shotgun

Ahh - I understand.

Like you said, just before you get to the pavement, shift into 2WD and you'll do fine.

JJ1983

I climb this 30 ft or so levee we have here in Southeast Texas pretty often. When I get to the top, I turn around on the paved road with NO issues or vibration (open diff int he front, no locker). My Bronco didn't do it, my brothers Bronco or Kia Sorento 4x4 don't do it either.

Now, my bro had an older F150 (a 1989 I think) with a locker some one installed in the front. It DID do that because the differential would lock up when it sensed a difference in wheel speed. But tht is the only one I remeber doing that. Like I said, I don't practice that often. I woulda done the same thing the OP did to keep from rutting up my yard without expecting any problems. I would raise an eyebrow if it were my truck.

shotgun

The F150 transfer case is a part-time four-wheel-drive system and it locks the front-axle driveshaft to the rear-axle driveshaft. This forces the wheels to spin at the same speed. In a turn, the outside wheel has to travel a greater distance than the inside wheel you get wheel hop. On ice or snow the inside wheel can slip and pivot but on dry pavement it hops/skips.

I have no idea why your Bronco didn't do it in 4WD. I suspect the Kia Sorento has an AWD system (which is completely different than a part time 4WD system).

The wheel hop in 4H or 4L is completely normal.

SailorDon

Now that you explain it that way, it makes sense. The vibration I felt was the front "inside" wheel "hopping" due to the shorter distance it has to travel with respect to the other 3 wheels. I can see where that is not good for the drive train. Dry pavement and 4H or 4L are a bad combination, just like the owner's guide says. If they had explained the reason for it, like "shotgun" did, I would not have used my short distance (40 ft.) rationalization that just a couple of truck lengths ain't going to hurt anything. That was a bad assumption. The instant you get off the grass (or other low traction surface), that's the time for 2H. Not a second later.

Come to think of it, the vibration I experienced was sort of like the wheel hop I used to get on my 1964 383 cu. in. (325 hp) Plymouth 2 dr. sedan when I popped the clutch. The rear leaf springs would "wind up" and release making the whole rear axle hop. I should have added "Traction Masters" for that extra fast start, but I never had the money back in those days.

Thanks y'all for setting me straight on the proper use of 4W and 4L.

F-150 Forums is a great website. I'm learning a lot from it.

JJ1983

Makes sense, the bronco may have been slipping, but not hopping. The Kis is a Part Time 4x4, it has a transfer case like my truck, 4hi/lo and 2WD. It is a standard with an electronic shift on the fly. It's possible that the vehicles that we owned may have been indeed slipping, just no hop. What you say makes sense, I agree. Same as a locker that hops if it directly locks both rear wheels when turning (my old chevy did this for some reason when the lSD locked up, it wouldn't slip at all)