You're wasting your time and fuel. At those speeds a loss of traction in 2WD or 4WD is the same result.

 

Thanks but I'm going to keep doing what I do as it works!
If the weather & highways are really bad, I of course drop the speed down some.

 

Maybe my 2023 F150 is different than yours, but this statement is absolutely NOT true at all with my truck.

Conditions:

Drive mode: Normal
AUTO 4wd ON

From 70 mph, i press gas pedal to the floor till it got to 90 mph.

Result: ZERO POWER goes to the front axle. None. Nada. Zippo. All power got sent to the rear axle.

Now, i am not even sure what to believe. I am reading one thing on this forum from enthusiasts…but i am seeing something else.

 

I disagree. At any speed, having power going to BOTH axles is of benefit to traction. If slippage occurs, it is always nice to have traction at both axles already active. Stability control can only do so much to correct. Stability control will (REACTIVELY) brake the slipping wheel (AFTER SLIP has occurred) and throttle down the engine. Having power to both ends of the car is better for stability in that split instance.

And having power to BOTH axles BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER slippage is SIGNIFICANTLY better for stability than having the car SUDDENLY shifting power to the front axle a few milliseconds AFTER slipping/sliding occurring. And then after traction is regained, power again suddenly stops going to the front axle.

This is why on-demand AWD is not a thing in high speed racing nor auto crossing.

 

IMO if the roads are that bad, i would be going into 4H and leaving it there

 

While true…but what if it is not a condition that you saw nor can anticipate? Such as hitting a slick spot or weather conditons that change constantly? 4H is great…but what if you forget to turn off? And there is a limit at what speed you can turn on/off 4H, right? Very inconvenient.

 

you can shift into 4H at up to 55 MPH i believe, i would never be going that fast in 4wd to begin with but that is the one benefit of 'shift on the fly'

as long as you arent making sharp turns, nothing wrong with leaving it in 4H

 

Again, why? Either leave 4A on and let the computers do the work for you or put it in 2H and drive more careful in slippery conditions.

The article I linked gave you the inputs that go into what makes the 4A engage the front axle so I'm not surprised that at WOT with no slippage of the rear wheels, no wipers on and not in slippery mode why would it send power to the front?

 

Because road conditions can change very quickly. Oil slick on the road? Puddle on the road? I have construction on the highway i drive.

My point above is that on-demand AWD is reactionary. It is not proactive. It is always late to the party a few milliseconds or longer.

As for WOT, i was testing what above poster wrote about WOT and front axle engagement. I tested it. And it turns out to be false with my truck.

 

I think there is some confusion here, it is NOT an AWD system, the basic principles are the same as the standard 4wd in the xl-xlt, the only exception is the automatic capability, its not a completely different system.