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Fronteeer
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| Posted: Mar 28 2008 at 12:37pm | IP Logged
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I use 4HI on my truck a lot in the winter--probably more than a lot of the people on this forum--and always according to the owner's manual. I never engage/disengage 4H at or over 60 MPH or drive over 60 MPH in 4H, I only use it on loose, wet or slippery surfaces and I always service my truck at the dealer. I never peg the gas in 4H and I haven't spun the tires in 4H until they suddenly gained traction and lurched forward. I rarely use 4L and always stop and switch to 4L in neutral. I don't switch to 4H or 4L with the wheels turned, or while the wheels are spinning.
I know, a lot of you are probably saying, "What a wuss! Give 'er!"  But...
My front differential basically ate itself to pieces recently, and so I'm wondering if I should be adding weight to the rear in winter and using 2WD, resorting to 4H only if I get stuck, or if I'm okay to keep doing what I'm doing once the new differential is installed and call it a freak occurrence. I guess my question is, are these trucks meant to be driven long distances in 4H, or is it a safety feature only? I've gone 100 plus miles at a time in 4H in deep snow, driving at around 40-50 MPH all the way, or switching back and forth depending on the surface. My owner's manual says nothing about damaging the differentials by driving on dry pavement in 4H; only that it will cause "unnecessary noise, tire wear and increased fuel consumption," and that "speeds over 62.5 MPH in 4H [are] not recommended." That said, I'm assuming that the few seconds here and there that I'm on dry pavement between two snow-covered portions of road won't cause my front differential to chew its gears apart. A friend of mine is a Jeep guy and he said that not using a 4WD system is as bad as using it incorrectly--that it will deteriorate if not exercised regularly. This differential was covered under my powertrain warranty, but the next one won't be. It's $3800 for the parts alone, so it's definitely a concern of mine that I'll be here again at 100,000 miles.
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allenh
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| Posted: Apr 04 2008 at 7:56pm | IP Logged
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Don't know the answer but I'm in Alaska and use my 4-wheel drive sparingly. To deal w/ snow and ice on a day to day basis, I put 200lbs (4 sandbags) in the bed directly over the rear axel and leave it in 2wd most of the time. I put it in 4wd to go up hill from a dead start and when in deep snow, but that's about it. Just took the bags out for summer driving this week.
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hsckris
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| Posted: Apr 09 2008 at 6:46pm | IP Logged
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Umm.... switchin it while moving at any speed can be hell on it.
I know they say its fine upto 55mph (or whatever figure they came up with), but if you know what is actually happening there mechanically, you'll never switch it from 2wd to 4wd while moving again.
Also, you may have to back up after you switch back to 2wd to fully disengage the half shafts.
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djruss84
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| Posted: Apr 10 2008 at 7:40pm | IP Logged
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I beat the crap out of my truck in 4x4 and have yet to have a problem. I frequently need to engage four wheel drive when the roads are wet when I merge onto I-95. There is a onramp where you need to go from a stop to 55 very quickly. If I don’t use 4x4 to launch then the tires just spin then I get rear ended.
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Fronteeer
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| Posted: Apr 11 2008 at 6:34pm | IP Logged
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hsckris wrote:
Umm.... switchin it while moving at any speed can be hell on it.
I know they say its fine upto 55mph (or whatever figure they came up with), but if you know what is actually happening there mechanically, you'll never switch it from 2wd to 4wd while moving again.
Also, you may have to back up after you switch back to 2wd to fully disengage the half shafts. |
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That's NUTS dude, and I hope you're exaggerating, but I guess it makes sense since some solenoid at the end of a switch is somehow magically doing something that used to require the driver to get out and turn the hubs. I'll be a bit more careful from now on just in case, because in winter I turn the 4WD knob more than the one on the stereo. Just doesn't seem practical to stop, even though that's the way everybody used to do it, and the old-school 4X4s lasted 4 ever. You never heard of somebody throwing a differential at 76,000 Km back in the day.
