4x4 in the RAIN!!!

txpkup · June 25, 2004

I work in Galveston and live by NASA. About an hour commute (during rush hour) every morning. This morning the island was flooded on Broadway which is what everyone always takes to get to work. But we kicked that rains ass! I stuck it in 4hi on the fly right as the never ending street puddle was coming up. We roared right through it. the dual exhaust sounds even better when you're kickin ass and takin names in 4wd. It was beautiful. I got drenched walking to my building, but I couldn't stop smiling. The Lord and GM new what they were doing when they made Z71s.

Chris97K1500 · June 25, 2004

I had a friend die in a similar situation, only thing diffierent the road under the water wasn't there anymore, he fell into a 8 ft crater and drowned. I never go thru water when it's over the road anymore. It only takes a couple inches of rushing water to lift a vehicle off the road and down the stream. Chris

bigdogs · June 27, 2004

That happened right outside the building I used to work at too. Some guy wanted to dry around the cones that said flooded road and found a 15ft deep sink hole. Unfortunately that decision cost him his life as he drown.

Water is a powerful force, I learned that when I was younger and had my Blazer. I put a 454 in it, changed the trans to a TH400, Dana 60 PowerLok front, 14 bolt locker in the rear, 8" lift, 38" tires, etc.. Well one day I was cruising down the road around 50 (a little fast for the rain) and found a nice puddle by mistake. It shot a wave over the top of my truck (around 8ft high) and over the yellow line to the other side of the street. It lifted up the front of this truck and scared the &^%$& out of me. After that I give water the respect it deserves.

Water acts like a solid in that you can't compress it so it has no problem lifting or pushing a vehicle

snoman · June 27, 2004

I work in Galveston and live by NASA. About an hour commute (during rush hour) every morning. This morning the island was flooded on Broadway which is what everyone always takes to get to work. But we kicked that rains ass! I stuck it in 4hi on the fly right as the never ending street puddle was coming up. We roared right through it. the dual exhaust sounds even better when you're kickin ass and takin names in 4wd. It was beautiful. I got drenched walking to my building, but I couldn't stop smiling. The Lord and GM new what they were doing when they made Z71s.

Very poor judgement. You do not use 4x4 on pavement wet or dry.

Rookie · June 27, 2004

Wow, give the guy a break he was having fun. Don't any of you remember that?????? We have all heard the stories about how some one dies doing something or another. He i heard a storie of a guy who died in bed from a heart attack. Its no going to stop me if ya know what I mean. I'm with ya brother some times its the small things that like your drive to work that make the day worth while.

snoman · June 27, 2004

Wow, give the guy a break he was having fun. Don't any of you remember that?????? We have all heard the stories about how some one dies doing something or another. He i heard a storie of a guy who died in bed from a heart attack. Its no going to stop me if ya know what I mean. I'm with ya brother some times its the small things that like your drive to work that make the day worth while.

Hey I am "giving him a break" and trying to give drive train a break too as well as keep him out of a 4wd skid on slick pavement with is about impossible to recover from if you are in 4wd.

txpkup · June 28, 2004

First of all there are no craters I could fall into on Gavleston Island. Not anywhere along the Texas gulf coast. If anything, quicksand. But there were also cones and emergency vehicles all up and down the street on both sides. (and you could see the sides of the road the whole time, except some spots for a few feet). I'm really sorry about your buddy though. That's sad.

Secondly, why can't you use 4wd on pavement? There's this stuff up in Lubbock we used to call snow....oh hey, we still do. And it would have put us all in the ditch without using 4x4. Maybe you mean in rainy conditions? Although I'm not sure why. My back tires are pretty worn and I just wanted to get through the puddle without the traction asking itself a bunch of questions (skidd'n').

And lastly, yes I was making my 1 hour commute that ended up being 2 hours on Friday more fun. have a beer

peace

Machine · June 28, 2004

Hi -

I'm sure snoman's referring to rain on pavement. That dirty stuff they call snow in Red Raider land warrants a little 4WD.

Rookie · June 29, 2004

Great advise i just cracked one open

snoman · June 29, 2004

Secondly, why can't you use 4wd on pavement? There's this stuff up in Lubbock we used to call snow....oh hey, we still do. And it would have put us all in the ditch without using 4x4. Maybe you mean in rainy conditions? Although I'm not sure why. My back tires are pretty worn and I just wanted to get through the puddle without the traction asking itself a bunch of questions (skidd'n').
And lastly, yes I was making my 1 hour commute that ended up being 2 hours on Friday more fun. have a beer

peace

I have plowed snow for 18+ years now and I never use 4x4 to transport for site to site and I have been in some very bad weather and I have not made a trip to the ditch either but I have seen a lot that have with 4x4 in use. 4x4 has it uses but it gives you a false sense of securuity on roads slick with snow and ice and when you get in a bad skid with 4x4 engaged you are screwed unless you have the presence of mind and quickness of hand to knock it out of 4wd and steer out of it.

