4 Wheel Drive Modes Which Should You Use

Jeez, what's going on with this steering? Oh, I left in four-wheel drive. That's not good.

Hey, friends, it's Lenny here from 1A Auto. So you've got yourself a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but you're curious about your four-wheel drive options. To start, you're probably gonna have a couple different options on the way that you're gonna be able to shift into four-wheel drive. Theoretically, you could either have a manual type of shift where there's like a big old rod down on the floor, and you kinda just grab onto it, you can go from two-wheel drive and a four-wheel-drive high or even four-wheel-drive low.

But in most trucks, you are typically gonna have an electronic shift of some sort, typically a push-button or even a twist knob. Generally, the ones with the electronic selectors are gonna have more options. The one with the lever down along the floor is typically only gonna have two-wheel drive, four-high, or even four-low. With having a switch, you have the ability to potentially have a four-wheel-drive auto. This is all stuff that I wanna talk about so let's get into it. Now with either of these selectors, you're gonna have the ability to either choose between two-wheel drive or even four-wheel drive. But of course, it's gonna come down to how the power is getting transferred to the wheels, that's gonna matter the most.

So first, let's talk about the two-wheel-drive mode. Essentially, that's gonna be putting all the power that's coming from your engine and your transmission through that transfer case and it's only gonna come out through the rear wheels. This is gonna be great for increased fuel economy. The two-wheel-drive mode is essentially gonna be the most common mode that people drive in. You're gonna be driving through the city, you're gonna be going down to the store, you're gonna be turning left, right, all sorts of things. And of course, this is gonna be the best overall for, like I said, the fuel economy aspect, and it'll put minimum wear and tear on your driveline system.

So now typically, the next thing that you'd be able to shift into would be the four-wheel-drive high. Essentially, why you would want to use the four-wheel-drive high is if you were in slippery conditions or even off-roading conditions. When you're in four-wheel drive high or even four-wheel-drive high lock, you wanna make sure that you're not driving anywhere faster than 55 miles per hour. Generally, that's not gonna be something that you're gonna wanna use on dry pavement, especially if you're gonna be making any turns whatsoever. So if you're driving in a straight line, you can go ahead and use the four-wheel-drive high but typically, if you're gonna be making any turns or especially sharp turns, you could notice binding in your driveline system.

The reason why you're probably gonna notice the binding is typically because as you're making turns, the outside wheels are gonna be trying to spin a little bit faster than the inside wheels. But essentially, when you're in four-wheel drive, all four wheels should be trying to spin at approximately the same speed. Other than the binding around turns, typically, what you might happen to notice if you're in the four-wheel-drive high is that it kinda feels as though your acceleration from the truck when you go ahead and step on that gas pedal is gonna be diminished.

The reason why it's diminished is because, like I keep saying, is all four wheels are trying to spin so all the power that's coming from your engine and transmission to that transfer case is getting dispersed to the front and the rear instead of just to the rear. So by driving your truck around inside four-wheel-drive high, especially if you're making sharp turns or abrupt maneuvers, you could potentially be causing major damage to your driveline system, especially your transfer case. This is gonna be especially noticeable if you have locking front or rear differentials.

So now we're gonna talk about four-wheel-drive low mode. Essentially, this is gonna be used for when you're going very slow. But before we can talk about that, we should also mention, to be able to shift into four-wheel drive low, you're either gonna have to have your truck stopped completely, or at least driving less than 3 miles per hour under no acceleration, but most times you're gonna have to be completely stopped. The reason for this is because it's gonna try to put your driveline into a different gearing system, which will change how fast your tires are trying to spin in comparison to your engine speed, in which case will increase your torque at the ground, which I guess you might say a crawling speed gear.

So, essentially, you're really only gonna use this in certain instances where either you're stuck someplace or maybe you're trying to drive up steep and loose terrain, or even, essentially, if you're trying to pull something that's kinda at like the higher-end of your tow capacity like maybe somebody's stuck in some mud and of course, that's gonna be hard to get them out of there. So essentially, you're gonna wanna have the most amount of torque get into your wheels, so you can get the most amount of grip to get out of this particular situation. And of course, once you get yourself out of one of these particular situations, you're gonna wanna make sure you come to a complete stop and get yourself out of the four-wheel-drive low selection.

