ooops, did i damage my truck?

[juanbenae]

to load and unload my car from the car trailer i have these wood 4x8 ramps cut to raise the back of the truck & lower the rear of the trailer. it takes 4 wheel drive to mount them (settle, i know i said mount) smoothly. well last night trying to get out of sears point in a hurry i never did take it out of 4-wheel high for the ride home, driving about 60 miles on the freeway towing. it became apparent when i started to smell just a tad of clutch/brake smell, you may know the one i speak of. it is an 03 z71 chevy, and ran fine up until i discovered the F-up, and after in 2-wheel. i will test the four wheel later today putting the trailer in the backyard as i need to go up and over a curb.

i have not had a chance to get into the manual yet, and will be taking it in to have the tranny fluid & transfer case fluids changed in the next week or so. the tranny fluid and filter are about 10k in as i changed them in my driveway (DIY reference) but i figure to do the whole shootin match again.

did i kill my transfer case and front end? please advise.

T$

[speeder]

Probably/hopefully you did not damage it. Those trucks are pretty tough. You might have just smelled your tires, with any luck they were taking the slippage.

Are you really sure that you need 4WD to go over a curb or drive on to some boards? Is there slippery mud involved? If not, your ltd. slip rear end will easily handle the task. I sort of suspect that like me, you are one of the millions of Americans who owns a 4WD truck for no good reason. I have needed my 4WD exactly once, for ~30 seconds, and only because I botched a parking job and put a wheel over a tiny cliff.

Good luck, and try going over the curb in 2WD just for the heck of it, I'll bet it does just fine.

[red-beard]

Typically, the damage is to the tires. Check out the tires and if you smelled something, there is a chance that you may eventually find bulges in the tires from overheating

[Hurra912]

I did that to a 72 F250 several years ago. It twisted the front driveshaft in half! I'd say you got off easy.

[juanbenae]

Originally posted by speeder
Probably/hopefully you did not damage it. Those trucks are pretty tough. You might have just smelled your tires, with any luck they were taking the slippage.

Are you really sure that you need 4WD to go over a curb or drive on to some boards? Is there slippery mud involved? If not, your ltd. slip rear end will easily handle the task. I sort of suspect that like me, you are one of the millions of Americans who owns a 4WD truck for no good reason. I have needed my 4WD exactly once, for ~30 seconds, and only because I botched a parking job and put a wheel over a tiny cliff.

Good luck, and try going over the curb in 2WD just for the heck of it, I'll bet it does just fine.

actually our cabin requires 4 wheel to get down to our beach to launch our jet skis and boat. that and it prevents us from having to hump the coolers and stuff up and down the hill. so i do use it 15-20 times each summer.

you are correct in that the curb is not a big deal, but backing the car trailer in between the two cinder block columns requires i go real slow so i have no momentum to go up the curb. backing up onto the blocks is less exciting in 4 wheel too. i did try it early on in two wheel and it shot one of the blocks out due to wheel slippage. i suspect i will use 4 wheel low from here on out so it will remind me its in 4 wheel when i drive away with the car trailered....

i will also have the record reflect that my truck is not a "fall guy" type of truck. no lift kit, no huge tires, no roll bar, or fog lamps other than stock. even still have the shatty stock tires on it. i have been trying to burn those up so i can get some better weight rated units for towing but they seem to just keep lasting. maybe the burn up of them is a good thing, i will look at them though.

thanks for you thoughts on the topic. still suspect it cooked the transfer case fluid a bit and that will require a change if for no other reason than peace of mind.

T$

[speeder]

I shouldn't have said that, you know better than me what you use your truck for. When you mentioned going over a curb I just assumed that you might be overestimating the need for 4x4, but I can see that's not the case.

For loading boats in and out of the water, 4x4 can be invaluable. I like your idea of using 4WD low in order to not for get it's on, it is also nice for tight maneuvering w/ a trailer. A neat trick if you have manual locking hubs is to put the truck in 4-low and leave hubs unlocked for certain trailer backing stuff; you still have full steering but the truck crawls w/ a lot of torque. Only works on dry ground, and if you have manual hubs obviously.

Good luck, it'll probably be OK!

[vash]

done that before. you will be fine.

[rammstein]

Forgive a guy who has never towed anything legitimate-

Why is it a problem to tow with 4wd-High engaged?

[juanbenae]

not so much the towing was my concern, it was extended freeway run in 4-wheel.

[911boost]

I have a 4wd 01 Tahoe that I use to tow my super heavy 1979 18 foot camper, and then my dirt bike trailer behind it. Yeah, two trailers, it can be fun backing up, but with the right hich, it tows just fine.

With that being said, I use 4wd to get to one of our favorite camping spots about 2.5 hours north of Fort Collins in Wyoming. On one trip last summer, I didn't even realize I had left it in 4wd until I was turning around in my court after unloading the camper. No wonder the Tahoe ate gas on that trip home (avg speed is 65 mph).

I haven't experienced anything adverse from that long non needed use of the 4wd, but I also didn't smell anything.

Hope this helps.

Bill

[Dantilla]

I probably need low-range more often than four-wheel drive, especially since the truck has a limited slip rear diff. But two wheel trucks don't come with low range.

I do need a 3/4 ton long bed truck. 2WD or 4WD, it's going to get lousy gas mileage. I occasionally need all four pulling, so it's a 4WD for me.

Bombing down the freeway is easy on the equipment when in four. It's tight turns that will bust up the goodies. If you didn't hear all kinds of strange metallic noises by the time you got home, you should be okay.

rammstein- Just as our rear diffs allow the rear wheels to turn at different speeds, the front tires travel farther than the rears when cornering. Typically, "All-Wheel-Drive" cars allow this slippage, and because of that slippage are not true off-roaders. The hard core four wheel drive systems lock the front and rear together, requiring soft ground in order for the tires to slip.

[Hurra912]

Why is it a problem to tow with 4wd-High engaged?

If I remember correctly, in 4wd the front wheels will spin slightly faster than the rear wheels to help the vehicle stay pointed forward. It works great in slippery situations, but when all four tires have excellent traction it can cause some serious friction.

Wayne

[rammstein]

Thanks for the explanations- learn something new every day!

[vash]

look in the owners manual and find out if the front & rear diff have the same gear ratio..

i think the newer, less hard core four wheelers keep them the same.