer than the conditions necessitate. Dry pavement is a no no.

lutter5-0

But why is it a nono. I'd leave it in. Its light years past my 92s 4x4 system.

zx12-iowa

As long as no sharp turns on dry pavement in 4x4, u can leave it i 4x4. 4x4 is fine going straight on dry pavement and 4x4 is ok at any speed.

Telamonster

There is no center differential in these trucks, so even the smallest deviation in wheel speed between the front and rear axles on good tarmac will result in building stress in the drive train. Hopefully that stress is relieved by your tires slipping, but it might end up breaking something instead. There is also the hazard of builtup stress relieving in an unexpected manner when one wheel hits a patch of ice or dirt on the road. Where an unloaded wheel would just ride over the ice at roughly the running speed of the truck, the builtup stresses could make this wheel accelerate while on the ice and then have to decelerate quickly once you left the ice patch, further threatening control of the truck.

bloodytosser

The only difference between the '92 system and the new ones is that the old one was likely a mechanical floor shifter and the new ones are hydraulic actuated.
As telamonster said, any deviation between the front tire speed and the rear tire speed (either by turning or if the wheels are slightly different sized), there will be binding in the drive-train.
A slight difference likely won't do much if any harm, but it still is not recommended. That's why having 4 auto is nice. My RAV4 had 4 auto and worked great in the snow.

Great white

iTrader: (1)

Nope.

It's "shift on the fly" not full time 4wd.

In too long on dry pavement and you can get driveline binding.

Tire differences were mentioned. The other thing is not all gear sets are created equal. You have the same final ratio in the front and rear differentials, but there's always a small difference between them. As the miles accumulate on dry pavement in 4wd, so does the small differences and soon; driveline binding. As long as the surface you are on allows for some slippage, you can stay in 4WD as the tire slippage prevents driveline binding.

Driveline binding can cause all manner of things from odd handling (most often noticed as "hopping" when turning) to noise or even (if left in 4wd on dry roads long enough) component damage.

My current truck is a Lariat 502A and has 4A, but my previous was "shift on the fly". Locking hubs and levers before that.

I just popped it into 4wd when I needed it and popped back out again as soon as I could. Normally, it was just taking off from a stop and then back into 2wd. When it was levers and hubs, I'd leave the hubs locked in bad weather/winter and slip the lever in and out of 4WD as needed.

I pretty much do the same thing with 4A (old habits die hard) that I used to do with 4WD, although I'm a little more relaxed about when I shift it back into 2wd. I go back into 2wd for the incremental increase in MPG. If the whole road is bad or we're in, say...a blizzard, it stays in 4A.

But I'm back into 2WD as soon as I feel it is safe to do so.