Now for the next two things we're gonna end up talking about, this is for the electronic selector switches only. On a lot of electronic selector switches, you might happen to find that you have a four-wheel-drive auto selection. This selection is amazing and it's a wonderful thing, and especially if you're gonna be driving in snowy or inclement weather. Essentially what this is gonna try to do is keep your truck driveline power going to those rear wheels, but it's gonna make sure that your transfer case is ready to go in a split second.

If you're driving down the road and your truck happens to sense that one or even multiple of your wheels are starting to slip, it's gonna go ahead and put it right into four-wheel drive mode so that way there you're getting all the grip to all your wheels as needed. Instead of just keeping it inside the rear-wheel-drive mode, which essentially if it starts to slip, you might get stuck or even go a little bit out of control.

So if you're driving down the road in snow, maybe there's a nice little layer and you wanna make sure you have the most traction, typically, I like to keep my truck in four-wheel-drive auto. Four-wheel drive auto can be used at pretty much anytime, whether the conditions are dry, or even moist or slippery conditions. So if you're driving on regular pavement, you don't necessarily need to worry about damaging your driveline system in exception of, of course, if you're just driving like that all day, every day, highway, roadways, city ways, all these things, you know, goes miles and miles and miles.

So, of course, not only is this gonna put a lot of pressure on your driveline system and potentially the inside of your transfer case with the clutches and whatnot that are in there, but also, of course, it's gonna use a lot more fuel in the long run. So if you're just driving on regular pavement, maybe it's a nice beautiful summer day and you're driving out to the beach, go ahead and use that two-wheel drive. But if you're driving in inclement weather, or maybe on slippery surfaces, you wanna make sure that you're at least in the four-wheel-drive auto if you ask me.

And like I said, I had two specific things that are electronic switch only, the second one would be the neutral switch button. So, essentially, for that, what it's gonna come down to is maybe if you were towing your truck with all four wheels on the ground, potentially either with a tow truck or even behind an RV. Maybe you're on a nice family vacation, and you got the RV but you wanna take a nice truck with you, right? So you go ahead and hook it up to the back of that RTV and you wanna tow it. More than likely, you're probably not gonna wanna leave your key in the on position with the transmission in neutral. Essentially, by pushing the neutral release button, it's gonna go ahead and disengage both of those drivelines from your transfer case and make it so you can go ahead and tow it without potentially causing damage to your transfer case or driveline.

Okay, so that was a lot of information, so let's just go ahead and sum it up so it's a much smaller bit here. Essentially, if you're just driving in normal conditions, you can go ahead and drive in two-wheel drive or even four-wheel drive auto. This is gonna be great for any surface, whether it's dry pavement or even snowy conditions. Otherwise, if you happen to be driving off-road and you feel as though you need a little bit more torque and power coming to all four of your wheels, go ahead and put it in four-wheel drive. Just keep in mind, like I said, if you go on dry pavement, when you come to go ahead and turn, you're probably gonna notice some binding.

Four-wheel drive low can only be used in very slow situations. When you try to activate it if you're driving faster than maybe 3 miles an hour, it's probably not gonna activate for you. You have to actually stop the truck, go ahead and put it in neutral typically, and then you can go ahead and shift it into four-wheel drive low. Once you're in that, as soon as you get out of your position that you're in, whether you're stuck or you're trying to tow something, go ahead and get it out of that four-wheel-drive low. That way there you don't cause any unnecessary damage to your driveline system. And of course, two-wheel drive is gonna be the best fuel economy overall.

Okay, friends, I hope you liked the video and I hope you learned a little something. Maybe you got something to say, either way, leave it in the comment section below because I always love to hear from you. If you liked the video, smash on that Like button for me. It would mean the world. While you're at it, go ahead and subscribe and ring the bell. That way there you can be kept up with all of our latest content. Thanks