Rookie · June 29, 2004

So from what your saying Gm, Ford, Mopar, and anybody else that make 4X4 has been lying to us and 4 wheel drive is not needed, only for playing off roads in the mud? I also live in Northeast Ohio, four wheel drive is needed at least it make the daily drive to work a lot easier at least in 18 to 24 inches of snow. I have drove for many years with out and i prefere to have it. Just my thought. Its like carrying a gun hopefully you will never need it, but if you do your ready.

snoman · June 29, 2004

So from what your saying Gm, Ford, Mopar, and anybody else that make 4X4 has been lying to us and 4 wheel drive is not needed, only for playing off roads in the mud? I also live in Northeast Ohio, four wheel drive is needed at least it make the daily drive to work a lot easier at least in 18 to 24 inches of snow. I have drove for many years with out and i prefere to have it. Just my thought. Its like carrying a gun hopefully you will never need it, but if you do your ready.

No I am saying that 4wd does not have its purposes but the they have very poor skid control when 4wd is engaged and poor highspeed stability on slick surfaces. Do not take my word for it, put it in 4wd on a icy lot and skid it and try to steer out of it, you can't as long as front and rear axle are locked together. GM, FORD and Dodge push them for profit margins and nothing else, do not kid yourself. ABS is very worthwhile but I would never own a car or truck with auto 4wd and let "computer" decide when to engage and disengage it. I have been driving 4x4's for over 30 years now and during that time I have been in just about every situation imaginable with one. Also I lived in Montana for a spell in the 90's where they had about 20+ feet of snow a year and temps as low as minus 50 and I rarely used 4x4 in my burb then and some roads where snow and ice covered for up to 5 months a year and I saw a lot of young new 4x4 "amatuers" spun out in the ditches and snow piles there and even a few upside down too and even saw a young 16 year old girl killed it one when she spun out in 4wd and hit a car coming the otherway. When the road were very slick. FWD (Front Wheel Drive) ruled unless you had studded tires.

Machine · June 29, 2004

4WD has incredible characteristics in mud, sand and snow, and not having 4WD in my area wouldn't be a great idea. I would get stuck in the sand every wkend if it weren't for 4WD - and I don't feel like throwing weight in the bed and lowering tire pressure so that I can get around in 2WD.

I have found that my AWD Escalade performs the best of all my vehicles, and better than the Front Wheel Drive vehicles I have driven while going through adverse conditions. To each his/her own, though

txpkup · June 29, 2004

well you can relax machine. i just finished up my last semester at Tech and will be attending THE University OF Texas this fall. Hook em for transfers. I probably liked lubbock less than you. but they still have snow..

About the plow, of course you didn't need 4x4.....you had a plow!!!

I lived i colorado growing up and we had designated snow tires that we only put on in the winter (you remember when it was october and it was time to go get them changed), chains, 4x4, anything you could get your hands on. hell even the school buses had "gravel machines" in front of the rear tires. Everyone was really nice to the neighbor with the snow plow. You want some bad snow situations, take that Montana amount of snow and temperature and stick it in the rocky mountains where you slide so fast you scrape your @$$.

You're right, in an icy parking lot if you try steering out of 4wd, it will be just as hard as say, having it in rear and not getting accelerrating traction at all. You'll just sit there.

And come to think of it, the only problem I've actually had trouble with while using 4x4, was in mud. The thing about mud and snow is that 4wd will get you to where you can't get out. we all know that.

thanks rookie

snoman · June 29, 2004

My wife drives a 2wd 2000 Jeep cherokee with a 4cyl and a stick to work and I have a set of studded tires on extra rims that I mount on the rear her car every winter. A few years ago a few coworkers bought some grand cherokees with 4wd and we had a very icy winter later that year and after spending one bad winter with them on ice in 4wd and getting scared s'less with them, they sold them and went back to FWD cars. They still cannot figure out how my wife does so well with a 2wd one but a 2wd one with rear studded tire with outperform traction and stabilty wise a like 4x4 on ice hands down. Her Jeep has no tendancy at all to trade ends on ice and is very stable as well (for ice anyway). Also I should add that in Montana and parts of Idaho it gets below zero a lot in winter and I have seen day time highes of minus 15 or so and at 20 or 30 below ice is a lot more "trackable too" and the snow though very deep at times (we had 3ft plus a few times in 24 hrs) it is usually fairly light and powdery usually and were I lived, fourtunately we had little wind in winter with snow and drifiting was not a big problem but 30 to 40 miles to the north, it was very bad. They used to used large tandum axle trucks with chains to clear roads and then ran dual engine truck mounted snow blowers that could take more than 8 feet in height in one pass to clear the piles off the edge of the roads to make room for more. In eastern Idaho in the high plains near where I lived, the winds would pick up in late winter/early spring and drifting was a BIG problem then, They used to run a D9 cat witha specail snow "fence" on it (that was its only job) through the fields along the major roads for miles and make several seperate passes to catch the blowing snow. I have seen them stack it 15 ft tall and more as they cleared a path through snow so deep that only the cab and hood (and sometimes not even the hood) of the D9 was visable at times while they were doing it and it was a working to do it too. That is a lot of snow!