GM HD Trucks Many with AWD instead of 4WD

[RobWNY]

Where snow and mud isn't an issue, you can have a 4X2 truck as your tow vehicle, but here in the Northeast, 4X4 trucks are the norm. Now GM is offering AWD instead of 4WD in many of their HD trucks. At least up here, I'm seeing most HD trucks with the AWD option. I'm not so sure that's a good idea in my neck of the woods. What are your thoughts?

[gattorgetter]

i think you are mistaken on what you see... some trim levels have 4-h/l 2-h and auto... not just a north thing... just watched one go down the line headed to TX that way

[monkey44]

I've driven both ...

AWD is great for family vehicle, and running around town, occasionally rain, mud, or dirt roads.

True 4x4 will save your personal rear-end when you need it.

I traded my mini-4x4 Chevy for a AWD Van in 1999 - a Safari - thought, great don't have to sweat it, just drive and never get stuck. Most times it was great, snow, mud, whatever ...

I drove the White Rim Trail in that AWD - got stuck once, took a couple hours to free myself... shovel, boards, etc. Got stuck again, same hassle. I envisioned myself with a $5000 towing bill at one point, but got out. Turned around, drove out of WRT, finished my trip, and the next week drove home, bought a 4x4 again and have never been without one since.

If you need a run-around vehicle, in town or on reasonable roads, AWD is better than one wheel or FWD. If you ever go where you need 4x4 and don't have it, you're cooked.

[Terryallan]

mkirsch wrote:
AWD and traction control probably would have worked well in that situation.

Traditional 4x4, even with a limited slip or locking rear diff, is at best a THREE wheel drive system, and that one front wheel that's spinning doesn't bring anything to the party except some slung mud. If you've got open diffs front and rear then you're down to a TWO wheel drive system, and the wheels that get power are always the ones with the LEAST traction.

AWD doesn't let you get to that point. If you're stuck, you're truly stuck because all four wheels have no traction. You're not stuck because the two wheels that might be able to get a little bite are just sitting there while the other two spin.

AWD will cover 99.99999% of cases, except maybe rock crawling or mud bogging. If you're doing those with a brand new production vehicle, I'd call your sanity into question.

I have seen a AWD stuck spinning each wheel, then taking power from the spinning wheel, until finally. It took power from all the wheels. and it just sat there doing nothing.

[RobWNY]

MFL wrote:
This thread is an interesting read, and I was waiting to hear of an actual owner of a new GM heavy duty, with the AWD. I read something about 3 drive shafts, with the 3rd one splitting the power to wheels needed. Myself, I'd want to know everything about it before going that route. This is not saying I am against buying the AWD for Rob's intended use. I also don't believe that GM would design a HD truck with AWD, that would not be excepted by most, as a GOOD thing.

My wife's Escape Limited has AWD, and it works well for her use. Still not the same use as a HD truck. While we all know Ford is best...I trust GM knows what they are doing. 🙂

Jerry

I really do like the Ford trucks. I only have one issue with them. They are a couple of inches taller than the Ram and GM trucks (unless they have changed the height on them) so it wouldn't fit in my garage. I only have an 81" clearance. I can't seem to get past the idea of having a 24'X40' garage that I can't park a truck in without the huge expense of putting in a taller door.

[RobWNY]

mkirsch wrote:
AWD and traction control probably would have worked well in that situation.

Traditional 4x4, even with a limited slip or locking rear diff, is at best a THREE wheel drive system, and that one front wheel that's spinning doesn't bring anything to the party except some slung mud. If you've got open diffs front and rear then you're down to a TWO wheel drive system, and the wheels that get power are always the ones with the LEAST traction.

AWD doesn't let you get to that point. If you're stuck, you're truly stuck because all four wheels have no traction. You're not stuck because the two wheels that might be able to get a little bite are just sitting there while the other two spin.

AWD will cover 99.99999% of cases, except maybe rock crawling or mud bogging. If you're doing those with a brand new production vehicle, I'd call your sanity into question.

I'm not doing those activities in any vehicle which is strange in a way because in my teens and twenties, I loved riding dirt bikes. Why those things never appealed to me I have no idea.

[MFL]

This thread is an interesting read, and I was waiting to hear of an actual owner of a new GM heavy duty, with the AWD. I read something about 3 drive shafts, with the 3rd one splitting the power to wheels needed. Myself, I'd want to know everything about it before going that route. This is not saying I am against buying the AWD for Rob's intended use. I also don't believe that GM would design a HD truck with AWD, that would not be excepted by most, as a GOOD thing.

My wife's Escape Limited has AWD, and it works well for her use. Still not the same use as a HD truck. While we all know Ford is best...I trust GM knows what they are doing. 🙂

Jerry

[mkirsch]

AWD and traction control probably would have worked well in that situation.

Traditional 4x4, even with a limited slip or locking rear diff, is at best a THREE wheel drive system, and that one front wheel that's spinning doesn't bring anything to the party except some slung mud. If you've got open diffs front and rear then you're down to a TWO wheel drive system, and the wheels that get power are always the ones with the LEAST traction.

AWD doesn't let you get to that point. If you're stuck, you're truly stuck because all four wheels have no traction. You're not stuck because the two wheels that might be able to get a little bite are just sitting there while the other two spin.

AWD will cover 99.99999% of cases, except maybe rock crawling or mud bogging. If you're doing those with a brand new production vehicle, I'd call your sanity into question.

