2WD vs 4WD

[Billiebob]

I agree 4WD is never a necessity, 2WD can go virtually anywhere 4WD can but ......
Heres the content of an advertisment Toyota used in the late '80s for their 4WD AllTrac Systems on the Corolla and Cellica. I've never seen it put more clearly.

 

[RoarinRow]

Totally makes sense to me!

 

[Scott_Milk]

True, I have taken my 2wd to places where they say only 4wd should go. You just have to know the limits of your vehicle and avoid the places you would likely get stuck. That being said, I've gotten my 04 2wd tundra stuck just from slowly crossing a decent rut diagonally and it lifted one of my rear tires and boom, stuck. It could've been solved with a locker for true 2wd instead of 1wd

 

[The other Sean]

True, I have taken my 2wd to places where they say only 4wd should go. You just have to know the limits of your vehicle and avoid the places you would likely get stuck. That being said, I've gotten my 04 2wd tundra stuck just from slowly crossing a decent rut diagonally and it lifted one of my rear tires and boom, stuck. It could've been solved with a locker for true 2wd instead of 1wd

Been there many times with my old Ford Ranger 2wd. That was one of the main points that got me to replace it. Even with A/T tires and a limited slip rear, it would still not get me there.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Obviously never driven a 4X4 with lockers and off road tires. 2wd may get you there but well it get you out.

 

[Shakes355]

Weight is the biggest factor in my book. As the weight of the vehicle goes up, the amount of power needed to move it from a stop begins to rival the amount of power that can be transferred by the tires to the traction surface.

Example: My old 2wd ranger could get in and out of places that my old 1/2 ton in 2wd would get stuck.
1/2 ton has more aggressive tires, a limited slip and 2.5x the power. Conventional wisdom would say it is superior based on specs. But you cant fight physics.

 

[Billiebob]

Weight is the biggest factor in my book. As the weight of the vehicle goes up, the amount of power needed to move it from a stop begins to rival the amount of power that can be transferred by the tires to the traction surface.

Example: My old 2wd ranger could get in and out of places that my old 1/2 ton in 2wd would get stuck.
1/2 ton has more aggressive tires, a limited slip and 2.5x the power. Conventional wisdom would say it is superior based on specs. But you cant fight physics.

Which has been the selling point for FWD for 40 years. Or RWD for 80 years if you drove a Beetle.

 

[Dilldog]

Also sometimes having too much power is a huge hindrance. I have been able to get through stuff in my old Isuzus other v8 powered rigs haven't been able to simply because that little 85hp glorified tractor had 2 choices, stall out or move, it didn't have enough power to break tires loose most of the time, lol.

 

[Billiebob]

Then there is this.
The disadvantage of 4WD.
ALL wheels spinning and complete loss of directional control.

From the 1960s, the Hurst "Hairy" Olds
Two supercharged Olds 455s, one in the trunk thru Toronado transaxles.
Zero to 180mph in 8.8 seconds. It crashed spectacularly.

 

[Snerk]

I don't really think it's particularly fair to compare janky 1960's engineering in an exhibition car to a properly designed AWD system.

Also FWIW, the Hairy Olds would only run like 11s in the 1/4mi. Spent most of it's power spinning tires, which doesn't translate to actual speed.

 

[André Philippe]

True, I have taken my 2wd to places where they say only 4wd should go. You just have to know the limits of your vehicle and avoid the places you would likely get stuck. That being said, I've gotten my 04 2wd tundra stuck just from slowly crossing a decent rut diagonally and it lifted one of my rear tires and boom, stuck. It could've been solved with a locker for true 2wd instead of 1wd

Well, a rear locker is nice, but I know an easiest an much weirder solution, that has been used for some VW Beetle based bajas and similars here in Brazil: Independent parking break. Yeah. Pull the lever and stop that wheel from spinning till it hits the ground again. Absurdly easy to adapt to most RWD vehicles and really comes in hand. Also useful for parallel parking, hahahah

The yellow knobs are for the each rear wheel, and the regular handbreak lever pulls both at the same time.

 

[UgotWheelz]

If you need double the traction just increase your contact patch or the useable grip for a given contact patch.

