With a 144,000 miles..

 

I got a 97 dakota, and i have been driving in 4wd off and on. what is the damage that i have done? i have done hwy speeds 70-75 with a total about 150 miles. I have been told that this is bad when reading through the forum, however it has been snowing here in IA but the roads are clean and cold..So be honest and tell me what i should be doing. I got this truck last week, and its my first truck coming from a 99 TA daily driver (still have it...)

 

I never recommend doing over 40 in 4wd. I believe that is the factory suggestion. If the roads are in questionable conditions, why are you doing 70-75? If it is ice you are worried about, it doesn't matter if you are in 8wd, you will still not be able to gain traction. You should be driving in 2wd whenever you are going over 40. If the roads are not in great shape due to snow/ice, you shouldn't be going any faster than that anyway.

 

Pretty much virus summed it up. All 4wd does is allow you to take off without spinning the tires like crazy especiually uphill. The least you drive in 4wd the better for teh system when you actually NEED it. If thers 12" of snow on the road, by all means switch to 4wd. But theres no reason to be going faster than traffic or the road conditions allow. Its much better to go into a ditch at 35mph than 70.

 

I doubt you did any damage. Driving in 4WD like that probably increases wear on parts but no catastrophic damage.

 

one day I used my 4 wheel drive when I was at work and forgot to take it out. I drove 50kms home on a rainy day with it on. it didnt hurt anything and I was goin 90kms. I wondered why I couldnt seem to spin the tires off the line

 

I was going 70 + miles because thats the hwy speed here. I sometimes forget that i had it in 4wd when i was taking off from a stop where it was iced over. Can you shift from 4wd to 2wd in mid driving? or do you have to stop. Alot of people say they use 4 wheel then go to 2 wheel but never mentioning they stop. Ex " i use 4 wheel to get going then go to 2 wheel" is this true?

 

Also does anyone know how to do lower ball joints on a dakota, kinda like a step by step? Im fairly mechinaclly inclined and have a fairly good base on tools, just never did a ball joints...never had to. Thanks again

 

Below 50 mph you should be able to just toss it back into 2wd from 4wd.

 

Just as a rule of thumb dont go faster then 55MPH in 4wheel drive. Its that simple.