Driving in winter?
 

This is the first winter I'll have had my Blazer, as well as the first one since I moved to Minnesota with a selectable 4WD vehicle instead of a full-time AWD vehicle. Help?

1) It seems to take a lot of power to get moving when I first start it and want to pull out of my garage. Seems to move fine once it's been driven a few hundred feet, through. Normal, or sign of trouble?

2) I've been using 2WD mode so far, but there have been a couple of times while driving on back roads that there's been ice in one wheel track, and whn there has, the engine seemed to surge just a little. The tach would jump about 50 RPM, too. This seems to only happen running a steady 50-55 MPH, though that may just be the roads where the problem was.

3) What's the received wisdom about when to use 4WD mode, and when to switch back to 2WD? I'm going on a 350-mile trip tomorrow, in the snow and slush and (hopefully not much of) ice. At least I've got good tires on.

I know the warnings about driving carefully and remembering that 4WD can get you in trouble as easily as it can get you out of it, and that it does nothing for traction or braking...but the rest of it is what I'm not too sure of.

1.) how much power does it take? like your foot all the way to the floor?


2.) you could have lost traction taking the load off the engine a little . enough to raise rpm possibly.


3.) i use 4hi whenever there is a more than 2-4" of snow on the ground. stupid county i live in doesn't plow the roads so if i didn't have it i wouldn't make it to work. if the roads are somewhat clear i use 2hi to save fuel. if you have auto 4 i would use that for moderate snowfall. i used mine until i had problems with my abs and it did more harm then good. also i would run some weight in the rear of your blazer. i ran 300 pounds in the rear of mine last year and it helped alot. overkill? maybe i would think 150-200 would make a big improvement. that's my personal preference.

I love driving these in the winter. I hardly ever touch 4wd unless i'm stuck, it stays in 2wd. It's much more controllable if you start to slide or skid in 2wd than it is in 4wd.

Yea I drive 2wd all the time. 4wd gives people a sense of over confidence. They think they are indestructible. Its winter, drive to the conditions. If its slippery, drive slower and further from other vehicles.

I mainly use 2wd. But it is real easy to go into 4wd. One thing I was warned about is to slow down to engage 4wd. One my F250 I engage it at 55 mph with no problem. But I slow to about 30 MPH with our Blazer.

you can engage it safely at any speeds in my experience, just take your foot off the gas.

No...just noticeably more than usual, like a couple thousand RPM. Normally, a very light tap on the accelerator will start it moving.

This is a common recommendation for a pickup, but I thought the extra weight of the Blazer's body would do the same thing. It needs more?

And here, I thought that having the front wheels driven would help pull you out of a skid if the back wheels broke loose.

As long as the wheels aren't spinning, it's supposed to be safe to engage it at any speed up to about 60 MPH or so....?

As long as the wheels aren't spinning, it's supposed to be safe to engage it at any speed up to about 60 MPH or so....?[/quote]

you can engage 4hi . but i wouldn't use 4x4 above 55mph

If your doing 55MPH, You probably wont be able to even correct if something were to go wrong.

Definitely not. These trucks seem to like to carry themselves wherever the hell they want when you're sliding in 4wd, the rear ends seem to lose all footing when in 4wd and they go wherever. In 2wd, you can usually let off the gas and the truck will straighten out, if not, counter steer and your fine.