2wd or 4wd for towing

Recently bought a brand new 1994 GMC K1500 Suburban. Yes new. The one owner kept it garaged and waxed its whole life, only drove it 6,000 miles a year, interior pristine, only wear is driver's seat. We have all of the service info changed oil religiously etc. etc. Had original plugs wires dist cap rotor. Had recently changed tranny fluid, brake fluid and antifreeze. It was so nice I bought it ($4500) even though its a 4x4, never wanted one had never needed one. But, last winter had really deep snow here in the rainy Pacific NW and 4wd did come in handy. Then this past March we headed to Arizona to take in a Mariner's spring training game (they were playing the Dodgers and Kershaw was pitching), and we hit snow in some of the passes, so used 4wd to keep from sliding around. We'll keep it.

miltvill wrote:
It looks like I am one of the few with a diesel 2wd. If you retire in Florida and stay at private campgrounds you will not need 4wd. Any RV park that a class A,B or C motorhome can get into so can you. A lot of trucks on South Florida dealer lots are 2wd. If a car can drive on the road so can I. However, if you have a boat 4wd would be nice for slippery boat ramps.

I am right there with you except I live in southern Indiana. I would like to know which dealers in FLA. have 2wd as I can not find any? No one within three states of me has 2wd heavy duty trucks on their lots.

It looks like I am one of the few with a diesel 2wd. If you retire in Florida and stay at private campgrounds you will not need 4wd. Any RV park that a class A,B or C motorhome can get into so can you. A lot of trucks on South Florida dealer lots are 2wd. If a car can drive on the road so can I. However, if you have a boat 4wd would be nice for slippery boat ramps.

burningman wrote:
It makes perfect sense. Adding weight up front while in 2WD means more weight on unpowered wheels that the rear end must push.
A front drive axle adds extra weight up front. When it’s not engaged, it actually makes a little more work for the rear end.
All else being equal, theoretically a 2WD pickup should do a little better than a 4WD pickup, when the 4WD is NOT engaged

Thanks for explaining this for me, I was on the road over the weekend. From what I have been able to determine 4wd adds about 400lbs to the typical truck with almost all of it on the front tires. I used to go offroad with a friend that drove a standard cab 1/2 ton with a manual and granny gear, limited slip rear end, mud tires and kept some equipment in the back. He was a little more careful than the guys with 4wd but he went all of the same places that they did without spending nearly as much money. I am sure that many of us remember the old dune buggies that could go just about anywhere with 2wd due in large part to their light front ends.

Of course, if you are wagging a 20,000lb camper with a GCWR of 28,000lbs and only have 4 or 5,000lbs on the drive wheels that can change everything when you encounter sand or wet grass.

My wife made me put running boards on.
But hey, they do save the paint.

john&bet wrote:

mkirsch wrote:
It's comforting to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Same tired old BS answers... Need it if you have it, but want it if you eat it. Whatever.

The simple fact of the matter is the market is going to 4x4. 2WD is going the way of the manual transmission; more expensive to keep the option in the inventory vs. the number of units sold. I would bet in 10 years you won't be able to buy a 2WD pickup truck of any description.

IMHO you will be able to find a better deal on a 4x4. It might actually end up being CHEAPER than the 2WD simply based on how rare 2WD trucks are. Dealers will be less willing to cut you a deal on the 2WD because they know there is a small but passionate market who are foolishly willing to pay more for less. If you're not fool enough to pay full retail, someone else will.

Overall you will get a better value for your money on the 4x4 even if you spend a little more.

The 4x4 technology these days is so refined that it doesn't really hurt your fuel economy much anymore, and can withstand long periods of non-use. The mechanical and electronic components are durable and reliable so despite what your proclivities are, there really is nothing to worry about.

That is all well and good for most people. But I am not one of them. For 55 years it has only been 2wd trucks in my life. Just this summer we had a chance to ride in my son-in-laws 4wd Chevy 2500. It was very difficult to get into from the right side even with the standard steps. It was even worst to get out of. This inconvinence is more important to us over the two or three times we might use 4wd in 10 or 12 years. Yes 4wd may fetch more at trade in time, but my current 2wd is now 14 model years old and has 212+K on it. So what is it trade in value? Who wants a 2 or 4wd truck that is 14 years old to tow an RV at a fair price? We travel in our RV to see family in far away states. Not to go to the woods. I also think there is too much electronics in the new trucks that do me no good, but I also like some of the nice things in them just not all, but you can't get exactly what you want without the other stuff. Yuck. As is said, to each his own.

