Sorry for the dumb question but I am a newbie at this 4wd, this is my first vechile with it. I have a 2000 f150 xlt 4x4. When I am doing normal driving on the road, where should my floor shifter be at? The dealer told me it should be in neutral, but I have recently had another person tell me it should be in 2 wheel low.

 

You should have 4 options on your floor shifter:
2 High (use this for everyday driving)
Neutral (disengages drive completely. Vehicle will not move in Neutral)
4 High (use only on slick surfaces such as snow, mud, dirt, gravel)
4 Low (use only off road for climbing and such. Very low gearing)

Hope this helps....good luck with 4wd...it's a blast...

 

Well I almost went with a used 2004 4x4 when I was test driving it Iasked the same questin and the salesman said for normal driving have it in 2 wheeel driver flip it into 4 high for snow rain or anytime you need the extra traction and 4 low for real rough off road conditions or deep snow but i went ahead and bout one of the last 05 and its a 4x2 instead.

 

If my dealer told me that, I don't think I could NOT laugh in his face!!

If the transfer case is in neutral, you're not going anywhere, unless you take your foot off the brakes, at which point, it WILL roll, even in park. As was mentioned above, neutral disconnects the transmission from the driveshafts, so even if the transmission is in park, there's nothing connecting the trans to the driveshafts.

-Joe

 

on my 2001 screw, if i try 4 high or low on pavement, my tranny starts locking up real fast.

but these trucks are dynamite!

check out ...

http://www.imageintegration.com/gall..._aug_2005.html

 

I wouldn't engage it into 4wd even hi while on pavement. It's pretty rough on the system, especially if you try to take a turn.

 

jack craig, are those pics at hollister?
keep it ford

 

ya. 4WD + pavement = bad. this is especialy true with limited-slip on your truck- even worse for locked. basic physics dictates that the outside tire is going to have to spin faster than the inside tire while turning (difference in rotaional velocity). if you have an lsd or locked diff, this means there will actual be binding inside the diff, causeing more stress on the internals. off road this is not really a problem, because the road surface is sliker, and the wheel can right its self progressively thoroughout a trurn (the outside and inside tires both slip a little to get rotational velocities they are happy with). the reason this is a problem, is that on pavement friction is much greater between hte road and the tire, so instead of gradusl slipping, the binding in the system can build up (steel is very elastic) until it is released by a sudden slip of the tires, shich can be felt as a pretty severe jerking of the truck during a turn. this is a more severe cse than will ever happen to you in your truck, but the same thing still happens on a much decreased scale. Rich04F150 is right about the different positions and uses. follow his advise.

note: it is ok to use 4wd on pavement is it is snowy or icy. again, much less friction than normal.

 

Bind-up in the driveline will not be any worse with the 4wd engaged. The rear diff in a properly working Ford Trac-Lok limited slip "binds" any time you corner, be it in 2wd or 4wd. However, from the factory, it should only be a difference of 30 or 40 lb*ft of torque between the two sides. That's hardly enough to do any damage. (It's not a true limited slip as it doesn't LIMIT the slip.... once the torque differential supported by the clutch packs is exceeded, it will slip until the cows come home, unlike a Torsen which is a true limited slip.... it will mechanically limit the amount of slippage to a certain percentage of the wheel speed)

In 4wd, the bind-up occurs between the front and rear driveshafts (of course, transmitted through the diff to the axle shafts) but on both axles until a tire hops (slips) and releases some of the bind. The front wheels want to turn slower than they need to, and the rears need to turn faster than they can in order to make the turn. With the driveshafts linked, of course, that's not possible.

Joe

 

right, hence why this is only a problem in 4wd with a limited slip- if you will note, i did say that "this is a severe case than will ever happen to you." there still is bind in the Track-loc diff in two wheel drive, but is said nothing about this in my post, i was talking about 4wd, hence the statement "4wd + pavement =bad" where did you get 2wd from? i dont see it anywhere in there. this definately wont happen in 2wd, because the trac-loc is a joke to begin with, and does basicaly nothing. let me ratain however, that this still can be a problem for locked diffs in tighter corners. this seems clear to me from the previous post, but i appoligise if it caused you some sort of confusion. :santa:

i cant wait to go play in the snow!!!!!! 6" LAST NIGHT!!

 

So...could you use 4hi when it's rainy? Or just generally slick? We're expecting some sleet tonight, gonna be interesting going out to school tomorrow morning when it's just above freezing. Should I just lock up the hubs and kick it in 4 wheels if I feel I need it?

 

if you're losing traction, put it in 4wd. Plain and simple.

 

yup. dito. anytime your losing/ having trouble finding traction just throw it in 4wd.

 

Engaging 4x4 on dry pavement isn't going to break anything. Any binding will end up causing the tires to slip on the pavement. I think jack rabbit tire burning starts hurt the drive train more than binding and scrubbing in 4x4 on dry pavement.

When you launch and retrieve a trailer boat, driving in 4x4 on pavement is routine. Everybody with a trailer boat that I know of does it and nobody has broken their trucks. Even the GM guys.

4x4 on dry pavement does, however, cause handling problems. Turns tend to take up more space. If you have an LS rear end, the truck will want to go straight all the time. Slipping tires means you have tires with no traction which can cause you to lose control at speed. Driveline binding can and will cause more wear and tear, not to mention a big reduction in gas mileage.

Personally, considering what happens with our type of 4WD, I would not be drving fast on slick roads in 4x4 mode. Any turn you make will cause tires to lose traction due to driveline binding. 4x4 might be needed to get you going, but once you're going, I would switch back to 4x2 mode with part time 4WD systems like we have. Otherwise, drive slow in 4x4 mode.

It should be noted, however, there have been many many 4x4 owners who have inadvertently put dozens if not hundreds of miles on their trucks in 4x4 on dry pavement when they mistakingly engaged 4WD or forgot to switch back to 4x2 mode without any damage to their trucks.