2wd or 4x4?

[West6550]

Wife and I are in the process of buying a 26-30' fifth wheel and truck to pull it for fulltime use.

We plan on doing a lot of boondocking and hitting BLM spots and are wondering if 2WD is enough or is 4x4 the way to go.

We have found a great deal on a 2wd Dodge dually, I personally want a 4x4 but the cost difference to buy a new one compared to the like new 2wd we found is significant.

So how often is 4wd actually needed? Are the majority of places accessible by 2wd?

[All_I_could_aff]

I wish trucks had a seperate odometer for miles driven in four wheel drive, kind of like fords keeping track of towing miles. I'm sure mine would be under 100 miles of the 144,000 on odometer. But those times that I did use it, the alternative would have been inconvienient, expensive, embarrassing, or dangerous.. Or a combination of those.

[ToySprinter]

I have never really needed 4WD when pulling a trailer but used it a few times in wet grass but I do not go where goats only dare to tread. My mon and pop spend 20 years on the road with a 2WD F350 and never complained about needing a 4x4.

It really comes down to want vice need unless you plan some real off-road RV'ing.

[Terryallan]

kw/00 wrote:
I have owned both, and will stick with a 4x4. Read a few post ago that someone drove on beach sand with a 2 wheel drive. I don't know how they did not get stuck.... ..

Think Volkswagen bug cut down into a dune buggy. All you will ever need for any sand. Loads of fun, and will take you anywhere you want to go. Well, Right up until you drive it thru a tidal pool that is deeper than the bug is high. That wall of water coming over the front is downright scary.

[kw_00]

I have owned both, and will stick with a 4x4. Read a few post ago that someone drove on beach sand with a 2 wheel drive. I don't know how they did not get stuck.... Maybe it was hard packed and no lofty sand they were on. On either u can air down tires and get u in some good places. Regardless when u need it, u really need it. My vote is for a 4x4, even in Florida... Sugar sand is not your friend down here I can tell u that. Been stuck in sugar sand before in 2 wheel drive really easily... I have been a few places with this large camper of mine that u need 4 wheel to get u through. Yes most campgrounds are easy access.... But there are places that I like to go and where a 2x4 won't get you. So it's up to where you plan to use your truck, no I don't lock on 4x4 daily but it's good to know I got it... It has helped me more then once....

[noteven]

I use 4wd often travelling gravel and sandy roads so I don't contribute to the w w ww w w w ww www w warshboard like the wheel hoppin 2 by 4's.

[IndyCamp]

I will always own a truck and that truck will always be 4x4.

[Bumpyroad]

finally put my Tacoma into 4 wheel drive this week. snow plows left 3-4 ft drifts at the end of my driveway.
bumpy

[wnjj]

I was helping my neighbor move a shed roof last weekend. I towed my flat deck snowmobile trailer over with a quad, backed it up and we loaded the roof. It was a bit on the heavy side and I wasn't comfortable heading downhill with it so we decided to use their pickup to move it. Their 2wd couldn't back up (uphill) to the hitch. It couldn't even back off the driveway. Could we have "gotten by"? Sure, if we wanted to push, get a dangerous run at it or use a come-a-long to pull the truck to the trailer.

It was much easier to get my 4wd truck, click it into low range and idle back up to the hitch.

So yeah, sometimes you need 4x4 to tow. :W

[Lessmore]

Terryallan wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
No you don't need 4x4 to tow. it actually hurts the tow capacity. In 30+ years of towing campers, and boats. I have NEVER needed 4x4, and haven't been stuck, anywhere. even on wet grass. Which I don't understand how that happens, but folks complain about it so I guess it could happen. And you can't use 4x4 on the road any way.
However. IF you want 4x4 then get it. It's your money. and you are the only one you have to please. The only time you would need it is after you unhook, and go play in the sand or something. But running up, and down the road . Nah.

For a guy with so many opinions, you musnt get out much!
Contrary to your belief, there are many locations and situations where no 4wd is a no-go period. Just not the trips to the local state park on a nice summer day....