[RobWNY]

ACZL wrote:
I personally am not a fan of AWD. Yes the system will detect well slippage, then send power to the other wheels, but the way I understand it is the system is engaged all the time thus creating more wear and tear. My tire gurus told me once of this system and their thoughts, so here is what they said. While the system works most of the time as intended, say now you have 20K miles on the tires and one goes flat or shot altogether. When you go to replace it, now you can either replace just the bad one or get 4 new ones cuz the cars transferase cannot compensate for the mismatched tread depths. In that sense, makes sense as to their theory and that's why I've shed away from AWD cars (easier to replace 2 tires VS 4. Now however, Subaru has nothing but AWD cars and most mfr's sell AWD's and it seems finding just a FWD car is getting harder and harder to come by.

I would rather be in control of which 4WD method I want and think a non AWD truck would have less wear and tear. In the days of old when Ford, GM and Dodge/Ram had what they called full time 4WD, power went to both axles all the time and 9/10 times only 1 wheel on each axle got power (usually opposites) and unless you had a locking rear (GM had the best), you really only had a 2 wheel drive truck and the wheels w/ least amount of traction would spin the most. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I remembered them. If you had a truck w/ lock out hubs no power to front axle at all. As the case w/ all 4x4's tho (even today), unless you have a locking rear axle of some sort, really only end up w/ 1 wheel on each pulling .

I would prefer a 4WD model but others have made good points too. The problem I'm finding is there are 10 AWD HD trucks available for every 1 4WD HD truck. Unless you go into the high end trim levels where the MSRP is more than what I bought my house for back in the day to find a truck with 4WD they're mostly AWD.

[RobWNY]

cptqueeg wrote:

RobWNY wrote:
I'm warming up to the idea of an AWD drive truck. You all are making some good points!

Do you need low range to "crawl"? If not get the AWD.


Personally 4WD w low range and a locking rear diff is a better combo for my use in steep, rocky terrain.

I actually did need 4 low once...IN MY OWN YARD! I backed the RV in, got stuck in the mud, was just barely able to get unhooked but there I sat and spun. I got out in 4 low but I was a minute or two away from calling a tow truck to pull me out of my own yard. How embarrassing that would have been!

[RobWNY]

pitch wrote:
I didn't know that there was only one kind of snow.
Depends on moisture and temperature.
Lake effect is wet and heavy, a shovel full may weight 30 pounds. Lake Effect will stop any vehicle dead in its tracks. Perfect for making snow men. Slicker than snake ****
Cold temperature snow, may feel like nothing in your shovel. You can blast through a foot of the stuff in a dramatic cloud. Is not real slippery. will not pack for even a snowball.
Western NY is in no way the beginning of the Midwest. It is solidly and proudly EastCoast Mid Atlantic.

I think the "tip of the midwest" comment was meant to be a joke. I totally agree about the snow differences. We get much more heavy wet snowmen making snow than the fluffy stuff. All that moisture gets pulled out of lake Erie and sometimes even Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior, if the winds are coming from the right direction and we get dumped on.

[ACZL]

I personally am not a fan of AWD. Yes the system will detect well slippage, then send power to the other wheels, but the way I understand it is the system is engaged all the time thus creating more wear and tear. My tire gurus told me once of this system and their thoughts, so here is what they said. While the system works most of the time as intended, say now you have 20K miles on the tires and one goes flat or shot altogether. When you go to replace it, now you can either replace just the bad one or get 4 new ones cuz the cars transferase cannot compensate for the mismatched tread depths. In that sense, makes sense as to their theory and that's why I've shed away from AWD cars (easier to replace 2 tires VS 4. Now however, Subaru has nothing but AWD cars and most mfr's sell AWD's and it seems finding just a FWD car is getting harder and harder to come by.

I would rather be in control of which 4WD method I want and think a non AWD truck would have less wear and tear. In the days of old when Ford, GM and Dodge/Ram had what they called full time 4WD, power went to both axles all the time and 9/10 times only 1 wheel on each axle got power (usually opposites) and unless you had a locking rear (GM had the best), you really only had a 2 wheel drive truck and the wheels w/ least amount of traction would spin the most. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I remembered them. If you had a truck w/ lock out hubs no power to front axle at all. As the case w/ all 4x4's tho (even today), unless you have a locking rear axle of some sort, really only end up w/ 1 wheel on each pulling .

[cptqueeg]

RobWNY wrote:
I'm warming up to the idea of an AWD drive truck. You all are making some good points!

Do you need low range to "crawl"? If not get the AWD.


Personally 4WD w low range and a locking rear diff is a better combo for my use in steep, rocky terrain.

[pitch]

I didn't know that there was only one kind of snow.
Depends on moisture and temperature.
Lake effect is wet and heavy, a shovel full may weight 30 pounds. Lake Effect will stop any vehicle dead in its tracks. Perfect for making snow men. Slicker than snake ****
Cold temperature snow, may feel like nothing in your shovel. You can blast through a foot of the stuff in a dramatic cloud. Is not real slippery. will not pack for even a snowball.
Western NY is in no way the beginning of the Midwest. It is solidly and proudly EastCoast Mid Atlantic.

[RobWNY]

I'm warming up to the idea of an AWD drive truck. You all are making some good points!

[RobWNY]

valhalla360 wrote:

RobWNY wrote:
I've never been in the midwest during the winter so I don't know but I'm in the snowbelt off Lake Erie. It's not uncommon to wake up to a fresh 2 feet of snow (Think Buffalo NY area, Blizzard of 1977 as examples) I've also had to pull my RV out of pretty muddy conditions at State parks after it rained for several days. You're right though. 99.9% of the time it's no problem. It's that .1% that worries me.

So basically no different (the western tip of NY is part of the midwest).

Only time we've ever had any issues was once while purposely playing with the 4x4 on a prior truck.

LOL I've never thought of where I live as being the tip of the midwest but I like it! 🙂