My 1988 chevy 1/2 ton 4X4 305 is my first 4wd vehicle and I'm a little fuzzy about when to use 4wd and how to shift.I read the thread about "4 wheel drive info needed" but I don't know how much of that applies to my truck since I don't have "shift button".I can usually get it into and out of 4h or 4l, but my main question is when to use 4wd. I bought it from a high shool kid who said that you should never use 4wd on dry pavement (maybe not even wet pavement). I can see why because when I try to turn very sharply on dry pavement I get this "hopping" effect, like the differential in front isn't working (if there is one there). Is this rule correct?I'm in the Seattle area where we have some snow now. The residential streets are snowy and icey, but the bigger the street, the more likely it is to be clear. Some streets are bare in places and icey in places, making it impossible to only use 4wd on the icey patches. When should I shift? Does it damage the 4wd to shift in and out too much or to shift on the fly? How much should I slow down to shift into 4wd, or should I slow down at all? Is there a web site?Thanks for your input!!!Dan

Just slap her in 4Hi and drive like a maniac...Sorry, but that's what most people around here do. =-)I only use mine in deep snow or during very slippery conditions.In fact, after tossing my stock firestones and using grippy snow tires, Irarely use 4 wheel drive anymore. Unless your tires are bad you probablydon't need to use 4WD very much.Remember that you may take off faster but you still can't stop. And keepsome sand bags in the bed.Cheers,

How to drive in 4 wheel drive.

Jan 06, 2004 28 Replies

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Marshall Schuon 22 years ago

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Ah, it takes me back. Used to do that in snow in the Fairgrounds parking lot. Was fun to drive on the slippy stuff, lock the wheels, shift into reverse and flatten the pedal. Car would just spin and spin!

All of which reminds me (and this is sorta off topic), but one of my fonder memories was that time sitting in front of the Ritz Barbeque in the Allentown, Pa., Fairgrounds one night -- as we often did in the '50s; it was our hangout -- and watching ....

Well, my buddies and I watched as one of the local jerks tried to impress his girl by driving in faster and faster and ever-widening circles in that huge fairgrounds parking lot behind us.

He was having just a wonderful time, around and around -- until he came to a loud and shockingly abrupt stop against a telephone pole! I don't think anyone was seriously hurt, but his new '53 Oldsmobile and his ego sure were! We loved it!

Marshall

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Cricket 22 years ago

I've been looking for a place to take my daughter so she can get a taste of "you're broken loose and there's not a damn thing you can do but hang on", before she gets it on the road. And the turkeys that build the parking lots keep putting light pole in 'em! Somewhere out there there's a big open space...

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fletcher 22 years ago

My sister in law learned how to drive in a old Chevy farm truck, in a big open field and many acres with just one tree out in the middle of it. Yep she ran into the tree straight on.

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rnf2 22 years ago

Better a tree than a cow... at least the tree is usefull as firewood, and doesn't need a vet...

rhys

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Cricket 22 years ago

I know a guy who missed a stop at a T intersection - the crossroad ran for better than half a mile along a hayfield - one small tree along the road - he had to skid a good fifty feet off to the right to hit it - but he did. We all had to drive down there and look at it - none of us could remember a tree close enough to hit from the intersection. Once we got there and got a look - yep, there was no tree close enough to hit from the intersection, unless you really really worked at it. Evidently he did. Took him a while to live that one down. Especially since he was driving a friends truck since he'd decided she was a little too buzzed to drive...;>)

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jimbo 22 years ago

When shifting better you shift to neutral first and then shift. no need to use 4 whl drive on pvmnt any way you bought an xpnsiv toy there why do people buy 4 whl drives????.

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ken 22 years ago

When we take off for those summer camping trips, I always get this weird noise from the passenger seat saying something like "We're not going on those bumpy roads again, are we?

Of course not..hee hee

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jhultman 22 years ago

How about a driving school with a skid pan? If I had a kid learning to drive I'd invest in that for them. Let a pro give the training and defensive driving education.

Hell, I'd like to take one myself.

Cricket wrote:

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Marshall Schuon 22 years ago

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I took the Skip Barber course at Lime Rock, Conn., some years back. They have a slippery pad that they flood with water, and it is just like driving on ice. Also, going way back, I took the old Renault Ice Racing School at Steamboat Springs in Colorado. That was super!

Bertl Roos also runs an interesting school here in the Poconos in Pa. with a "skid car" that has been converted to replicate skids.

Marshall ________

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