is low range neccesary?

[Canyonero_]

I feel that 4Lo is a good fit for lower powered 4x4s. My son was always having iusses driving his 09 Tacoma off road, it has the 4 cylinder with a manual transmission. One day on a trip, I asked if he was in 4Lo and he said he never used it. He put it in 4Lo and has never had an issue in sand or climbing again.

Our 1942 Ford MB we had 30 years ago or so had the original flat head engine with Model "T" trans and two stick transfer case. Engine had like 40 or so horse power but lots of torque, in 4Lo it could almost idle up a hill in second gear.

Our current f250 2wd with 7.3 PS, Auto, 4:10 gears and locker can climb pretty could in 1st gear and go through sand.

For me I feel having enough power to keep moving with out spins the tires is the key. If the engine can not do it on it's own - then you need the gearing to do it.

Gearing lets you get the engine into it's power band without having to have lots of speed.

I have 383 lb/ft of torque, truck is about 5000 lbs

 

[Daryl 32]

I have 383 lb/ft of torque, truck is about 5000 lbs

Just finished a trip in Baja with the family somewhere between 350 and 400 miles off road. Our f250 was at about 8,500 or lbs with all the gear and extra supplies. Did great for what it is, we were in a couple of spots that 4Lo would have been nice. 4Lo can also help keep auto transmission temps down which helps avoid break down issues.

 

[Smileyshaun]

I think it depends on where you want to go and where you live . I ran into problems a lot in both my foresters with steep hills and lack of gearing so low range for me was necessary .

 

[Outdoordog]

I was playing around with the jeep yesterday, it did fine in 2 wheel mode nearly most of the trail. Needed 4hi for some rocks and slippery surfaces.

ONLY on the offshoots, did I need 4lo. I could travel to many places without even 4hi.

I think 4lo is for extreme terrain, and not necessary for overlanding.

 

[Charles M]

I have a 2019. They came with a single speed speed transfer case and something called "terrain mode" where the vehicle uses the transmission, torque converter, and brakes to simulate the slow creep and crawl of low range. obviously without the added torque since it is a 1:1 transfer case. I haven't seen anyone test it off road yet. My concern with it would be brakes or transmission overheating when using terrain mode. It does have a cool feature where it will not move the truck at all unless you touch the brakes and the accelerator becomes less sensitive so you can move very small amounts. Still, if this mode was "better" than having 4lo then it would be an option on the trailboss and z71 trucks. Those still have a two speed transfer case.

Did you have to reprogram the BCM or TCM when swapping the transfer case? I got a great deal on this truck so I am keeping it for sure since I keep my trucks a long time but if I could swap the transfer case myself it would be awesome. From what I can tell the trucks are identical besides the transfer case so in theory it would all bolt up

Mine was a bolt up swap. I replaced Transfer, shift selector and TCM and it worked fine from there. No changes in wiring or anything else. I have over 5000 miles with no problems. It might be possible to swap it out but, good luck finding someone at Chevy who will verify that... Find someone who has the 2 speed and start comparing parts it just might be possible.. If it works out be sure to let everyone know. I will ask around too see if I can find out.

 

[m_lars]

I was playing around with the jeep yesterday, it did fine in 2 wheel mode nearly most of the trail. Needed 4hi for some rocks and slippery surfaces.

ONLY on the offshoots, did I need 4lo. I could travel to many places without even 4hi.

I think 4lo is for extreme terrain, and not necessary for overlanding.

Depends on the terrain. If I were still in the flat Midwest, I’d agree. It’s a lot more enjoyable cruise in the mountains in low range, even though 4x4 is not needed. I could absolutely do it in high, but it’s much less engine noise and big downshifts in low going up or down.

 

[M Rose]

... On the issue of using it for engine braking don't do that your putting wear on a t case that cost way more than some good brake pads/ rotor. Only reason to use brakes off road is if your out of control or your front diff is open and slipping at which point you feather the brakes while accelerating and the slowing of the spinning tire causes the torque to transfer to the wheel on the ground that isnt spinning, its a old school trick to make an open diff act like a locker.

I have close to 200,000 miles of off-road use on my 2000 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9 Gas, Auto transmission, pulling either 3 quads and camping gear, or a 20’ TT... getting in and out of my valley is 35% grades, running the t-case in low range is required. The Truck has over 400,000 miles on it, without any transfer case or transmission problems... actually no problems due to engine braking... I do have engine problems, but that is due to extended high rpm driving pulling my TT up the freeway over passes I should never have been on. And mud drags probably didn’t help either.
25 years as a mechanic and I have never seen premature t-case wear from engine breaking... I have seen rigs catch on fire from relying on the brake pedals, broken calipers, warped drums and rotors, and lots of other damage that the customers would have rather paid to have a t-case r&red. But again T-case failure from engine breaking alone, never... getting hung up on rocks, snow drifts, etc, yes... high engine speeds and wheels stop turning with beefed up axles, lockers, driveshafts, and u- Joints, something is going to have to give.