Been camping for 30 plus years, and towing for 40+ years. Have NEVER needed 4x4 while towing, and I camp at the beach on sand, in the mountains on dirt, grass, what ever. Cross country thru the Rockies, down the Coast highway, thru the Blue Ridge

Could be. That since 4x4 vehicles were virtually nonexistent when I started driving. I learned to drive with out it. There are many DRIVERS that learned to drive with out 4x4. And we went EVERYWHERE we wanted to go with out it. Even out on the beach in heavy sand.

I guess what I'm saying is. It could be a skill thing. Example. A few years ago we had to park the busses in a wet muddy field. I followed the first buss into the field. He made the turn hit some soft mud, and got stuck. I had to suddenly steer around him, and I drove on until I found some hard ground, and stopped there. Why did he get stuck, and not me?? Same field, same mud. It's a skill thing. Its how we were taught.

Well...I have to agree with Terryallan. I grew up in the '50's, started driving in the '60's Drove a lot of trucks on the family grain farm. All most farmers had back then was 2WD. There wasn't much 4WD of any kind back then.

We...guys back then, who spent time on farms.... learned to drive quite proficiently, with our...for the most part...2WD, rear wheel drive vehicles that almost always didn't have any traction control such as posi- traction limited slip.

I live in a part of North America where winters are long, snow and ice comes in late October/November...stays till March/April.

I have always had 2WD and do a lot of driving on back country roads. I'm cautious, have emergency stuff...shovels, folding traction bridges, etc....but I also know how to get out of most stuck situations fairly quickly, from driving cars, motorcycles, trucks, commercial vehicles... since 1965.

I'm nothing special, just a guy like many others who had to make do with what we had way back when...no Trail Rated package Jeep Cherokees, no jacked up 4WD pickups with Detroit lockers, etc...because there wasn't anything like that back then. So you have to become as proficient as you can, with what you have...because if you get stuck out on a lonely prairie road in a snowdrift at 20 below....you're on your own. Remember no cell phones to call your buds...back then.

So I'm not saying don't get 4WD (my son has a 4WD Jeep)...but get it if you want it or feel you need it. Everybody is different.

Me, I've never had it and things have gone fine. But as I'm no spring chicken, I have thought...maybe before I check out...I'd like to get a 4WD...see what it's like. :B But I'll still carry my emergency kit and drive cautious....but that's just the result of my experience.

What did Will Rogers once say...good experience is the result of bad experience. I think old Will was on to something. 😄

[Terryallan]

IdaD wrote:

Terryallan wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
No you don't need 4x4 to tow. it actually hurts the tow capacity. In 30+ years of towing campers, and boats. I have NEVER needed 4x4, and haven't been stuck, anywhere. even on wet grass. Which I don't understand how that happens, but folks complain about it so I guess it could happen. And you can't use 4x4 on the road any way.
However. IF you want 4x4 then get it. It's your money. and you are the only one you have to please. The only time you would need it is after you unhook, and go play in the sand or something. But running up, and down the road . Nah.

For a guy with so many opinions, you musnt get out much!
Contrary to your belief, there are many locations and situations where no 4wd is a no-go period. Just not the trips to the local state park on a nice summer day....

Been camping for 30 plus years, and towing for 40+ years. Have NEVER needed 4x4 while towing, and I camp at the beach on sand, in the mountains on dirt, grass, what ever. Cross country thru the Rockies, down the Coast highway, thru the Blue Ridge

Could be. That since 4x4 vehicles were virtually nonexistent when I started driving. I learned to drive with out it. There are many DRIVERS that learned to drive with out 4x4. And we went EVERYWHERE we wanted to go with out it. Even out on the beach in heavy sand.

I guess what I'm saying is. It could be a skill thing. Example. A few years ago we had to park the busses in a wet muddy field. I followed the first buss into the field. He made the turn hit some soft mud, and got stuck. I had to suddenly steer around him, and I drove on until I found some hard ground, and stopped there. Why did he get stuck, and not me?? Same field, same mud. It's a skill thing. Its how we were taught.

I got my 4x4 Ram stuck on my street this winter because we had a good 18-20" of heavy wet snow on the ground that particular day, and our county road department generally doesn't plow residential streets. I was able to get it unstuck with a lot of effort. A 2wd truck would have been undrive-able for literally weeks with the winter we had, skill be damned. I had to pull my wife's AWD Pilot out of getting stuck on our street several times. For our family and the areas we drive and conditions we experience, 4WD/AWD is essential on all of our vehicles. Might explain why one can't find 2WD trucks at dealerships around here outside of a few contractor rigs.

towed your camper out during the snow did you? As I said. 4x4 is fun. but not needed for towing, and that was the question, and my answere.
You will also notice in my first answere. If you want 4x4, your choice. Never said don't buy one. want one get one. it's your money.

