Problem with using 4wd all the time?

beex · Nov 22, 2019

I agree with if you don’t need 4wd you shouldn’t engage it. It just adds wear. And you might forget to disengage going across pavement.

One application you probably should alway use 4wd is when using the loader on anything other than hard surface, especially on subcompacts like the BX that have a single brake up stream of the differential, on low traction areas you one low traction wheel can spin backwards while the other goes forward and you get almost no braking.

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North Idaho Wolfman · Nov 22, 2019

I'm going to disagree with 1/2 of you.

I leave mine in 4wd not for the tractive effort but for the breaking effort.

My property is mountains, although it all sand (fine glacial sand) and it only take a second to lose traction and go flying down a hill or worse yet off the side of a mountain.
And beex it doesn't matter if you have single or dual brakes, when you lose traction on the rear tires your toast!

The small amount of wear on the drivetrain (i know because I work on them) is not anywhere near, dealing with the grief of the stains, I'd leave on my shorts from day to day activities I do with my tractor.

Which is right now moving my fuel tank around chasing the blast heater to try and keep me from turning into a block of ice!

Bulldog · Nov 22, 2019

North Idaho Wolfman said:
I'm going to disagree with 1/2 of you.

I leave mine in 4wd not for the tractive effort but for the breaking effort.

That's one thing I do like about the Deere's that I run for my buddies in the summer getting up hay. When you step on the brake pedal it automatically puts them in 4wd. You never slide while stopping.

beex · Nov 22, 2019

North Idaho Wolfman said:
I'm going to disagree with 1/2 of you.

I leave mine in 4wd not for the tractive effort but for the breaking effort.

My property is mountains, although it all sand (fine glacial sand) and it only take a second to lose traction and go flying down a hill or worse yet off the side of a mountain.
And beex it doesn't matter if you have single or dual brakes, when you lose traction on the rear tires your toast!

The small amount of wear on the drivetrain (i know because I work on them) is not anywhere near, dealing with the grief of the stains, I'd leave on my shorts from day to day activities I do with my tractor.

Which is right now moving my fuel tank around chasing the blast heater to try and keep me from turning into a block of ice!

I’m going to disagree that your disagreeing, you have a legitimate reason to leave it in 4wd all the time, you need the extra traction all time time. Most peeps don’t.

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Tornado · Nov 23, 2019

beex said:
I’m going to disagree that your disagreeing, you have a legitimate reason to leave it in 4wd all the time, you need the extra traction all time time. Most peeps don’t.

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I agree, I think wolfman has a legit reason to run 4x4 most all the time. I live in Florida - everything here is flat. I can likely cut back on my 4x4 usage and Im going to try to make a conscious effort to do that now. Its just so easy to throw it in 4x4 and forget it when working.

gssixgun · Nov 23, 2019

I read this thread with a genuine interest.

After reading it all, I came away with a simple reality..

If you NEED the 4wd, you have to use the 4wd, wear is pretty much a moot point.

Here in the next few weeks after the snow starts falling on Cedars I am going to NEED the 4wd

sdk1968 · Nov 23, 2019

North Idaho Wolfman said:
I'm going to disagree with 1/2 of you.

I leave mine in 4wd not for the tractive effort but for the breaking effort.

My property is mountains, although it all sand (fine glacial sand) and it only take a second to lose traction and go flying down a hill or worse yet off the side of a mountain.
And beex it doesn't matter if you have single or dual brakes, when you lose traction on the rear tires your toast!

The small amount of wear on the drivetrain (i know because I work on them) is not anywhere near, dealing with the grief of the stains, I'd leave on my shorts from day to day activities I do with my tractor.

Which is right now moving my fuel tank around chasing the blast heater to try and keep me from turning into a block of ice!

YOU were one of the people who convinced me to leave it in for exactly the same reasons as you do.... (very steep, hilly, clay property)

looked for the thread where this came up, but there are so many threads where this is discussed that couldnt filter out which one it was.

although gotta ask for the flat landers:

why do you guys buy 4wd tractors at all?

isnt it cheaper to get a 2wd if thats all you need?

BigG · Nov 23, 2019

"why do you guys buy 4wd tractors at all?" Well that is an interesting question. When you are backing down to mow around the lake and look over at the alligator you just do not want to get stuck in the mud. And building up the pad when you are building slab on grade homes requires 4wd because of the soft sand. And believe it or not there are some pretty good hills in Florida.

SDT · Nov 23, 2019

sdk1968 said:
YOU were one of the people who convinced me to leave it in for exactly the same reasons as you do.... (very steep, hilly, clay property)

looked for the thread where this came up, but there are so many threads where this is discussed that couldnt filter out which one it was.

although gotta ask for the flat landers:

why do you guys buy 4wd tractors at all?

isnt it cheaper to get a 2wd if thats all you need?

Multiple reasons.

Post back if you cannot figure it out.

