we have gotten alot snow in that last few days here in KY, which isnt that normal. I have had to use my 4wd alot. But when I am on a road that has been cleared and i am not using 4wd, I get a bad vibration. Honestly it feels more like an unbalanced tire, but has anyone ever heard or had this situation when you switched from 4wd to 2wd? I am only wondering because I am getting new tires tommorow, and if there is something I should have looked at I would like to do it when they have the truck on the lift. Any comments and ideas are appreciated.

 

It's likely due to snow sticking to your wheels, not anything about 4x4. Especially being located in KY, I imagine that the snow might be pretty slushy & sticky. I've driven through conditions like that and the snow gets stuck on the inside of my rear wheels frequently and freezes. Any extra ice hanging on the wheels will off-balance them. Check for that first before worrying about a mechanical issue.

Rob

 

^^^ this
Park inside overnight or wash the rims out at a car wash, paying special attention to the backsides of the wheels. It's difficult to see, but important to get all the ice and snow out.
Then take it for a drive and see if it improves

 

I'm clearing snow out of my girlfriend's wheels constantly because of this. She has the 20 inch rims. I had an f150 and never had this with the bottom of the line wheels but now have a ram with 20 inch wheels also and snow builds up and turns to ice in both.

 

If you do this, make sure you don't get ice build up on the rotors....moved my truck in the garage and the brakes barely worked....almost went thru the front of my garage...

 

Ice built up on rotors? Never heard of such a thing, and we wash cars at -10F around here.

 

Either pads or rotors.....i meant from snow buildup. I don't wash my truck unless it's above like 50 degrees. I have a 2 car garage....but we both have rams...the garage is a "2 car" not a "2 truck" lol. So we have to pull in at an angle. I pulled forward so I could turn to back out and almost didn't stop. Had pedal to the floor for like 3 feet while barely moving and it stopped, missing the wall by inches. My truck is shorter in length than my girlfriend's and our man door opens inward so I have to stay back so we can open it. So when I leave I pull forward and turn so my side doesn't scrape. I tuck myself in farther because my girlfriend isn't a good driver and she has had her truck for 5 years and barely knows it. So I try to give her the most space possible by tucking my truck in. I know that's mean to say but it's true. She thinks her truck is as long as a school bus....always asking if she has room to lane change in front of someone and waiting for a car a quarter mile away before she turns onto the road....asking if I think she has time or room with on-coming cars to pass people...etc.

 

That is weird that it could pull through the brakes unless maybe you were in 4Lo, I'd take a look at the brakes and make sure you don't have a serious problem.

 

It wasn't 4lo. It was the first week I had it. I've had it happen before on another vehicle tho I can't remember which one (on my 9th). I just know that with how exposed the rotors and inner wheels are, you get snow packed in there. My wheels actually have ice buildup from snow on them right now. Just drove home from work and couldn't go above 60 because the truck shook. We had snow for 2 days and yesterday the roads started clearing and here in colorado the sun melts stuff quicker. I expected the roads to be like 3/4 ice but it was almost clear on one road but ice on the other. There was actually an accident this morning on my way home an hour ago from someone losing it coming down a hill.

 

It happens if you go in deep snow like a drift in front of the garage, and then pull in slowly so your brakes don't warm up and then if the temp never goes up, the snow stays. I want to say my 89 firebird was the other one because I drove that 2 PA winters and the wheels had a more open wheel design than anything else except my ram. My trans am I never drove in snow so that wasn't it...
I only had the ram for a week or so and it was brand new so I only had a few hundred miles on it.