I drive a 06 F-150 STX with Manual 4X4

This past weekend I took a one day trip up to a mountain city to check out their local University. It’s was a rushed trip and I had no idea this place gets 108" of snow per year. I didn’t even bring a jacket!

On my way up there I was caught in a horrible snow storm on the highway, the road was total slush snow and ice. I popped it into 4HI and continued on my way enjoying the extra traction.

When I got to the city the streets weren’t quite as bad but I left it into 4X4 because I was still getting some slippage in 2wd. I noticed when I would make a sharp turn in 4HI my turning radius wasn’t very good, and I would feel tightness and slippage and even "clunks" from my front suspension.

I disengaged from 4X4 and continued the rest of the trip in 2wd in the city, and then used 4Hi again on the Highway going out of town when I got caught in the same blizzard again.

So my question to you is, how do I know when it's safe to use 4wd? How severe do the conditions need to be? If I get any weird feedback from the front suspension should I disengage immediately?

 

A good rule of thumb is to lock in 4x4 when you start to lose forward bite, or as in your case, the snow was coming down hard. That's the only time to do it on pavement. But do not use 4x4 on just ordinary wet roads. All that racket you heard, and the way the drivetrain tried to pull you in different directions was the system binding up. You need some tire slippage when using 4x4.