[IdaD]

Terryallan wrote:

Grit dog wrote:

Terryallan wrote:
No you don't need 4x4 to tow. it actually hurts the tow capacity. In 30+ years of towing campers, and boats. I have NEVER needed 4x4, and haven't been stuck, anywhere. even on wet grass. Which I don't understand how that happens, but folks complain about it so I guess it could happen. And you can't use 4x4 on the road any way.
However. IF you want 4x4 then get it. It's your money. and you are the only one you have to please. The only time you would need it is after you unhook, and go play in the sand or something. But running up, and down the road . Nah.

For a guy with so many opinions, you musnt get out much!
Contrary to your belief, there are many locations and situations where no 4wd is a no-go period. Just not the trips to the local state park on a nice summer day....

Been camping for 30 plus years, and towing for 40+ years. Have NEVER needed 4x4 while towing, and I camp at the beach on sand, in the mountains on dirt, grass, what ever. Cross country thru the Rockies, down the Coast highway, thru the Blue Ridge

Could be. That since 4x4 vehicles were virtually nonexistent when I started driving. I learned to drive with out it. There are many DRIVERS that learned to drive with out 4x4. And we went EVERYWHERE we wanted to go with out it. Even out on the beach in heavy sand.

I guess what I'm saying is. It could be a skill thing. Example. A few years ago we had to park the busses in a wet muddy field. I followed the first buss into the field. He made the turn hit some soft mud, and got stuck. I had to suddenly steer around him, and I drove on until I found some hard ground, and stopped there. Why did he get stuck, and not me?? Same field, same mud. It's a skill thing. Its how we were taught.

I got my 4x4 Ram stuck on my street this winter because we had a good 18-20" of heavy wet snow on the ground that particular day, and our county road department generally doesn't plow residential streets. I was able to get it unstuck with a lot of effort. A 2wd truck would have been undrive-able for literally weeks with the winter we had, skill be damned. I had to pull my wife's AWD Pilot out of getting stuck on our street several times. For our family and the areas we drive and conditions we experience, 4WD/AWD is essential on all of our vehicles. Might explain why one can't find 2WD trucks at dealerships around here outside of a few contractor rigs.

[Terryallan]

Grit dog wrote:
Terry, I've no doubt that you're probably a very good driver, but the "we don't need no fir bu fir cause we used to walk uphill to school in 2' of snow both ways" sounds like something my dad would have said. Rest his soul, he would have been 75 now......so maybe I answered my own question. He never would buy a 4x4. "Waste of money" he'd say.
I've driven plenty of 2 wheelers. Studded or chains in the winter. But I discovered how much easier and more confidence inspiring a 4x4 is. Not to mention cooler! Lol

I still bet there's places I go that you wouldn't make with a 2 wheeler. Depends how adventurous one is I suppose.

Don't hate 4x4. I actually have had many, and have one now. I'm just saying, it isn't needed to tow with. yeah if a person wants to go gully jumping. Good to have. Just not really needed to tow with. I thought, that was the question.

[Bumpyroad]

Grit dog wrote:
But I discovered how much easier and more confidence inspiring a 4x4 is. Not to mention cooler! Lol

.

cooler, yep ego sells a bunch of stuff, 4x4, FBP etc.
bumpy

[Grit_dog]

Terry, I've no doubt that you're probably a very good driver, but the "we don't need no fir bu fir cause we used to walk uphill to school in 2' of snow both ways" sounds like something my dad would have said. Rest his soul, he would have been 75 now......so maybe I answered my own question. He never would buy a 4x4. "Waste of money" he'd say.
I've driven plenty of 2 wheelers. Studded or chains in the winter. But I discovered how much easier and more confidence inspiring a 4x4 is. Not to mention cooler! Lol

I still bet there's places I go that you wouldn't make with a 2 wheeler. Depends how adventurous one is I suppose.