aiight guys, before you start flamming me, let me say this is the first pickup truck I've owned and I hope for informative opinions and help. As you may or may not know I own a 2004 Dodge Dakota Club Cab V8 4X4. I've owned it for little more than a month. My question concerns the 4X4. As the winter slowly approaches us I know I am faced with snowy morning roads. For how long can I engage and use the 4X4 High mode before it starts to hurt the truck. I'm aware that it can't be left in it for too much extended time so whats a good usage amount? I'm in the understanding that it is best for the truck to be flipped into 4 Wheel High while in motion, but it can be engaged while not moving as well, is this correct? I also understand that 4wheel Low is mainly for really heavy loads and trailers that may be dragging me down. Is this as well correct? Your help is greatly apprecaited, sorry to sound so new, I just wanna treat this truck as best I can. It's my baby.

 

not one reply?

 

weekends are slow hopefully someone can help you out soon though, sorry i cant help ya pal



you shouldnt have to worry about flamming here

 

well, living in michigan, I face a fair amnt of snow during the winter. When I travel to my cabin in the U.P. there is usually about 1-2 feet more than at home. I have a 98' dakota and its the plow truck. I run that in 4-high all day, and not once has it caused any problems. Hope that answers your question.

 

Here's the deal. 4 wheel drive is only for slippery roads. Never use it on dry pavement. Wet is ok but you really shouldn't need it. Snow, ice, sand, etc... those are all fine. 4 high can be used as much as you want. 4 low is only for slippery conditions (non-pavement or ice/snow/sand/wet) when you need it. You can get away with 4wd on dry pavement if you're not turning, just straight - at a boat launch for example.

When shifting from 2wd into 4hi you can do it pretty much any speed under about 50mph while in gear or neutral. You can also switch while parked with the engine off but ignition on. Rolling helps to sync the gears - 4low should be done while rolling at about 3 mph in neutral.

 

awsome, thanks a lot guys for the advice, and its nice to see a posting board for once where u dont get lit up for a noobie question

 

HMMMM lit up? dude we r all here looking for advice on our pickups, why would we pick on each other? We are here because we can all take part of a HUGE knowledge base. Its all Gravy man!

 

thanks a lot, I'm sure I'll have more questions as time goes by, good to know there are some people out there to help ya.

 

Dont mean to sound like a noob but isnt 4wd low for extremely low speeds in really harsh areas like persay a mud pit where your sunk pretty deep. I was under the understanding at speeds higher then 10 to 15 mph it would tear it up in 4wd low. (dont mean to sound nooby as i have never owned a 4wd as of yet)

 

4low is for any situation where you really need control of your speed and torque multiplication. Put it in 4low and you've got roughly 2.6 times as much torque to the tires. Situations where you'd probably want 4low - boat launch for pulling heavy boats up a potentially slippery ramp, or dry ramp if you really need the grunt, but don't turn, Pulling stumps, dragging heavy stuff, off-road on trails where you need a lot of control when and where the truck moves - rock crawling, etc, in the snow if you're stuck and if 4high doesn't help because you just spin your tires, you can sometimes get more power to the ground without spinning the tires, sand and mud too at low speeds.