 

[Graeman]

Why do 2wd's always want to go where the 4 wheelers go? When you experts who have been there in a 2wd say these things it gives a false hope to the others - mainly beginners. Then they go and get stuck and/or damage their vehicles trying to attempt a 4wd trail. How about you just buy a 4wd drive vehicle - if you really want to disregard the trail signs. There are other reasons for those 4wd signs on the trails and it is called weather conditions and personal safety.

 

[UgotWheelz]

I have no idea what signs your refering to? I don't goto ATV and offroad parks; I drive real established tracks and roads all over North America & South America.

 

[Graeman]

I have no idea what signs your refering to? I don't goto ATV and offroad parks; I drive real tracks and roads all over North America & South America, there usually aren't even names for theses places let alone signs.

I am talking about Utah, Colorado and Arizona.

 

[Sparksalot]

Why do 2wd's always want to go where the 4 wheelers go? When you experts who have been there in a 2wd say these things it gives a false hope to the others - mainly beginners. Then they go and get stuck and/or damage their vehicles trying to attempt a 4wd trail. How about you just buy a 4wd drive vehicle - if you really want to disregard the trail signs. There are other reasons for those 4wd signs on the trails and it is called weather conditions and personal safety.

Because everyone has cubic megabucks to just toss their current vehicle.

and to properly overland you absolutely must have a YouTube channel, drone, skottle, and trasheroo as well.

 

[Boostpowered]

Most if not all of us who own real 4x4s that everyone is so damn jealous of started off with something in 2wd. And we learned fairly quickly why 4x4 exists and switched over because we've been stuck like Chuck in the backwoods somewhere, its not fun. Hence we go get a 4x4 then we go out and get the 4x4 stuck somewhere deeper and learn what needs to be done then we go out again and again and modify anything that will help us not be stuck and before you know it you've spent a couple thousand building something capable of going where you want and doing what you want.

And wtf is with folks thinking just because you have a built 4x4 with nice things that you have to have a youtube channel and all that crap. I don't even have a video camera aside from what comes with my phone. Nor do I have a skottle aka cowboy wok though I do have alot of plow discs laying around ,no trasharoo just a black 55 gallon trash bag from attwoods. You'll never see my truck anywhere but this site and out in the wild and I could care less if I'm liked in either, give me a thumbs up & you get the middle one back.

 

[SquishBang]

Just came back from some fairly difficult off-roading in my 4x4 truck. Recently had a Eaton TrueTrac helical LSD installed in the rear, and it was a real eye-opener.
We did much of the trails in 2WD. My wife kept wondering why I wasn't using 4WD, I told her that I'd use it if we needed it.
A few parts NEEDED 4WD, and I found 4HI wasn't a HUGE improvement over 2WD.
However, the real magic of a 4WD system is 4LO.
On big, steep rocks, using 4HI, my truck would rev up until the torque converter locked and then the truck would go up the rock while doing some wheelspin.
On the same obstacle, in 4LO, the truck would basically idle up, barely needing any extra throttle input. The calm control from 4LO is where the real benefit from a 4WD truck/SUV becomes apparent.
I wouldn't be surprised if a 2WD truck with HLSD (not VLSD, that would get destroyed from too much off-roading) or locker and an actual 2LO mode could really nearly keep up with a 4WD.

 

[UgotWheelz]

Not everyone needs or wants to go rock crawling. Most overlanding is done on Hywy, FSR, State or National public lands or established tracks.

 

[Boostpowered]

Not everyone needs or wants to go rock crawling. Most overlanding is done on Hywy, FSR, State or National public lands or established tracks. I could do 85-90% of what I see posted on IG, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube in one of my old 60's-80's Import 2WD cars.

That's a pretty broad statement, really it depends on what you drive, where you drive it and your skill level. In my "overland rig" aka daily driver I don't consider rocks under 20" to be rock crawling, in my rock crawler it anything under 35". Living in one of the worst states for offroading or overlanding I feel bad to hear you say all you drive on is normal roads especially if you live in the pnw, I know there are trails and tracks there that will eat your 2wd for lunch. I have to go out of state for my fun and it's not some normal roads you'll see a family sedan on. Just in oklahoma and arkansas You'd be looking at large rocks, washouts, off camber areas, mud pits, downed trees, 2' to 5' water crossings, etc so I know up in the pnw there is atleast as good or better trails than some np service road.