Alternative to 4wd

[fourthclassC]

Howdy, has any one installed a rear locker on their differential? I have a 02 Ford E350 with V10 and would like to install an electric locker to help free the vehicle when stuck in mud, wet grass, snow....... I have found that being such a heavy vehicle is no help in some situations. 4wd conversion I.E. Quigly.. is too expensive and would not be necessary. From driving a pick up with rear locker, I think that is the answer for me. Any product recommendations?
Thank you

[valhalla360]

Sjm9911 wrote:
Your from MA , you know that in the snow and such rear wheel drive is the worst.

If you are talking about an empty pickup, it's about a wash with front wheel drive (assuming you know how to drive a RWD). FWD is better until it's not, then you are along for the ride. RWD is more likely to kick the rear axle out but it's easy to control.

Once you load up the rear axle, I'll take RWD over FWD every time. Get 60-70% weight distribution on the rear axle and it will do almost as much a 4x4.

[fourthclassC]

Thanks for all the replies and shared experiences. I'll check out the Eaton unit. Might be enough of an improvement over my open diff.

[BarabooBob]

I have been in a couple of situations where I was very happy to have my 4x4. I retired from a law enforcement job that required me to arrive at work in any weather. I drove through over a foot of snow on more than one occasion because I had four wheel drive.
While camping I needed 4x4 to get out of a campground that had serious water damage to the roads during a storm. I was able to tow several other vehicles out that had 2 wheel drive. I always carry several long tow straps so that I can stay on good ground to get another vehicle out. Yes, we could have all stayed put until the campground got someone to repair their road but I didn't want to wait a couple of days. During that incident where I was helping people get out, two of the vehicles were 2 wheel drive pulling TT's.

[Grit_dog]

Some of y’all need a keyboard timeout!

[theoldwizard1]

E-Lockers are a good choice. Not sure it is cost effective on a 20 year old vehicle.

[Sjm9911]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Sjm9911 wrote:
Your from MA , you know that in the snow and such rear wheel drive is the worst. Are you talking about getting to campsites? Or just in general. I dont think it will help that much. We have simmiler on fire engiens, in the snow mud and stuff we need chains. The traction control that would lock the back wheels dosen't help at all. At least I have never had 1 situation where it did. And yea, the weight dosen't matter in certain situations. How about pads, or a chain mat to put down after you get stuck?

No need to be condescending on having 2wd in the north east, folks do have reasons as to why no 4x4 on a vehicle..

OP is talking a VAN chassis motor home, not saying they don't make 4x4 van chassis motor homes but in the whole realm of reality you most likely will find far fewer 4x4 van chassis motor homes built and sold than 4x2.

4x4 adds considerable weight and cost to the vehicle and you take a already heavy RV and drag another 800 lbs around and tacking on an extra $$$$ to the price tag in the hopes you might need it.

Price a 4x2 motor home and then a 4x4 motor home and see just how deep your pockets are..

Myself, have saved well over enough money over the yrs to buy a brand new 4x2 truck for cash just by not paying an extra $4K per vehicle..
Only can count on one hand the times it would have been nice to have 4x4 over the last 30 yrs and I live in the the north east.

Who was being condescending? I said rear wheel drive is bad for traction in the snow and mud. It is. That a fact. I still remember when most all cars where real wheel drive, lol. People would add weight to the rears and we used snow tires. I dont think the locking rear is going to help much. And may not be woth the $$$. You could also go with the studded tires. They make them for way up north. As far as being in the north, I'm in nj. If I have to travel in snow, its 4wd or front wheel drive. ( or AWD). You will not get anywhere with 2 wd.

[Gdetrailer]

Sjm9911 wrote:
Your from MA , you know that in the snow and such rear wheel drive is the worst. Are you talking about getting to campsites? Or just in general. I dont think it will help that much. We have simmiler on fire engiens, in the snow mud and stuff we need chains. The traction control that would lock the back wheels dosen't help at all. At least I have never had 1 situation where it did. And yea, the weight dosen't matter in certain situations. How about pads, or a chain mat to put down after you get stuck?

No need to be condescending on having 2wd in the north east, folks do have reasons as to why no 4x4 on a vehicle..

OP is talking a VAN chassis motor home, not saying they don't make 4x4 van chassis motor homes but in the whole realm of reality you most likely will find far fewer 4x4 van chassis motor homes built and sold than 4x2.

4x4 adds considerable weight and cost to the vehicle and you take a already heavy RV and drag another 800 lbs around and tacking on an extra $$$$ to the price tag in the hopes you might need it.

Price a 4x2 motor home and then a 4x4 motor home and see just how deep your pockets are..

Myself, have saved well over enough money over the yrs to buy a brand new 4x2 truck for cash just by not paying an extra $4K per vehicle..
Only can count on one hand the times it would have been nice to have 4x4 over the last 30 yrs and I live in the the north east.

[ktmrfs]

my duramax has an auto locker rear, better than an open diff, but still easy to have issues on wet grass, mud etc. Even with traction control. shift to 4wd (really 3 wd) and what was marginal was easy peasy

[Sjm9911]

Your from MA , you know that in the snow and such rear wheel drive is the worst. Are you talking about getting to campsites? Or just in general. I dont think it will help that much. We have simmiler on fire engiens, in the snow mud and stuff we need chains. The traction control that would lock the back wheels dosen't help at all. At least I have never had 1 situation where it did. And yea, the weight dosen't matter in certain situations. How about pads, or a chain mat to put down after you get stuck?

[valhalla360]

It won't match 4x4 but it will certainly help. An electronic locker will beat a limited slip because the limited slip doesn't fully engage the 2nd wheel until the 1st wheel is already slipping (static friction is typically better than sliding friction)

The extra hitch weight will also help a lot when hooked up to the trailer.

If you are looking for heavy duty off roading, 4x4 is needed. If you just want to avoid getting stuck in slippery but otherwise non-challenging conditions, it can be a nice upgrade.

[time2roll]

I changed my factory limited slip (F150) to an Eaton TrueTrac geared limited slip. Terrific improvement without the locker issues. Excellent for the situations described. Not as effective as a locker if a wheel is suspended from rock hopping etc. Still great with 100,000 miles on it.

[Lwiddis]

I was happy with my Chevrolets that had 2WD limited slip differentials.

[Grit_dog]

RetiredRealtorRick wrote:
Why not mount an electric winch on the front end? That way it's there if you need it, plus it just looks kinda cool! :C

Derp...

[RetiredRealtorR]

Why not mount an electric winch on the front end? That way it's there if you need it, plus it just looks kinda cool! :C