Using 2H/4A/4H in Snow-Different Scenarios?

[RivianNowPlz]

Having drove a Rubicon for 3 years that did not have part time 4wd only 2wd and 4wd high I'll just mention this as a Minnesota resident.

When you're skeptical of the weather conditions and it's wet/slushy outside just throw it into 4H and ignore 4a until the weather calms a bit. So long as you're not on dry pavement you're not going to cause any excessive wear to any of your tires with Americas straight line roads.

My Bronco will be in my hands on Saturday.. its been snowing all week here so I'll be able to do real world, real driving, real commute testing very soon and report back on the effectiveness of 4a and how well it works. If it's anything like Fords other part time selectable systems in winter I would not have high expectations at all as my 17 Gen 2 Raptor wasn't good about quickly noticing slip and it always felt safer to be in 4h.

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[AKBronc49]

Pretty sure I would have been in 2wd in all these photos

And that's definitely a choice, but know it's about like driving on an ice rink and it's breaking traction in 4x4 when speeding up. In 2wd it definitely would have swapped ends. Or, you'd be the guy holding everyone up at the stop light becauseyou can'tget going. The worst is the guy who looses it going up hill when he looses traction trying to maintain speed ends up in a head on or in the ditch. But for some really odd reason some people refuse to use the tools at their disposal.

 

[Panaran]

Edit: nvm I'm wrong

 

[Silver-Bolt]

I'm confused why people are saying 4H will cause wear to your tires and drivetrain, why? 4H doesn't automatically lock your diffs, FR and FL wheels will still be able to spin at speeds independently of each other. The front axles/diff in 4h will work the exact same way as the rear does in 2h. The only wear and tear would be the front differentials are actually doing work, which should really harm anything at any speeds. 4L is a different story, but 4H should be ok regardless of speed and road conditions, it's just wasted engine power if you don't need it. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Engage 4H on dry pavement. Pull into a parking spot and then back out of the parking spot. Let us know if you feel anything different.

 

[Panaran]

Engage 4H on dry pavement. Pull into a parking spot and then back out of the parking spot. Let us know if you feel anything different.

Is it an issue with the transfer case then and not the diffs which would still be open?

 

[Stangcrazy66]

Wet/slick goat mode, 4A. Was doin 50/55mph on an unplowed 275 with no traction issues. That said it was still snowing and as you can see the front end just collects the snow. Headlight effectiveness is seriously hampered. I took this pic after clearing the headlights.

 

[DieselSmack]

Wet/slick goat mode, 4A. Was doin 50/55mph on an unplowed 275 with no traction issues. That said it was still snowing and as you can see the front end just collects the snow. Headlight effectiveness is seriously hampered. I took this pic after clearing the headlights.

Any solution for the lack of heat coming from the Headlights? I have seen this issue a few times now and I think it has potential to be unsafe. Would something like Rain X work on them?

 

[rdg04578]

Is it an issue with the transfer case then and not the diffs which would still be open?

The problem is that turning the tires causes the front tires c rotate faster than the rear and the transfer case is geared only to only allow the front and rear tires to rotate at the same speed.
In respect to the front ---the front the outer wheel needs to spin faster than the inner tire in a turn --so an open differential will compensate for that but there is nothing to compensate for the front and rear tires needing to spin at different speeds. 4WD high should only be used on low traction surfaces to prevent this (called binding)
4A uses a clutch in the transfer case to allow you to use it on dry surfaces but it never fully engages 1:1 so you never get the 50-50 split of power between the front and rear--which is why you do not use it off road because the system is rear biased.

 

[710-oil-614]

You could in theory keep it in 4A year round. That is what a lot of AWD systems like the Mazdas are.

Subaru is AWD all the time (60/40, 55/45, or 52/48) depending on the type of system you have of theirs.

4A will drive your rear wheels until it detects slipping and in a few milliseconds will engage the front wheels.

But it's totally unnecessary to keep it in 4A unless you expect or see bad weather.

 

[PowPow]

So pardon me for being ignorant (or just dumb). So first 4 x 4 (always had rear, front or AWD). I bow my self for ultimate shaming a la Game of Thrones style, proceed. What is the typical use for 2H vs 4H vs 4A in snow when regular road driving? Couple of Scenarios (highway, or regular suburb roads):
1) Just started snowing and some is sticking.
2) Been snowing a bunch, a good couple of inches (that's what she....oh you know the drill) on the road.
3) Snowed previously, had been plowed but sill may be patchy or icy.

Any other settings or things to keep in mind driving this in the winter here in WI?

I'm sure someone already posted this, but just put it in Slippery GOAT mode. done and done.

 

[Boxer4]

Having drove a Rubicon for 3 years that did not have part time 4wd only 2wd and 4wd high I'll just mention this as a Minnesota resident.

When you're skeptical of the weather conditions and it's wet/slushy outside just throw it into 4H and ignore 4a until the weather calms a bit. So long as you're not on dry pavement you're not going to cause any excessive wear to any of your tires with Americas straight line roads.

My Bronco will be in my hands on Saturday.. its been snowing all week here so I'll be able to do real world, real driving, real commute testing very soon and report back on the effectiveness of 4a and how well it works. If it's anything like Fords other part time selectable systems in winter I would not have high expectations at all as my 17 Gen 2 Raptor wasn't good about quickly noticing slip and it always felt safer to be in 4h.

Only have used 4A on wet / rain conditions ( no snow here in Southland )-
But it is interesting to put on the power distrubution screen to see what conditions activate the transfer case in 4A.

 

[TheWoo]

I'm confused why people are saying 4H will cause wear to your tires and drivetrain, why? 4H doesn't automatically lock your diffs, FR and FL wheels will still be able to spin at speeds independently of each other. The front axles/diff in 4h will work the exact same way as the rear does in 2h. The only wear and tear would be the front differentials are actually doing work, which should really harm anything at any speeds. 4L is a different story, but 4H should be ok regardless of speed and road conditions, it's just wasted engine power if you don't need it. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

As noted above, this is inaccurate and should be disregarded. 4H is not for use on dry pavement as the transfer case is locked.

 

[Lcubed]

Having drove a Rubicon for 3 years that did not have part time 4wd only 2wd and 4wd high I'll just mention this as a Minnesota resident.

your description of the rubicon drive system is the very definition of part time 4WD. (the binary conditions are either 2WD or 4WD)

 

[RivianNowPlz]

your description of the rubicon drive system is the very definition of part time 4WD. (the binary conditions are either 2WD or 4WD)

Part time 4wd is the definition of selec-trac 4a systems. It's literally on the window sticker for jeeps. Don't care what others want to call a system or define it as.. jeeps 4a system is selec- Trac system is shown as part time shift on the fly. Sooo it's all names.. it all doesn't matter.. like Fords clever ecoboost marketing that took over the auto industry renaming turbo engines that were around forever as some unique proprietary new engine choice.

 

[DefNotBuddyLee]

Any solution for the lack of heat coming from the Headlights? I have seen this issue a few times now and I think it has potential to be unsafe. Would something like Rain X work on them?

This was an issue with the Wrangler, especially for JKs doing LED headlight swaps. Aftermarket will likely come out with heated LED headlights for the Bronco (like they did with the Wrangler) for people needing as an option. Otherwise I have heard of people using cooking spray or WD 40 on the headlights (or just stopping and clearing occassionally).

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