Part time or Full time?

pipeliner · **Posted:** Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:41 pm

This subject came up after one of the Downunder guys got stuck because he was using Full Time 4wd. My comments at the time were

"If you are in Fulltime you have an open centre diff - consequently if you have one wheel spinning all the drive will go to that wheel and the others won't do anything. In Part Time the centre diff is locked so that the front and rear drive shafts rotate at the same speed: if a front wheel is spinning the other front wheel will be stationary but drive will still be available at the rear wheels."

"Probably the best way to think about it is to consider that 'part time' is true 4wd (especially if you have diff lockers front and back) whilst 'full time' is the same as AWD such as you get in a Rav or Territory (or a Subaru). Gives you better vehicle control on wet bitumen and gravel roads but really not suitable in any situation where the grip of one wheel can suddenly be significantly less than the others.

Low range always locks the centre diff so has the same drive as part-time high range.

I NEVER use 'full time' off-road - and only the mealy-mouthed would claim that's only because my Jeep doesn't have it!"

So when do others use Part-time or Full-time 4wd? One of the Downunder guys had never used Part-time and hadn't had any problems.

Be interesting to know what people use.

InCommando · **Posted:** Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:46 pm

Full-time is better on pavement because it can actually be used on pavement. But using the full-time setting off-road makes no sense. Lock the t-case up, Man! Locking the t-case takes you from wimpy All WHeel Drive to manly Four Wheel Drive.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:19 am

Full -time is great if you're on a winding road that has patches of snow - mixed with patches of dry road.
(one of the snow country folks said they put it in 4 fulltime in November and take it out in March)

not good off-road.

JeepinJarhead03 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:25 am

im interested to see how the 231 behaves for me in IL during snow season, noone else seems to have complained about it much

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:38 am

It might not have been me that said I engage the Full-Time in November, but it surely is what I do. Once the rainy seasons start in October / November I put the KJ in it's "sissy" AWD mode and go about my business. It works awesome on road during the winter.

At the end of April I usually go back to 2WD.

Albert · **Posted:** Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:20 pm

Full-time.....I use it once in a great while in the summer on pavement on a curvy mountain road or during real hard rain just for the heck of it sometimes......... At the first snow I pull it into full-time and usually just leave it there most of the winter except once in a while I go to 2wd on a long bare pavement highway run even though I don't have to................ I never ever use full-time off road.

Part-time (4hi) ......Off road only or heavy snow....use on the slippery boat ramp, on heavy snow/ice roads, mild to moderate off-road.

Part-time (4lo).......Off-road only.....nasty places.....I go right to 4lo first gear to keep the tranny from shifting around when I don't want it to. I do this before I get to the nasty spots.

That is how I use my 242. My full-time is actually used the most as it is in full-time most of the winter. I usually try to off-road 2x a month on average except for the worst winter months. (mild to moderate stuff mostly) I don't do any hard core stuff. I have not had any trouble with the t-case using it this way, and it shifts fine.

Part time or Full time?

Who is online