Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 2wd Pickups outnumber 4wd pickups about 4:1 down here.

I use the bed of my truck regularly, so I need the truck. I can't think of a situation I have encountered in the past 15 where 4WD was warranted.

All in fun Bob..All a guy has to do is argue .270 Winchester or 2WD on the fire and you get all sorts of poor sports that take it to heart..LOL..It is the internet and mine is better or bigger than yours..Laughing

Jayco's got it right.

Them that think a 2wd isn't a "real truck" are silly.

To be fair, I don't plan on ever having another 2wd pickup, but for several years that's all I had. I still have her and use her. If you know how to drive, and yes use chains, a 2wd pickup can go a lot further and do a lot of things that would amaze many.

i've run two wheel drives down the island a few times, but make one mistake and you're f-ucked. biggest most make in sand is trying to gun it to get out, all you do is bury down to the axle. Drop it in low gear and gently get on the throttle.

Good to hear, seems like there’s a steady supply of used low mileage base 2wd Tacos around here, prob’ly do 99% of what I would use it for, and patience and a winch could cover much of that last 1%

The last 4x4 I had was a used 70-something Dodge truck, w/locking hubs, gas V8, mileage in the mid to low teens. Sold it in Grad school, got into motorcycles which can be a year-round proposition down here. Better mileage.

Rog, how big a problem is the salt on the beach? Not just the body but the runner by gear. Your vehicles seem in pretty good shape.

[ Dunno - maybe I fit the mouth breather category - but I've been using our 4wd Dodge with Cummins for 20 years in the high country, and we live remote where muddy/icy/deep snow roads are common every winter, and at times the mud gets deep again during the summer rains. Years in and out we have NEVER needed any sort of tow, and have pulled many other folks down the roads, back onto roads and out of ditches. I owned a tow truck myself then and never got it out of the garage. When it's 75 miles to the grocery store or hospital on icy 2 lane and/or snow deep roads a big 4wd truck is a blessing - never once got us into trouble but certainly spared us a bunch.

This thread has once again reminded me about general perceptions regarding "pickup trucks" - some seem to think a cab with bed behind it makes it a real "truck". Today, many are cars with a bed back there. IMHO, a truck is not that.

Somehow people pretty much still traveled in bad road conditions going about their daily jobs, errands and hobbies in 2 wheel rear drive vehicles long before 4X4 and now AWD vehicles became so common.

One thing I've encountered regarding losing traction with the 2 wheel drive pickup trucks I've owned was backing up even on slight uphill grades on wet and ice/snow slick pavement, loose gravel and green grass could be difficult sometimes. The worst was a late '80s base model Toyota standard bed 2 wheel drive pickup with factory original 14" wheels.

Front wheel drive works fairly well much of the time but not in all bad road conditions. After successfully plowing through a few so-so loose, powdery snow drifts driving home from work late one night I tried to pull it off again but this drift turned out to be a little deeper and longer than the previous ones. About 1/2 way through my front wheel drive vehicle high-centered lifting the front wheels up too far to get any forward or backward traction.

A neighbor friend drove up soon in his full size 2 wheel dive truck but didn't have a strap long enough to pull me back out and we both needed to go forward to get to our homes. He said a coworker of his with a 4X4 full size Blazer would be coming along in a few minutes and he would help us. The guy with the Blazer showed up, drove out into a bare crop field and around the entire drift, backed up into the drift far enough to hook on to my vehicle and pulled me the rest of the way through, then my neighbor friend in his 2 wheel drive truck drove through the drift where my vehicle had plowed a path from being pulled.

I've tried to keep a 4 wheel drive vehicle of one kind or another most of the time since.

I don't remember seeing a 2WD pick-up around here, or a regular cab either for that matter. I doubt you could find a buyer for a 2WD pickup.

had mine undercoated.

This chit is still funny!


Just came across this really great vid......

Funny, hearing the bragging about what a 2wd can do.


I have had a Subaru wagon or three for the last 13 years.
There is a vehicle that has impressed me.
Hauling 10' pipe, or lumber? A few sticks fit fine. Inside.
20 odd buckets of coal? No problem.

And yes, I have a 3/4 ton 4wd diesel.
The Subaru just works better for some smaller things.
The coal has to be carried in the basement by buckets.
It easier to fill them at the yard, than crawling in and out of the truck.

Daughter was driving the other day, we stopped on a real steep
gravel road. She just pressed the gas and we went. No drama.
Told here she would have never done that with rear wheel drive.
Front wheel world have been challenged.

And old rwd car, we would have backed down the hill.
Would have made it work.
Awd was much easier.

Sam:
Good afternoon to you my cyber friend, I trust that other than being hopelessly stuck in the wilderness with that fine looking canine companion that all else is well with you and yours.