 

[Boostpowered]

I have close to 200,000 miles of off-road use on my 2000 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9 Gas, Auto transmission, pulling either 3 quads and camping gear, or a 20’ TT... getting in and out of my valley is 35% grades, running the t-case in low range is required. The Truck has over 400,000 miles on it, without any transfer case or transmission problems... actually no problems due to engine braking... I do have engine problems, but that is due to extended high rpm driving pulling my TT up the freeway over passes I should never have been on. And mud drags probably didn’t help either.
25 years as a mechanic and I have never seen premature t-case wear from engine breaking... I have seen rigs catch on fire from relying on the brake pedals, broken calipers, warped drums and rotors, and lots of other damage that the customers would have rather paid to have a t-case r&red. But again T-case failure from engine breaking alone, never... getting hung up on rocks, snow drifts, etc, yes... high engine speeds and wheels stop turning with beefed up axles, lockers, driveshafts, and u- Joints, something is going to have to give.

Funny ive went through 5 t cases in last 20 years (odometer stopped rolling 5 years ago)on my 89 ford ranger 4x4 manual and i dont use the engine to brake, they arent bulletproof just like everything else. Just because you havent had it happen yet does not mean that it wont. Sure maybe ford t cases suck and my experience is based on that but none the less it is experience.

 

[Boostpowered]

actually an atlas has a 4:1 low range, a crawl ratio is all 3 put together



never, ever seen a tc wear or fail by using it for controlling your speed
you say the only need for brakes is if out of control, in 4lo you won't get out of control in the first place.
and braking and accelerating at the same time won't make a difference with an open diff, that trick works if you have a limited slip diff...and usually best if it's fairly new or the clutches are'nt worn

Im pretty sure none of my trucks came with a stock lsd up front all open diff in front and the brake trick works (explain that) minuite 1:12 in this vid shows it working on the front.

 

[Dilldog]

Funny ive went through 5 t cases in last 20 years (odometer stopped rolling 5 years ago)on my 89 ford ranger 4x4 manual and i dont use the engine to brake, they arent bulletproof just like everything else. Just because you havent had it happen yet does not mean that it wont. Sure maybe ford t cases suck and my experience is based on that but none the less it is experience.

There were some pretty terrible Borg Warner cases in the smaller Fords. Only T case issue I have ever had was on a 208 behind my built 300-6, i dumped the clutch and ripped the center hub out of the planetary gears. Ironicly had I been in high range that may not have happened...

 

[M Rose]

Funny ive went through 5 t cases in last 20 years (odometer stopped rolling 5 years ago)on my 89 ford ranger 4x4 manual and i dont use the engine to brake, they arent bulletproof just like everything else. Just because you havent had it happen yet does not mean that it wont. Sure maybe ford t cases suck and my experience is based on that but none the less it is experience.

I said specifically from engine breaking... I have seen t cases explode... that’s what gave the Explorer the nickname Exploder... the second and third Gen Ranger-Explorer were notorious for t case failure (bad oil system) and transmission failures. The 4.0 V-6 was almost bulletproof. But that is why James Duff made adapters for using FSF transmission and t case adapters for the 1984-1997 Ranger and the 1992-1997 Explorer.

 

[bgenlvtex]

9,13,18 speeds are my all time favourite transmissions, shifting is one of those reasons I love driving

6 and 4 with Brown Lipe auxiliary

Virtually theft proof today

 

[M Rose]

There were some pretty terrible Borg Warner cases in the smaller Fords. Only T case issue I have ever had was on a 208 behind my built 300-6, i dumped the clutch and ripped the center hub out of the planetary gears. Ironicly had I been in high range that may not have happened...

The NP208 was a beefy t case, although not the best one, it was the last of the great cast iron NP cases. The Ford NP205 was the best NP t case as far as strength goes, but it was also the most rare case only used in 76-77 Ford F-250 and F350 trucks.

 

[Dilldog]

The NP208 was a beefy t case, although not the best one, it was the last of the great cast iron NP cases. The Ford NP205 was the best NP t case as far as strength goes, but it was also the most rare case only used in 76-77 Ford F-250 and F350 trucks.

The 208 is an aluminum case chain drive unit. What made it cool was it had a planetary gear low range that gave it a 3.something:1 low.

 

[M Rose]

Th

The 208 is an aluminum case chain drive unit. What made it cool was it had a planetary gear low range that gave it a 3.something:1 low.

That’s right, another cool thing about the NP208 is that the range box can be removed and adapted very easily to the input side of the NP205 tripling the low low range gear ratio.

 

[Dilldog]

Oh dang I thought the 208 had a 3 something low, whoops.