Well lets see what is wrong with the 4x4 engagement system - Button on the dash, wires and fuse to a vacuum can by the headlight, pulls a cable that runs to a linkage under drivers butt, that pulls a lever right below the floor in the middle hump. What could go wrong? All this seems to work well if you don't need 4x4, but when you do need it about half the time it seems like it wont engage. It's pretty easy to get it to engage by hand, even though there is not enough clearance on the S10, you can still reach up in there with you head and shoulder under the truck and pull the little lever by hand. Problem with that is you were probably stuck in snow or mud when you needed 4x4 in the first place. So you take it to the shop and get a new, switch, vacuum can, cable, whatever and drive off with everything working again and it's good as new. You can test it every once in a while to see if it's still working and it is, It won't quit working until you are in the worst place to have to crawl under the truck and engage it by hand again. I finally fixed it myself, after having it done at the shop too many times by cutting a little flap in the carpet and drilling a small hole in the floor so that when the Rube Goldberg system fails I can stick a screwdriver through there and flip the lever over from inside the cab. A factory lever would be too easy to put here, and I get it that suburban ladies like to push buttons, but such an easy fix, and I'm not even an engineer, just a dumb rancher/mason. . .
Now my Ford Exploder push button system had its failings as well, but it is NOT designed anything like the Chevy's. On the Exploder the button turns on electric magnets that lock the hubs, but any amount of dust or grit and the magnets aren't strong enough to fully engage. At least with the Chevy there was a way to get it in by hand on the trail and get out of whatever you were in, albeit your ear may be full of mud or snow, with the Ford you are just screwed. The Ford was an easy fix, when you finally got home you could take the hubs off and clean em really well with some brake cleaner and get all the dust out so the magnets can do their job again and this will work for a year or so (ranch trucks more dirt road than highway but only 4x4 when needed rarely) or until you are in a bind and need it to work now. Best solution to this is when you get tired of cleaning the hubs every year just go buy some after market hubs that you have to get out and lock in with your fingers like the old days ( not an option on the S10 because it don't have hubs, it engages the front drive line) Buttons be damned!!! If an option on either of these was to buy one without the damned button that would be my choice, but it is not an option. 4.3 kicks ass though way snappier than the Ford and never had a problem with it and I have over 200k on it, the rest of the S10 is the problem, it has never made it 6 months that i can recall without needing something fixed. I have never had any problem with the Ford other than the hubs and it has over 200k on it as well.
The Chevy is much more fun to drive, the Ford is much more dependable and cheaper when shop bill is factored in to drive.
If you get the S10 though, find the lever and make the hole in the floor before you need it, because you will someday, and if you are in 8 inches of mud, and nobody is nearby to pull you out, when you do you'll be pissed if you didn't.
If you get a Ford just put aftermarket hubs on before you need to and you'll be set. I can't speak for Toyota or any other 4x4s cause I have no experience with them, but if they have magnets in the hubs, get manual, if the button locks the front drive line like a Chevy, figure out how to bypass it before you need to.
I'm sorry I didn't get back here sooner. Come October we lost my father-in-law unexpectedly and my wife had to have major surgery. Not much time for much else.
I think you and I agree on the essentials. What's different are our expectations.
I'd never take an S-Blazer on the trail without extensive modification. The system is built around snowy roads.
When I was into offroading heavily, I had a 1976 CJ5 that had locking hubs and a tricked out 304 V8.
I can't imagine doing much serious offroading with a semi-floating front axle and chain-driven transfer case, regardless of how it switched into 4wd.
I'm just fine with using it for the snow and such. In fact, my Bravada had full-time 4wd or AWD, no low range, locking rear axle from the factory, and not many moving parts to the system. It was wonderful in light mud (unimproved roads to fishing holes when raining) and snow.
I'd kinda' like anther Jeep with manual hubs, though...
Josh
