2WD vs 4WD

I use our four wheel drive every time I pull up my back drive to put the fiver away. 12° grade on gravel with a hard 90° to enter at bottom and a hard 90° at top. In two wheel I start to spin the tires towards the top. Also have used several times when getting my Kubota on its trailer and out of the field. Made the mistake years ago and purchased a two wheel drive and traded it in six months later.

It all depends on what you need 4x4 for... Some of the reasons you don't see a lot of 4x2s around is where you look. Around cities, you have a lot of "urban cowboys" that need the "cool" factor. Out in my area and most country settings, we not only have them for snow, but, for farming. I've used my 4x4 far more often for getting into fields and hauling equipment in and out of places an empty 4x2 couldn't get into empty, let alone out of loaded. It just so happens that that same truck is what I use to tow my 5er with; that's one of the biggest benefits (to me) with the B&W Companion. I can use the 5th wheel hitch and then pop it off and use the ball with a gooseneck ag hauler. So, the market for 4x2s is really rather small and in ag areas, virtually non-existant. A fellow that I know that runs a garage can't remember the last time he saw a 4x2 and I was up at my dealer a few weeks ago for my free state inspection, who also sells Fords in a companion dealership, and they have zip 4x2 trucks and don't carry them in stock; if you want a 4x2 you'd have to order it. Even his 1500s and 150s are all 4x4. He said if I wanted one, he could probably find one at another dealership, but, my selection would be awful small...I just looked at him like he had two heads and he started laughing (I'm the one that bought his special order Longhorn when the original buyer backed out...).

I've owned 2 different 4x4 dually's in the last 10 years, and only very rarely used 4x4. A few years go the snow covered Indiana pretty deep and I used it once going and coming from work (I live in the country and drive 22 miles one way to work).

This is the first year I've REALLY used 4x4 and since about January 3, have used it almost every day. We got hit with horrible snow, and the roads were awful. So, once I could break free of the drive way, 4x4 was my best friend. Last couple days the snow melted, and today we got hit with another 2 inches or so. We (my wife and I) took the truck to work this morning driving 2x2, but when that snow started today and the drive home the roads were a horrible mix of wet, snow packed, slush, ice, plowed, and not even touched, I dropped it back into 4x4, and "she" just purred right along!

You may never use 4x4 for years, but the 1 time you need it, you'll be SO GLAD you have it, all the money in the world won't make any difference!

Edit:

I just remembered, several years ago we left Indiana to go to Norfolk, VA. My daughter was "suppose" to get married that week. We scheduled a campsite at First Landing State Park. The morning we were scheduled to leave, we got hit with a blizzard in Indiana. We left anyway, and it followed us all the way through Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, North Carolina, and did not go away until we crossed over the mountains in Virginia. The entire drive was 2 days, white knuckle driving through those snowy mountain interstate roads, and I drove 4x4 all the way. We had to stop and stayed in a motel somewhere in Tennessee. Oh yea, 4x4 ... you bet! Sooooo glad I had it!



This is what we looked like once we crossed over the mountains!

#1 4X4 is personal choice no right or wrong, just personal choice.

#2 Mine likely about a half a dozen times soon to be more. TV does double duty pulls our 32' 5er, year round in the NW, twice used 4X4 pulling the 5er in the snow.
TV is now main puller of a 2 horse GN for daughters horse, you never know what your will get into in a equine location.
I call it cheap insurance!