Use of 4?4 low range on dry concrete ramps

[WIMUSKY]

As a mechanic I can tell you using 4lo and damaging your truck all depends on you and the conditions. Yes, you will gain more torque to the wheels AND better throttle control. It will also be easier on your torque converter and transmission. The downside is it IS NOT meant to be used on hard, dry surfaces. Any amount of steering will put stress on everything from your transfer case to the front tires. Ball joints, CV shafts, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, control arms, front hubs.... everything. It's not my truck so I won't say what you should do, but if you feel the need to use 4lo to get up the ramp or like the finer control by all means use it. Just do your truck a favor and as soon as you are at the top of the ramp get it out of 4wd before you do any steering.

Couldn't agree more and the only exception to turning is there's gravel at the top of the ramp/parking.

 

[brian4321]

As a mechanic I can tell you using 4lo and damaging your truck all depends on you and the conditions. Yes, you will gain more torque to the wheels AND better throttle control. It will also be easier on your torque converter and transmission. The downside is it IS NOT meant to be used on hard, dry surfaces. Any amount of steering will put stress on everything from your transfer case to the front tires. Ball joints, CV shafts, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, control arms, front hubs.... everything. It's not my truck so I won't say what you should do, but if you feel the need to use 4lo to get up the ramp or like the finer control by all means use it. Just do your truck a favor and as soon as you are at the top of the ramp get it out of 4wd before you do any steering.

Thank you!

 

[josh_booth]

You're welcome, I work on everything from pickups to semis to tractors everyday, if I can help with questions I know on here when I have a question about my boat i hope it comes back around.

 

[Jeepster04]

Ive never pulled our boat out without using 4low. Typically I get a chuckle our of people people that dont use parking brakes (parking paw goes KAPOW when they take it out of park) and that rev the bajesus out of their vehicles the whole way up the ramp. Our ramp is fairly steep and its probably near an 1/8 mile long. Cant imagine cooking my transmission fluid like that. 4low with nice low revs in 1st gear the whole up for me and no KAPOW of my poor transmission paw.

 

[flipbro]

We don't know what vehicle you have, but on many 4x4s it's good to put it in 4 and 4 low occasionally to keep everything working correctly.

On the older 4x4s we had a saying yous it or lose it.

 

[D&J]

To the OP,
See if you can get your hands on the owners manual for the truck you want to buy, if not, you can usually find them online. It will give you the limits on speed and distance for using 4 low. It's there for when you need it. Used it more than once myself if it's raining or a lot of algae (we measure our snow up here in feet so overall it gets used fairly often). If using it gives you more confidence by all means use it. Short bursts like that don't cause any damage. I have an F-150 similar to yours (07 model with 92,000 miles). Never had a problem using it.

 

[brian4321]

To the OP,
See if you can get your hands on the owners manual for the truck you want to buy, if not, you can usually find them online. It will give you the limits on speed and distance for using 4 low. It's there for when you need it. Used it more than once myself if it's raining or a lot of algae (we measure our snow up here in feet so overall it gets used fairly often). If using it gives you more confidence by all means use it. Short bursts like that don't cause any damage. I have an F-150 similar to yours (07 model with 92,000 miles). Never had a problem using it.

Thanks for the input , but I've decided against the new truck and will be keeping this one for now . And although it may not be necessary, I'm gonna continue using 4lo when pulling up the short ,straight , steep concrete ramp simply because I like the extra low end torque and throttle control