Snafu in Slippery/4 wheel hi mode

[dgorsett]

Thanks. I've had Jeep CJs and other 4wds over 50 years. Never experienced this.

Any 4x4 with conventional 4wd should exhibit similar behavior in 4wd on pavement, even wet, when turning sharply in 4wd.

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[Brian_B]

It is valuable in snow and ice. In rain it's fine just hit the 2H button after engaging Slippery. It will gentle down the throttle and shifting while enhancing traction control.

A more macho version of Eco mode!

 

[dgorsett]

A more macho version of Eco mode!

And Sport is a macho tow haul (we dont have so i use Sport towing), Sand is macho Sport and Baja has maximum machismo in the Sport mode family.

 

[DALOLA]

It is valuable in snow and ice. In rain it's fine just hit the 2H button after engaging Slippery. It will gentle down the throttle and shifting while enhancing traction control.

That's a good point, I've noticed you can "adjust" the drive mode as it is initially selected by the PCU. Sport Mode engages 4A by default, and I always go back to 2H manually, while still in Sport Mode.

If it's just wet, and you select Slippery Mode, I would manually reselect 4A if you have it, otherwise, agree....switchback to 2H.

 

[Sparkherd]

Another reason to never buy a 4x4 without 4A.....

I dint know what "4A" was when I was ordering off of ye olde interweeeb.
Onliest veehickles I ever had said "2H, 4H, 4L", and in Them Good Old Days; "N".
The Ford marketing crap just said "Advanced Transfer Case".
It was FREE so WTH!!!
Glad I did!

 

[bassist]

I don't know what kind of winter road conditions you have in VA, but here it's a mixed bag all winter....road surfaces can be dry, wet, snow, and ice....all within just a few miles. 4A is superior for these kinds of mixed road surfaces. I had one F150 4x4 that did not have 4A, never again. It's not about "need", it's about what works best.

I spent close to a decade in the upper Midwest. Meanwhile in VA, they don’t know how to treat the roads

If you can see the road, you don’t need 4WD.

If you had issues with your F150, that’s because unloaded pickup trucks handle like garbage in wet weather. Throwing some bags of sand in the back over the axle and running actual winter tires will fix that.

Skipping over running winter tires to AWD/4WD doesn’t make you safer - quite the opposite.

 

[not on the rug]

Why?

You don’t need 4WD if you can see the color of the road.

Hell, get the right tires and you don’t need 4WD unless you are offroad…and even then not necessarily.

Agree 100%. I got my Bronco last fall and as soon as we had snow here in NJ (about 7-8") I went for a ride to test out the system and the tires. I live out in the mountains/country and even with that much snow on the road I was driving around easily in 2wd. The factory tires aren't even great tires but they're just fine. People just love to overthink and worry far too much

 

[not on the rug]

That's a good point, I've noticed you can "adjust" the drive mode as it is initially selected by the PCU. Sport Mode engages 4A by default, and I always go back to 2H manually, while still in Sport Mode.

If it's just wet, and you select Slippery Mode, I would manually reselect 4A if you have it, otherwise, agree....switchback to 2H.

That's how I drive mine every time I get in it. Sport mode and 2H

 

[DALOLA]

If you had issues with your F150, that’s because unloaded pickup trucks handle like garbage in wet weather. Throwing some bags of sand in the back over the axle and running actual winter tires will fix that.

4A also fixes that, which was the point of my post.

 

[DarthLincoln]

As I said, I merely activated "Slippery" GOAT mode, which itself engages 4HI. Interesting to hear Slippery mode is useless.

I have 4A so that is what i get when using “Slippery”. It is definitely intended for packed snow, ice, or loose gravel/dirt roads. In the rain I use 4A, but usually I just turn on 4A manually without the GOAT mode change.

If I didn’t have 4A, i would still use Slippery and 4Hi when driving on highways in heavy rain if there is any feeling of hydroplaning, but not on wet residential streets where speeds are slower and turns are sharper.

 

[Figmo]

4A is all fine and good for the street - just don't use it on the trail. It's not responsive enough for my tastes. Too slow to detect and respond to a wheel breaking traction. By the time it starts to do its magic, its often too late.


I think it was Henry Ford himself who said: "4A for the Avenues, 4H for the Hills."

 

[DALOLA]

4A is all fine and good for the street - just don't use it on the trail. It's not responsive enough for my tastes. Too slow to detect and respond to a wheel breaking traction. By the time it starts to do its magic, its often too late.


I think it was Henry Ford himself who said: "4A for the Avenues, 4H for the Hills."

Of course, 4A is primarily for hard surface (asphalt, concrete) road driving, when wet, or in mixed winter conditions. It gives a 4x4 vehicle much greater day to day utility.

 

[VirginiaHeritage]

As I said, I merely activated "Slippery" GOAT mode, which itself engages 4HI. Interesting to hear Slippery mode is useless.

It’s not useless. Perhaps poorly named.

The Bronco is extremely capable but it comes with a steeper learning curve than a typical AWD or full-time 4WD (Landcruiser, etc) system where the driver really doesn’t have to know anything or make any choices about how the vehicle is delivering power. This is especially true with the Advanced 4WD system. In the Bronco, you have a lot of options as the driver and you need to have a basic understanding of the system and make the right choices to take advantage of all that capability without breaking stuff.

I had a lot of time in traditional part-time 4WD trucks before the Bronco but I quickly realized I had some reading to do to know what was going on in this rig.

 

[Brian_B]

To pour some fuel on this - I drive in 4H in pouring rain almost every time it rains heavy here. So like.. 3 times since I've owned the Bronco. And I did it in my F150 before that, and my Sport Trac before that.

Yes, it will bind if you cut the wheel hard. It'll even do that on dirt sometimes. And yeah, that's less than good. But I've not toasted a front end yet - although I admit it's possible. Just like those people who run 87 with a tune -- you keep tossing the dice, eventually you'll roll snake eyes. And I admit, I'm rolling the dice every time I do it. But I'll take that over spinning out every single time I pull away from a stop sign or try to take a corner. (yeah yeah yeah too much accelerator, stop being my mom)

Don't have 4A.

 

[bassist]

4A also fixes that, which was the point of my post.

Except 4A isn’t mandatory. I didn’t lose sleep worrying about whether or not I had it.

Turns out I do, but I didn’t even think about it when making my decision, and wouldn’t have eliminated a vehicle because of not having it.

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