Perhaps there will be a growing market for pickup truck escalators. ;) I try very hard to avoid situations that require my elderly mom to get in/out of my truck. I also keep a special step stool for just such occasions. I'm also one of those that can't even back my trailer into the yard without 4 wheel drive, needless to say the number of times I use it commuting 50 miles daily in the winter.

It makes perfect sense. Adding weight up front while in 2WD means more weight on unpowered wheels that the rear end must push.
A front drive axle adds extra weight up front. When it’s not engaged, it actually makes a little more work for the rear end.
All else being equal, theoretically a 2WD pickup should do a little better than a 4WD pickup, when the 4WD is NOT engaged

Groover wrote:
One thing that the op didn't mention was the weight of his 5th wheel. What it really comes down to is how much percentage of your weight is on driven tires. In other words, the heavier your trailer is the more you need 4wd and trailers seem to getting heavier all the time. When I had a 4,000lb slide in camper in the back of a 2wd truck I didn't need 4wd at all, with a 4,000lb trailer I got by without it but it might have been handy, with my 12,000lb equipment trailer I need 4wd. One of the paradoxes is that 4wd components add weight to undriven tires while in 2wd so a 4wd truck needs 4wd more than 2wd truck does.

I'm sorry, this makes absolutely no sense.

You do NOT run your truck in 4WD while towing on a hard dry road, do you?

If you do I would imagine you must have major driveline problems. I can't even make a 90 degree turn with my truck in 4WD without the driveline binding up.

mkirsch wrote:
It's comforting to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Same tired old BS answers... Need it if you have it, but want it if you eat it. Whatever.

The simple fact of the matter is the market is going to 4x4. 2WD is going the way of the manual transmission; more expensive to keep the option in the inventory vs. the number of units sold. I would bet in 10 years you won't be able to buy a 2WD pickup truck of any description.

IMHO you will be able to find a better deal on a 4x4. It might actually end up being CHEAPER than the 2WD simply based on how rare 2WD trucks are. Dealers will be less willing to cut you a deal on the 2WD because they know there is a small but passionate market who are foolishly willing to pay more for less. If you're not fool enough to pay full retail, someone else will.

Overall you will get a better value for your money on the 4x4 even if you spend a little more.

The 4x4 technology these days is so refined that it doesn't really hurt your fuel economy much anymore, and can withstand long periods of non-use. The mechanical and electronic components are durable and reliable so despite what your proclivities are, there really is nothing to worry about.

That is all well and good for most people. But I am not one of them. For 55 years it has only been 2wd trucks in my life. Just this summer we had a chance to ride in my son-in-laws 4wd Chevy 2500. It was very difficult to get into from the right side even with the standard steps. It was even worst to get out of. This inconvinence is more important to us over the two or three times we might use 4wd in 10 or 12 years. Yes 4wd may fetch more at trade in time, but my current 2wd is now 14 model years old and has 212+K on it. So what is it trade in value? Who wants a 2 or 4wd truck that is 14 years old to tow an RV at a fair price? We travel in our RV to see family in far away states. Not to go to the woods. I also think there is too much electronics in the new trucks that do me no good, but I also like some of the nice things in them just not all, but you can't get exactly what you want without the other stuff. Yuck. As is said, to each his own.

One thing that the op didn't mention was the weight of his 5th wheel. What it really comes down to is how much percentage of your weight is on driven tires. In other words, the heavier your trailer is the more you need 4wd and trailers seem to getting heavier all the time. When I had a 4,000lb slide in camper in the back of a 2wd truck I didn't need 4wd at all, with a 4,000lb trailer I got by without it but it might have been handy, with my 12,000lb equipment trailer I need 4wd. One of the paradoxes is that 4wd components add weight to undriven tires while in 2wd so a 4wd truck needs 4wd more than 2wd truck does.

As others have commented the extra weight of 4wd components does eat into your gross combined weight and thus reduces your rated towing capacity, there is extra maintenance and reduced fuel economy. I have always heard the 2wd (and gas engines) trucks are hard to sell but I had no trouble selling mine and I am sure that I would not have recovered the investment. But, I do enjoy my new 4wd truck for my current uses.

One thing that I find interesting is that with Ford trucks you can only get tow hooks on the truck if you invest $4k in 4wd equipment to avoid getting stuck in the first place. So if you have a truck that is more likely to get stuck you can't get a good place to hook up a tow rope but a vehicle that is less likely to get stuck has good places to hook the tow rope. Sort of seems backwards.