Part time all the time during the snow storms.

DJBassman · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:17 pm

As most of you know, we had a bit of snow here in colorado. Most of the side streets were (are) full of snow, like 4 to 6 inches. During the storm, I had 4hi (part time) on most of the time, like for five days stright, for the one storm, and three days for the last storm.

There should not be a problem keepin 4hi (part time) on for this long a time, right? Everything is fine and works just great. Just wondered about having to have 4hi on all the time.

sidewayskj · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:30 pm

As long as the traction is slick and not dry and grippy you shouldn't have any problems leaving it in 4wd. Just don't want to bomb down the highway 5 days striaght. From what I know which isn't a ton is that 4wd has a prefered top speed to run for a long time so you won't wreak your system. That is highway speed but for intown you should be just fine. I had mine in 4wd for 4 days straight up here when we got snow. That is one hell of a snow storm you guys got down there :shock:

. I know that on a select-trac transfer case in full time 4wd it spinns the front axel different speeds to work in sync with the rear. On Part time system it remains constant and doesn't change the axel spin, that is why you don't want to drive the part time on dry roads. I am sure if I'm not right someone with a thousand post will set it right.

chetos · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:00 pm

We got a little snow on the 1st and I keep it 4PT the whole time because of my Stock 235 Laredo's don't grip worth a poop in 2WD.

JacksJeep · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 4:36 pm

Assuming you have the command trac, then part time (4 high) is fine long term just as long as your not running of dry pavement. In part time there needs to be a little slip to the road surface (snow, gravel, sand, dirt). So leave it in 4wd until you hit dry pavement.

hooperswish · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:11 pm

4-6 inches? Jeez, I am just up the road (Highlands Ranch, South metro Denver) and we got 24 inches in the first storm and 14 in the second....needless to say, I have 6 foot snow piles fron driveway shoveling.
As you know, in Colorado the roads dry out quickly, and then you have dry patches. In these conditions I try to keep it out of 4x4 in order to prevent binding. The nice thing is, you can pop it in and out with the lever without having to get out and lock the hubs like in the old days.
Steve

Kugellager · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:18 pm

I haven't driven my Chevy Cavalier since December 20th! My Jeep is my weekend vehicle but for the past two weeks it has been mine and my GF's main vehicle. It's been a dream in the snow no matter how deep I have had to take it in. The Cavalier just plains sucks in the snow.

John
];')

RespectMyLibertay · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:50 pm

We got about 24-30 inches here in Castle Rock the first time. Then another 6 inches a day later. It's been so fun just driving around the neighborhood, and everywhere, for that matter :twisted:

I've been using the full-time 4-hi for patchy snow and ice and even for 1'+ of fresh powder. In deep snow, I am able to turn more freely in full-time compared to part-time, and big drifts tend to pull me in more-so in the later mode.

DJBassman · **Posted:** Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:03 pm

Well, were I live we got about 18" the first time, and about 6" the second time. We still have 4" of acked snow with 4' snow piled up on the side of the road. And this is in the city! Just to get into my nieborhood, I had to have 4lo for the frst day, but 4hi all the rest of the time.

wendell · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:11 am

You can even run your 4x4 on dry roads as long as your not doing a lot of turning, so it's no big deal if you hit dry patches between the snowy patches. You can also run in high range all day long at 55 mph, it's no harder on the t-case than the tranny. I use royal purple full synthetic in the tranny, t-case and rear diff to reduce heat and wear. People sometimes tend to get to conservitive with thier part time systems, you bought the 4x4 to use, so don't be afraid to use it. Common sense goes a long way. If you think about it, there's a lot of times on the trail where it's dry conditions, but you still need the 4x4 because it's steep, or rocky and so forth. I've wheeled a long time and have never trashed a t-case. Just use common sense and learn your vehicle, you should be just fine. Also back when we had locking hubs, you didn't have to get in and out and lock them in everytime. Just lock them in for winter driving and take it in and out of 4-wheel with the lever. I use to leave mine locked in all winter long and while on the trails. Locking hubs were better for mpg, but also could be a pain in the butt.

Albert · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:20 am

I like the "old fashioned" locking hubs. Less wear and tear on the front axles and when you got up in the morning and there was a snow storm, you just turned your hubs before taking off.

hooperswish · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:30 am

On my old '87 Bronco II (original owner, 215 k, replaced after 20 years with the libby) I hated to leave the hubs manually locked because it really affected my mileage. Therefore, I was always locking in and out, depending on conditions. PITA.
But yes, you could just leave them locked all winter, but that kinda defeated the purpose....
Lovin the libby...
Steve

DJBassman · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:16 pm

ok, thx for all your help. I had it on for 4 days becuase there was allways some amount of snow on the streets. And my side street that I live on, well, it had a lot of snow on it.

