I usually never use 4wd unless I need it...most trails you take won't need 4wd...but when you start to slip flip it into 4hi....you should never use 4 low unless you are pulling something...if you use it when you are sliding...you rev the engine and get the tires spinning...which isn't so good for the larger gears...you run a higher risk of ruining the diff.

 

I like to see how far I can make it in 2wd... you'd be amazed with the limited slip..lol also I cannot afford to drive the entire trail in 4wd... tooo much gas...

 

You don't do many harder trails huh?

4 low is a MUST for crawling over rocks, up steep hills, etc.

 

I lock in my hubs and as soon as I hit the dirt. ( the '85 has manual hubs). If I get to anything that looks challenging, I put it in 4HI and If I come across the impossible...I put it in 4LO and have my winch controller ready. I haven't needed the winch yet......but hopefully soon!
If I get stuck, I better have a camera or it just wont be worth it....lol

 

Well Jigg...seeing as I can't find what "rock crawler" or a blazer you have, I will make my comment simple. you know......everyone off roads their own way...it was just a suggestion, especially with a stock vehicel..that you really don't need to use 4 low..as it doesn't add traction...and that's what people think it helps out..."if 4hi works good when I am slipping in a mud hole..then 4 low must be better" Don't assume that I don't know how to off road..or that "I must not do hard trails" what a pompus arrogant assumption. Is it because I have a stock blazer and my intention is to drive it to work the next day? Or is it that you think I know so little about trucks? The point is...you don't know my knowledge level of mechanics. So take your condesending attitude some where else..

 

Wow, this reply was a lot nicer when i first read it last night.

Sorry if you feel likeI was beingcondescending, i guess my reply was a little sarcastic.

The reason i said that you don't do harder trails is because you said you never use 4lo, that's it. I haven't even looked at what you're blazer looks like, and i know nothing about your level of mechanics, so no, it's not a comment against any of that.

I guess all i was trying to say is that maybe you never use4lo unless you're pulling something, but that doesn't mean the original poster should never use 4lo. Like you said, everyone wheels differently. I wheel with plenty of stock trucks, and i know for a fact that they wouldn't be able to make quite a bit of the terrain without 4lo. You're right, 4lo doesn't add traction, but... it does add gearing, which is what you need to get up and over things without hammering on the skinny pedal (like you said in your post about breaking things from slipping and having too much gas).

For what it's worth, my blazer gets driven every day. In fact, i'd care less about breaking it ifI drove it every day, but my girlfriend drives it, so I can't break it out on the trail, or else she won't have something to drive on Monday morning... and i'll be sleeping outside :lol:

Please understand that I wasn't trying to be condescending, pompous, or arrogant... just trying to make the point that 4lo is VERY beneficial to a stock truck out on the trail, I'll try to do it in a nicer way next time.

 

If you are actually four wheeling (...not mall crawling), then the use of 4WD is essential to reducing the load placed on the entire drivetrain. Attempting to negotiate actual off-road trails, without the use of 4WD, will certainlylead to more breakage than not.By engaging the front axle, you arereducing the amount of load the rear axle has to deal with, by splitting the load betwen bothfront & rear axle. In the past 15 years of wheeling, I have seen so many breakages by people that are new to wheeling, attemptingto negotiate atrail in 2WD, just to see how far they could go.

Obviously this does not apply to simply driving on a flat dirt path in the woods...but it does in a sense where 4WD is necessary...hence the common term: "four wheeling". Personally, I would not consider driving on a flat dirt path, four wheeling. I would call that driving.

Furthermore, the use of 4LO is also very essential for added control of the vehicle off-road, thatthe reduced gearing provides.4HI has it's place, as does 4LO. But to say that 4LO is to only be used when you are pulling something, is simply incorrect. No disrespect intended.

 

Sorry Jigg, I just get tired of people taking things so litteraly and then saying you aren't as "hard core" as other people. I don't care...and I actually walked away from that post for a while, and I was still mad....I think you just set off a not so good day to begin with. It just seems anytime you try and post a "tip" and it's either not 100% correct, or it just isn't conveyed they way you wanted it to, someone jumps on ya. That's why I don't even attempt to post in most of the other forums, because I get the continued same response. So I apologise for being angry...(I even did the whole walk away thing) I guess it's hard to convey "humor" in the typed world of the computer. I don't usualy get mad at posts...it just hit me the wrong way. I guess what I was trying to say in my first post was just a suggestion for the "off roader" as in non mountain climbing..supper rock crawling conditions..(especially in the mid west)...that you really shouldn't use it unlees you need it because some people get the idea that 4 low has a better ability to get you "un stuck"...and after replacing a rear diff and rear axle from another problem, I would hate to have anyone else have to go through the time and expense that it caused. That was just one of the tips my dad passed onto me to attempt to not destroy my drive train!

and as muslhed proves in the post below....as in there was more than me that made the comment about not using 4wd until you need it, I am the one that gets the rebbutal on how I go "mall crawling" I give up!

 

It is hard to convey emotion on the computerThats why we should use these a little more,may help maybe not. I am probably one of the newest to the 4 wheelin world. Although I have never been "offroad" I drive mine everyday cause it's the only vehicle here and I am the only one that drives makes for ALOT of runnin in one vehicle. i was "playing" with the 4X4 buttons when I got it. I put it in 4lo and forgot about it(on the pavement no less) and man did it start screaming. I guess you have to use the 4X4 at your own caution and see what you can do with it.

 

Pretty much...there's are a lot of "how to" sites out there...just google 4wd. "how things work" site is the best by far