Honestly I really should stay out of some of these threads, but since I'm typing at present, it appears that I haven't.

As a semi-old guy, I can recall the first 4x4 pickups that we saw on the Saskatchewan prairies and how they were immediately seen as a viable and useful option.

I should note that we were already running Versatile tractors - ours had a 555 Cummins if memory serves - anyway Sam, it didn't take very long at all to see what a 4WD tractor could do as opposed to the 2WD - in mud, clay or snow.

Indeed when chained up, a 2WD can work okay. As you and most 'Fire folks know, I live in rural BC and we get some snow from time to time as well as not having the luxury of level roads.... I've not yet met Salty303 - open invite extended here for sure - BUT - I have passed through the town he lives in/near at least 2 times a year for the past 35 years and sometimes monthly.

Without chains, the transport trucks are not allowed on some passes - when the sign is flashing, one chains up or faces fines - and most likely doesn't move from there.

Since I've not yet transferred the photo of my driveway plowing tractor to Rick's photo thingy, I'll not insert it here - but as you know just to plow our drive - maybe 110 yards long, but with a vertical drop of 80 feet or so - I use a 4x4 tractor chained up on all four....

Folks have said that the vehicles they see in the ditch are predominantly either AWD or 4X4 and that again makes statistical sense really. The reason I say that is - again as you know - I work at a local Big 3 auto dealer and by far we sell more trucks than anything else. The anything else more often and not is an AWD SUV too Sam - so since they make up likely 80% of the vehicles on rural BC roads, it does indeed stand to reason that one will see more of them in the ditch.

I will note we see very few Harley's in the ditch in winter or Lamborghini's either. Should we then extrapolate they're better on icy roads?

On your video of the stuck, I can vividly recall getting bogged down on a pool table flat dirt road in Saskatchewan after a rain storm - with my '80 Toyota 4X4. You and other folks who've experienced gumbo will appreciate that the foot prints I made back to the graveled road looked like I had snow shoes on Sam!

The sun came out, the dirt road dried up and 3 hours later I drove away in 2WD - after I'd picked the clay out of the fender wells first naturally.

Anyway, it's likely the coffee talking for me here and I shouldn't have even trod down the path, but anyway as always there's many roads to Mecca and some of 'em might not need 4X4 I suppose, eh?

All the best to you and yours as we head into winter Sam - and good luck with your John Deere issue too for sure.

Dwayne

Dwayne, it's sometimes just too hard to resist!

laughing


All good here, warm and windy. Our little bit of snow is gone.


Back to the grease issue..

We have 4 pair of strays left out in the hills. Could have gone this afternoon but it's way too warm so we'll wait and sneak out on the frost maybe early tomorrow or Tuesday.

There is a weather station about 5 miles away from the corral and holding pasture so that is REALLY handy when dealing with frozen and thawing road conditions. It's all gravel except for the last mile but that last mile could be a real greasy mess. Mini vans aside, even with a 4x4 pickup a guy might not have any luck pulling a stock trailer. Just the the way it is!

Birdy must not get out of downtown SA very often. Out here in the oil patch 4wd outnumbers 2wd 10:1......lots of sand to deal with, as Rogers stated.

Holy hell batman I thought that poor two duble-ya D was done for till next spring! Thank god you weren't drunk when you bought that truck and made the wise decision to opt for another differential on that thing. Or maybe you were drunk, but still thinking. And lets face it a mini van just can't quite pull off two round bails so unfortunately its out.

Ah yes that lovely stretch of road just up from the snow shed affectionally known to truckers and locals as The Smasher. A long relentless grade where 8 foot snow packs are not out of the ordinary at all. White hell, wind, snow sideways semis jack knifed, trying to creep around them (I'd be in 2 wd if I was that good but I'm a mere mortal so I click in to 4 high). Man my fingers just got all clenched up and my knuckles white just thinking about it. What a total miserable piece of real estate that thing is, no good comes from The Smasher. Well, maybe on a nice day. And good for you Dwayne as you've still got another pass or 2 to deal with to get home! I bet you've become real good at reading weather forecasts..

Back at you sir, we should hook up for a cuppa some time. Tell a few lies, maybe solve a problem or two. cheers.

Dan

When in the sand of SE Arizona, I kept a couple chunks of 1/4" plywood in the bed. If you get in a bind, are not retarded, and have the factory scissor jack you can get yourself into and out of a lotta places. I'd be called a liar by some if I posted some of the places I've taken my old 92 "gasp" regular cab longbed 2wd.

I'll never own a non 4wd vehicle but its just because of what we do with them. I can see uses for 2wd. I just have none.

sam that's t f f