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Boomer
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| Posted: Apr 12 2008 at 6:02am | IP Logged
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I drove a 96 Chevy 4X4 with electronic controlled 4 wheel drive for 10 years. Went in and out of 4 wheel at speed probably 100 times/year. At 110,000 miles when I sold it, NEVER had a problem with the drive train. That is what good 4 wheel drive should do.
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tablesaw
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| Posted: Apr 12 2008 at 9:32am | IP Logged
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A buddy of mine, with a Mitsu Montero Sport, was told by the dealer to, if possible, back up when taking it OUT of 4WD. He rarely uses the 4WD feature, in fact, it's switch had failed due to lack of use, so he had it in for service, and that's what the service manager told him to do. Better safe than sorry, it might be best to go ahead and do the backup thing.. I think allenh's useage makes the most sense to me......
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hsckris
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| Posted: Apr 12 2008 at 9:11pm | IP Logged
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tablesaw wrote:
| Better safe than sorry, it might be best to go ahead and do the backup thing... |
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Thats what I say about it.
As to the guy talking about the chevy & while moving, thats great... I'm not going to do it though. You are literally forcing a gear to engage and match movement from a static situation. The gear set is not moving, you push a button, and it is supposed to jump to movement and engage shafts (which were previously free moving -- no pressure) to match the exact speed... that is incredible amount of stress on the gears/differential, transfer case, and half shafts, and for no reason. Its not that hard to stop, you probably have auto hubs so you don't even have to get out.
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Fronteeer
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| Posted: Apr 13 2008 at 11:22pm | IP Logged
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hsckris wrote:
... you push a button, and it is supposed to jump to movement and engage shafts (which were previously free moving -- no pressure) to match the exact speed... that is incredible amount of stress on the gears/differential, transfer case, and half shafts, and for no reason. Its not that hard to stop, you probably have auto hubs so you don't even have to get out.
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I admit that I'm not an expert on the inner workings of my 4WD system, but if that is truly the case then Nissan would certainly caution owners against switching to 4H while driving. I hate Nissan right now, and I'm pretty sure they don't want me, and others, to feel that way, so why give instructions that will certainly result in the destruction of your differentials? There's no way I'll ever pull over and back up to disengage 4WD, and the more of this garbage I read the more I realize that Nissan owners are accustomed to accommodating these ridiculous quirks and making compromises (i.e. I have a 4WD truck, but I DON'T USE 4WD???!!! WTF is that?), when they should be able to take what is marketed as a sturdy utility vehicle, and beat the living sh** out of it without it costing thousands of dollars in repairs. I'm beginning to suspect that I've made the unfortunate mistake of buying a suburbanite self-esteem booster for making Home Depot runs, because no serious truck manufacturer would create something as asinine as a shift-on-the-fly system that had to be babied like that. I know lots of guys with different makes and models of trucks who shift back and forth, to and from 4H and 2WD while driving, many of whom recklessly disregard the speed considerations for 4WD use, and I haven't heard of a truck chewing its front diff to pieces before. I'm not a fan of domestic vehicles, but you'd have a hard time convincing me that this truck is superior to a Chevy or Ford when I have to be so careful not to break the poor thing. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. I guess the answer to my question is no--the 4X4 badge and switch are there to impress people, and you'd better have really good tires and sandbags in the back.
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JeffKyleMc
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| Posted: Apr 14 2008 at 10:19am | IP Logged
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Ok Fronteer, First of all got buy a chevy and shift on the fly and see what happens. The guy i hunt with has a 98 yukon 4wd and an 04 silverado 4wd and he shifts on the fly all the time. Needless to say he has had numerous problems out of his 4wd switches burning up, hubs messing up, accuators, and he has even had to have his front diff swapped out on his yukon. And go to toyota, jeep, hell or any forum and all of them have problems with stuff. thats just the nature of the beast. I have friends that have yotas and some are bulletproof and some aint. Just like nissans, out of millions manufactured every year some of them are going to mess up. Please dont come to a Nissan forum and bash Nissans. thats why they make toyota forums. Just because your having some bad luck with yours dont mean every nissan is a P.O.S.
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Nissan Frontier Forums : General
Topic: Using 4WD on an ’05 Frontier SE CC (
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