At one point, the freeway had snow on it, with ice and I was on it with 4 PT. I wanted to see how fast I can go on snow and ice and got up to 60. The KJ did well, no slipping or sliding, solid grip. I even hit a small snow drift at 50 and it look just like you see in the comercials, snow fling over the hood and all. It was great. but then I went back down to 45 for safty reasons since I came up to a buch of other cars around me.

Jeger · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:35 pm

Good idea on the slowing down, just because you can go that fast on snow and ice doesnt mean you will be able to stop on it as well.

DJBassman · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:20 pm

Yeah, safty first. I went up to 60 real slow. there was no one around me during this time. It is amazing how well the tires did. I still felt the road ad it held real good. Of course I did not try to turn quickly or anything like that. Jus normal lane switches.

The snow drift I hit at 50, and I was really worried that ths would be the cammals back. But the KJ hit it good, with very little swerving, pretty well stright through the drift.

I have my tires at about 35, and was toying with airing them down some more, like to 30 or 28. that way I would have better grip on the snow and ice. But the highway and most of the roads were getting better. So i will wait until the nex snow storm to try that out. I just look at this opertunity to learn more how to use the 4wd system.

waddy whiteguts · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:49 pm

I'm not sure airing down your tires would help in snow, usually you want a smaller contact patch (in the form of a narrower tire) for snow as it cuts through to pavement better than a wide tire which would float on the snow.

I've also found with my selectrac KJ and previously with a TOD (fulltime) Isuzu that fulltime 4wd can make snow driving easier if there is a lot of cornering. The trouble in corners and part time is that if you are spinning all 4 tires the fronts will skid through the turns. When in full time they can bite a little better if they aren't being spun. It's the same principle as gassing your front wheel drive car in a turn in snow, it goes straight ahead. Also when decelerating suddenly all 4 lock up easily due to engine braking and you lose steering. A clutch is a good thing to have in that case. It is diffucult to control wheelspin and skid in snow with an auto tranny. I even put it in neutral sometimes when descending steep snowy hills and use my brakes for wheel control as engine braking can be too powerfull when finesse is required.

Traction control and esp systems don't always work well in snow and 4wd either because they sense a difference in speed between tires to detect traction loss and if all 4 are skidding or spinning at the same rate the computer thinks all is well.

I have gotten used to running in fulltime for normal snow driving and parttime only when it gets really deep and then I take it easy. When snowy weather hits here I usually leave it in fulltime until the roads clear off. Sometimes I put it in parttime before I pull in the driveway so I can be sure I will get out the next day. 4wd won't engage after you're stuck in a KJ. What you don't want to do is make sharp turning manuevers on dry pavement in parttime, running over dry patches of a snowy wet highway isn't going to hurt you.

Now, would you please send some of that snow up my way??

garyg · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:46 pm

JacksJeep wrote:

Assuming you have the command trac, then part time (4 high) is fine long term just as long as your not running of dry pavement. In part time there needs to be a little slip to the road surface (snow, gravel, sand, dirt). So leave it in 4wd until you hit dry pavement.

How about wet roads? Is it okay to leave it engaged in the rain at low speeds?

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:00 pm

Command trac should not be used on wet pavement - when you make a turn on a wet road, the front tires do not spin. If there is no slipage between the tire and road surface, the driveline will bind.

Snow is a different story

jcphoto20 · **Joined:** Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:36 am **Posts:** 507

yes the thing that i found is that if you drive too fast in 4wd, like over 70, never any probs while driving but it smelled like burnt oil for weeks after. im guessin there was some blow out of the overflow tube onto the exhaust, after i wiped it up and checked all oil levels (all good) it hasnt leaked any more

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 04, 2007 10:54 pm

jcphoto20 wrote:

yes the thing that i found is that if you drive too fast in 4wd, like over 70, never any probs while driving but it smelled like burnt oil for weeks after.

Are you saying that you drove a Command trac transfer case at highway speeds on dry roads? Or are you talking about the select trac setup?

EagleVT94 · **Joined:** Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:52 pm **Posts:** 64

I can't comment too much on driving in snow up in VT this year...But normally deal with it all the time. I have a 2002 Command track and when there is snow/ice on the roads I leave it in 4-wheel all the time. At stop signs and lights making sharp turns I'll pop it out then put it right back in 4x4 after the turn. I've cleared 80,000 miles with no issues so far....

Part time all the time during the snow storms.

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