Part-time 4WD in winter

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

So my new Liberty is the first four wheel drive vehicle I've ever driven, and while I've been loving it in heavy snow, I'm not so sure what to do when there's just a little snow and a bunch of dry pavement mixed in. I know you're not supposed to use the part-time 4WD on dry pavement, so up until now I haven't been, but occasionally I'll hit an icy intersection or something and it would be nice to have it. Am I going to wear something out shifting in and out of 4WD a lot, should I just leave it on, or should I leave it off and let the traction control do its thing (which I now read will wear out my brakes prematurely

).

I figure you guys have a lot of experience with this, so what do you do?

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:08 pm

Brakes are cheap. Thats all I have to say about that :2cents:

Pierocksmysocks · **Posted:** Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:25 pm

Well living in South Dakota with a pretty decent amount of annual snowfall...I typically judge my route and try to use previous experience to guide me when I put it in 4wd.

For instance: For the section in my neighborhood which usually has about 4-6 inches of snow/ice, I usually do 4-hi. Now when I'm coming up on some massive drifts that come up to my hood (learned from previous experiences here) I slow down, go into neutral and slip it into 4-lo till I'm through the rough stuff. The majority of my driving is done in 2wd which includes a little bit of snow/ice but mostly dry pavement.

Hope this helps..?

If you're in doubt at all, make sure you've invested in tow hooks and a strap. Good Samaritans rock! And there's no shame getting pulled out if you get stuck *cough* unless it was by a Kia or something... *cough*.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:40 pm

if you leave it in 4wd Part time on a dry road

although not instantly - it took

Quote:

That t-case above was driven about 70 miles at 75mph on the highway in a ZJ in part time 4wd.

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Thanks for the replies everyone.

ATXKJ wrote:

if you leave it in 4wd Part time on a dry road

although not instantly - it took

Quote:

That t-case above was driven about 70 miles at 75mph on the highway in a ZJ in part time 4wd.

I gather from this that I am right to err on the side of caution about dry pavement, so I guess the only question that remains is whether shifting in and out of part-time is going to cause problems too. The electronic transfer case shift on the KK makes it really tempting to just switch back and forth as necessary (never with the wheels slipping of course). I'm just not sure it's a good idea to switch to 4wd long enough to get going at a slippery intersection and then turn it off again once I'm through.

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:03 pm

I don't see any problem with switching in and out of 4wd frequently. In fact I think it's better for it than always leaving it in 2wd. As far as dry pavement, if you are only going to be on dry pavement for a couple hundred feet before getting into another snow drift just leave it in. Just don't be driving 65mph with it locked in, if the roads are bad enough to lock it in you should be going slow enough not to cause damage.

Pierocksmysocks · **Posted:** Thu Feb 18, 2010 9:53 pm

stumpjumper_09 wrote:

I don't see any problem with switching in and out of 4wd frequently. In fact I think it's better for it than always leaving it in 2wd. As far as dry pavement, if you are only going to be on dry pavement for a couple hundred feet before getting into another snow drift just leave it in. Just don't be driving 65mph with it locked in, if the roads are bad enough to lock it in you should be going slow enough not to cause damage.

x2

If the roads are that bad, then you ought to be going slow enough for it to not cause damage.

Yositime · **Joined:** Sat Oct 03, 2009 8:16 pm **Posts:** 13

X3

This is how I've driven my PT trucks for oh.. lots of miles and years. Never had a transfercase problem. :JEEPIN:

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Thanks, feeling much better about when to use it now. :idea:

rickm · **Posted:** Mon Feb 22, 2010 2:27 pm

you can shift into 4 Wheel Hi while rolling and the transmission in Drive. I don't see a problem, if you run into snow, ice, slow down and shift into 4W Hi.

If I shif to 4 W Lo, I stop, put the transmission in Neutral, then shift to 4W Lo. I believe this is the proper procedure though.

I wouldn't drive too fast in 4 Wheel Hi though, and I believe your owners manual will probably have information on that. I don't think I would want to drive much over 55 Mph in 4W Hi

Thats the way I've driven my last five 4X4 SUV's and haven't had a problem yet.

Elt31987 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 22, 2010 2:41 pm

4WD HI you can shift on the fly up to 55MPH just let the RPMs drop as low as possible, 4WD Lo you need to be rolling 2-5 MPH with the transmission in Neutral then shift into 4WD Lo

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:50 am

Elt31987 wrote:

4WD HI you can shift on the fly up to 55MPH just let the RPMs drop as low as possible, 4WD Lo you need to be rolling 2-5 MPH with the transmission in Neutral then shift into 4WD Lo

You can go into 4lo at up to 30mph just make sure you have a video camera in the passengers seat when ya do it

:POPCORN:

Elt31987 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:19 am

stumpjumper_09 wrote:

Elt31987 wrote:

4WD HI you can shift on the fly up to 55MPH just let the RPMs drop as low as possible, 4WD Lo you need to be rolling 2-5 MPH with the transmission in Neutral then shift into 4WD Lo

You can go into 4lo at up to 30mph just make sure you have a video camera in the passengers seat when ya do it

:POPCORN:

More like have a camera strapped to the undercarriage aimed at the Transfer Case lol

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Tue Feb 23, 2010 3:43 pm

Won't work on the KK since the T case is controlled by the PCM.........

Elt31987 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 23, 2010 3:49 pm

True, didnt think about that, would be fun to see though

Pierocksmysocks · **Posted:** Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:38 pm

Here's a nice little demo of how your Command Trac II system works:

http://www.jeep.com/en/4x4/how_systems_work/command_trac_2/

BVCRD · **Posted:** Tue Feb 23, 2010 10:04 pm

Pierocksmysocks wrote:

Here's a nice little demo of how your Command Trac II system works:

http://www.jeep.com/en/4x4/how_systems_work/command_trac_2/

Wonder why they did away with the full time 4 wheel drive?

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

BVCRD wrote:

Wonder why they did away with the full time 4 wheel drive?

They didn't, I think it's called SelecTrac II and it's still an option on the Liberty.

BVCRD · **Posted:** Wed Feb 24, 2010 4:01 pm

It looks like on the selector switches, they only have the option of part time and LO 4 wheel. No Full time which lets the front and rear differential not turn at the same rate. Instead of 50-50, it's 52-48 or something like that.

Elt31987 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 24, 2010 4:04 pm

On command trac you only have 4X4 Lock, but on Selec Trac it says 4X4 Auto instead for Full Time

Part-time 4WD in winter

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