Question for those on the forum that have a little more experience with icy roads.  I'm down in Texas, and we dont get all that much ice/snow.  I know I'm not supposed to drive on dry pavement with 4wd engaged, but was wondering about the conditions we have right now here in the Fort Worth area.  after reasonable ice/snow accumulation on Monday, the wind and traffic has started to clear the major roads.  in my area the roads are in pretty good shape, mostly dry, but there is still alot of ice on the overpasses, under bridges, and on all the sidestreets.  will it cause any damage to drive in 4wd in these conditions.  most of my drive to work is highway, which are fairly clear now, but there are quite a few icy bridges to cross.

Any thoughts / comments?

Thats no problem in 4wd.  Just steer clear of making tight turns when on dry pavement.  You will know when the drivetrain binds up from too much traction in a corner because your steering wheel will want to wobble back and forth.

I wouldn't do it, especially on the highway. Too much load on the drivetrain. The systems ofr 4wd in our vehicles are designed for some wheel slip which your not going to get on dry pavement. Besides, on ice 4wd isn't any real help IMO.

Taking the Middle Ground here... 

What you are describing is the reason why all-wheel-drive exists....

Part-time 4x4  is not going to help you while flying down the Interstate at 55 MPH approaching an icy overpass.  Twitch the steering wheel and it doesn't matter if you have 10 x 10 drive - you have lost control.

It is pretty easy to simply shift from 2x4  to 4x4 while in motion when necessary.  Just be sure that you are not applying power or are sliding when you shift.

I tend to shift into 4x4 only when absolutely neccessary and only at slow speeds.

Think of 4x4 as a way to get traction at slow speeds when you are about lose it - like when you are stuck behind some Bozo spinning his wheels trying to get traction on a hill.

So use commonsense and drive at speeds relevant to the road conditions.

Agreed, that's how I use mine on the road

Wild

Taking the Middle Ground here... 

What you are describing is the reason why all-wheel-drive exists....

Part-time 4x4  is not going to help you while flying down the Interstate at 55 MPH approaching an icy overpass.  Twitch the steering wheel and it doesn't matter if you have 10 x 10 drive - you have lost control.

It is pretty easy to simply shift from 2x4  to 4x4 while in motion when necessary.  Just be sure that you are not applying power or are sliding when you shift.

I tend to shift into 4x4 only when absolutely neccessary and only at slow speeds.

Think of 4x4 as a way to get traction at slow speeds when you are about lose it - like when you are stuck behind some Bozo spinning his wheels trying to get traction on a hill.

So use commonsense and drive at speeds relevant to the road conditions.

Ok this sheds a little light on my confusion.  the traction at slow speed is exactly what i am doing.  when conditions are like we have right now, i probably wouldn't exceed 30 mph or so, I know that the 4wd is only good for slow speed traction, but was concerned about traveling on dry pavement in between icy patches.  I was under the impression that i had to be completely stopped to shift into 4wd.  in fact on my way home tonight, i drove in 2wd most of the way until i started to feel the truck slipping around a bit, then i stopped and shifted to 4wd for the remainder of my drive since the roads were pretty well covered with ice.  So shifting into 4wd can be done without stopping?

Yes, but only if the hubs are locked, if you have auto hubs, it would be a good
idea to stop first just in case  they unlocked sometime while you were in 2WD

Wild

As long as there is no load on the transmission, no accelrating or dramatic slowing, yes. I guess I misunderstood your definition of " highway." I was picturing speeding 68mph down a 4 lane ( fast for a trackick but not much else) far right lane while everything else on the road blows by on my left. My t case would be screaming, and a patch of ice would send me spinning 4wd or not. What your doing is exactly, as Ack stated, what it's designed for. Even more so in conditions of snow where some traction is availble.

ok, so if i know my hubs are locked, how do i shift to 4wd? Do i just let off the accelerator, push in the clutch, and shift?

Thats what I dont get, are you leaving the hubs locked all the time and just shifting the tcase to 4wd?  I forgot all about auto hubs. Thats certainly one benefit of them, not having to get out and fuss with the manual ones.

i pretty much leave my hubs locked all the time.

OK, somebody with a manual trans chime in here.

i pretty much leave my hubs locked all the time.

I don't suppose it hurts anything to leave the hubs locked all the time. You'll just be spinning the front drive train, using extra power and fuel, and causing a bit more wear to some components.

Quote from: TX-Trak on February 02, 2011, 08:22:18 PM

i pretty much leave my hubs locked all the time.

I don't suppose it hurts anything to leave the hubs locked all the time. You'll just be spinning the front drive train, using extra power and fuel, and causing a bit more wear to some components.

I actually checked my mileage a couple of times with them set to free and then set to locked, it dropped from about 28 mpg to 27.5 mpg.  its worth it to me not to have to mess with them.  as far as the wear on the components, not sure about the rest of the front drive system, but the hubs seem to have held up pretty well (especially since the factory hubs are pretty much junk IMO nearly impossible to keep water out of them) I re-built them about a year ago, and i pulled them off last month to check them and they seemed fine.

No, it really doesn't do anything except use a little extra fuel,
if even that. I forgot my hubs were locked once and remembered
some 2 months later when I went to go lock them and go wheeling.

And you can shift into 4WD at any speed, so long as you don't have
any spinning/sliding wheels, and the hubs are locked, it's a simple click
even at 60 MPH

Wild