SDT

Fido Farms · Nov 23, 2019

Okay. Think about it. Four wheel drive tractors are just that. Kubota designs them so u can drive in 4 wheel drive. Makes sense? If u use all stock tire sizes the wheels are in time. Ur 4 wheel drive truck is the same. Use 4 wheel drive or don***8217;t. It won***8217;t hurt anything. Use it if u need to or turn it off. The more u use it the more the moving parts will mesh and break in so to speak.

troverman · Nov 23, 2019

Fido Farms said:
Okay. Think about it. Four wheel drive tractors are just that. Kubota designs them so u can drive in 4 wheel drive. Makes sense? If u use all stock tire sizes the wheels are in time. Ur 4 wheel drive truck is the same. Use 4 wheel drive or don***8217;t. It won***8217;t hurt anything. Use it if u need to or turn it off. The more u use it the more the moving parts will mesh and break in so to speak.

Uh...no. It’s called part time for a reason.

Bulldog · Nov 23, 2019

Not all 4wd tractors / equipment are the same regarding ratio. On my L3000 the front spins just a little faster than the rear. on soft ground you don't feel it but on hard ground it pulls the steering just a little. On my M9000 you can't tell if it's in 4wd or not. Even on asphalt it's just as smooth as it is in dirt.

Both have factory sized tires.

Tornado · Nov 23, 2019

sdk1968 said:
although gotta ask for the flat landers:

why do you guys buy 4wd tractors at all?

isnt it cheaper to get a 2wd if thats all you need?

Well I may not qualify to answer this question given I just have a little L2501, and hardly anyone buys a 2wd L2501. I have never even seen one at the dealers around here. However, I know a lot of farmers here and 4wd is always preferred on a tractor. Why? power, quit simply. Nothing sucks worse than getting in a situation where you really need 4wd and dont have it.

Same thing when I bought a Honda ATV a little while back. I went with one that had 4wd option. It was abou $1k more, but if Im already spending thousands on a working machine, why not spend a tad more and make sure I have 4wd for those times I will need it. Ive only had to put my ATV in 4wd a few times in its life, but in those times I was sure glad I had it. In one instance in particular I woulda had to get someone to pull me out of the a muddy spot on a trail. If the price difference was like $5,000 then yea I may not have done it. Often times though, 4wd isnt terribly more expensive.

D2Cat · Nov 23, 2019

I don't remember seeing it in writing, but I remember a dealer saying a 4 wheel drive tractor can be 25% less HP then a two wheel drive same machine and do the same work. It's a subjective thought, but I tend to agree with it.

I've been helping my neighbor with some kind of water leak, and it's muddy everywhere. She has a 2 wheel drive MX5200, and it can't get around. Where my L4240 with R4's did all the work.

Botamon · Nov 24, 2019

Bulldog said:
That's one thing I do like about the Deere's that I run for my buddies in the summer getting up hay. When you step on the brake pedal it automatically puts them in 4wd. You never slide while stopping.

My Kubota works the same way. Touch the brake and it is instantly in 4wd to help stop the tractor.

Oliver · Nov 24, 2019

I think most all 4wd tractors are built with 2-3% lead which means fronts are turning 2-3% faster than the rears. For this reason I keep mine in 2wd the majority of the time and only put it in 4wd when needed, then it goes back to 2wd.

PA452 · Nov 25, 2019

I use it as needed and really I'm in and out fairly often in some circumstances. Other circumstances I get by doing everything in 2WD.

For most, unless you're constantly on very steep hills or always in mud, there's no reason to be in 4WD at all times. It's just a lot of unnecessary strain on the drivetrain.

There's a reason they give you that lever to engage and disengage 4WD.

I see similar arguments on truck forums sometimes, guys talking about switching to 4WD when it's raining and such. All these stories really make me leery of buying used equipment.

Tornado · Nov 25, 2019

well with this thread in mind, I decided this weekend to stay in 2wd until I hit something I just couldnt do without 4wd. While I did lighter work this weekend, this was the first time I never went to 4wd while on my tractor. I used my harrow in my horse pen, which is really loose dirt and manure. I disc over it just to break up the manure and till it into the dirt. I did it in 2wd, just taking it slow in Low Gear. This harrow is too large for my tractor according to the manual. 76 inches wide, 705 lbs, on my little L2501. The manual lists 660 lbs and 60 inches wide as the size limitation for a disc harrow on the 2501. I was surprised I was able to do this all in 2wd. One or two times I noticed the tire slip a little. The last time I used the harrow I had to go into 4wd, but I was in medium gear. Im going to pay a lot more attention to this all now thanks to this thread. If I can do a job in 2wd I will try to do so.

NoJacketRequired · Nov 27, 2019

This summer I made the mistake of leaving the B7510 in 4WD while doing some lifting with the loader. That lifting required me to make a tight turn on the pavement. Ugh, could I ever feel those tires protesting!

For winter ops where my tractors get most of their work, I leave them in 4wd when they are working. I run a mile or so down the gravel road to do a couple of driveways; most of the time the road is snow-packed. Even so, I run down the road in 2WD as I find in 4WD the machine feels a lot more "darty" and reacts more abruptly to changes in road camber. As soon as I get to where I'm going the selector moves to 4WD.

The front-mounted snow blower definitely changes how the tractor handles on the road. The drag of the blower on the snow makes the use of 4WD virtually mandatory.

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Problem with using 4wd all the time?

beex

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North Idaho Wolfman

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Bulldog

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beex

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Tornado

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gssixgun

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sdk1968

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Fido Farms

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troverman

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