Snow and 4wd

[2mbb]

If anyone has the FSM in an elctronic format I would be most grateful and return the favor any way possible. I have tried birfied to no avail. https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=106562

Birfield download is working for me right now...

As for driving with the hubs locked, it will not mess things up, assuming there is not some other problem assoicated with you hubs being stuck. The first FJ-40's came without locking hubs, meaning the front wheels were locked to the front axels all the time (like the rear wheels are). Driving with the front hubs locked in 2wd causes some minimal wear to the front drive train, some extra noise, and a slight decrease in fuel economy.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I apologize if I had previously stepped on your toes, but this is how the manual hubs work. There are essentially, and correct me if I'm wrong, three moving assemblies associated with the axle. There is the drive shaft, which is connected to the transfer case, the actual rotating axles which are located within the axle housing, and finally the hub. When the transfer case is in 2wd, the front drive shaft is not spinning because there is no power being transferred to it. When the transfer case is in 4wd, the front drive shaft spins and in turn spins the axles which are within the axle housing. They however do not spin the wheels unless the hubs are locked. What the hubs do is lock the actual external rotating hub, which is what the wheel is bolted to, to the inner drive shaft. Only when the hubs are "locked" and the transfer case is in 4wd will the front wheels receive any power. That is how the front axle works.

Whether or not your truck behaves according to how the drive train was designed is subject to how you drive it in each situation and how the front axle was assembled if it has ever been disassembled.

Whoa, I was late. In any case, if you are getting about 10-12 mpg and you like how it drives, then why try to change it? It might not even be broken!

 

[High Desert]

Move somewhere salt is not used. Like out west, then you'll know what cruiser fun really is.

Here in Oregon they are using a liquid de-icer on the roads. I forget the name of the crap. It is a corrosive. Many states in the west are starting to use it. It has a sticky substance (corn syrup, i'm told) that makes it stick to the road bed. this sticky crap Works really well in makeing it stick to your paint and under body. Any little chip in the chrome or paint will show rust if you don't hot wash often.

My cruiser is parked, except on dry days or days so cold and snowy the stuff freezes along with everything else. like last night, 8degrees outside...

If you see a tanker truck spraying liquid on icey or soon to be snowed on roads...welcome to corrisve city.

 

[RredFJ40]

Check my location out. I've lived in Oregon for 26 years and never seen a tanker spreading liquid during the winter. Everywhere I go (passes on highways 58, 140, 66, and 26) they are using gravel.

Here in Oregon they are using a liquid de-icer on the roads. I forget the name of the crap. It is a corrosive. Many states in the west are starting to use it. It has a sticky substance (corn syrup, i'm told) that makes it stick to the road bed. this sticky crap Works really well in makeing it stick to your paint and under body. Any little chip in the chrome or paint will show rust if you don't hot wash often.

My cruiser is parked, except on dry days or days so cold and snowy the stuff freezes along with everything else. like last night, 8degrees outside...

If you see a tanker truck spraying liquid on icey or soon to be snowed on roads...welcome to corrisve city.

 

[Mark W]

Owning a cruiser and being afraid to drive it in the winter?????


What's the world coming to?


Mark...

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Owning a cruiser and being afraid to drive it in the winter?????


What's the world coming to?


Mark...

lol

 

[Tinker]

The liquid is magnesium chloride & besides corroding metal it kills fish!

Good to know the government can use things that harm the environment but any business person who did would be behind bars.

 

[High Desert]

Check my location out. I've lived in Oregon for 26 years and never seen a tanker spreading liquid during the winter. Everywhere I go (passes on highways 58, 140, 66, and 26) they are using gravel.

I don't get down your way much, don't know what they are using.

I drive commercially over Gov camp (hwy 26)pass 3 days a week, I live in Bend city of roundabouts. They use it from bend all the way to Welshes. In bend they staart spreading it out when there is a threat of freezing moisture.

It's a fact jack

They still use cinders too, cause if it snows enough, the de-icer can't keep up.

Call ODOT for more info, yes it kill fish too.

 

[Mark W]

The liquid is magnesium chloride & besides corroding metal it kills fish!

Good to know the government can use things that harm the environment but any business person who did would be behind bars.

Pretty sure it is calcium cloride. It's no worse on your rig tnhan the salt it replaces. I've never seen it sprayed as a liquid. around here and from what I've seen in the Yukon, Alberta and BC, they just mix it in with the sand/gravel mix that they spread to keep the stock piles from freezing.


Mark...

 

[b56tc]

well, where I live they use a salt/sand mix.

I bought my cruiser in CA at a premium for no, I mean 0, rust.

I can't bring myself to use it on the salty roads here. And it's not just when it's snowing, it's for the next couple of weeks when the stuff is still there, on the sides of the road, etc.

Wish I could see how it does in the snow. Not sure I ever will.

 

[Mark W]

Do you take it off road at all?


We've got a guy here locally. Old guy, about 65 I'd say. He has an absolutely mint condition FJ60. Stone stock. Takes it the street car get togethers and sits there showing it off, all polished and clean. Parks it in his garage every night and only drives it to the store locally on weekends,

Kinda pointless to have a rig like a Cruiser, put up with all the things that it is not and not use it for what it was designed to excell at.


Mark...

 

[b56tc]

look where I live. there ARE no hills.

got a farm about 60m away, use it on/off road there, drive it about 70m to work 2 - 3d/wk, pull stuff, haul stuff, in general just love and admire it and feel great whenever I drive it. After suspension and 5sp, going to take it to CO - dream is to spend a week with it in SW CO, esp Telluride/Ouray area. Got a bid on some land N of Taos, go out there about 6x/y, can't wait to drive it out there, it was built to find a remote spot to fly fish.
Cool thing about cruisers, they serve a wide variety of needs, incl snow, off road. I've got the 100 to drive on snow/ice.

I'm getting my money's worth.

But NO SALT

 

[redandtootall]

I live in the Seattle Area too. I have and 84 Fj60 and it got really crazy here for 2 days. Most people around here are upper middle class and don't have any idea how to drive in the snow. There were hundreds of abandond cars around Issaquah were I live just left out on the road because the owners just didn't know what to do. Anyway my Fj60 performed great. I manage a condo complex and Waste Removal stopped taking our trash. I hooked a 6X12 trailer to the truck and hauled away 8 yards of trash. The truck had no problem out in the snow.

 

[-VSG-]

I can't wait till we get a good 12"+ snow storm. I'll take take out the Cruiser before the roads are plowed and see if I can get myself stuck anywhere

I had a WRX before and that could go through about 8-10" of snow fairly easily. So I imagine with more ground clearance and true 4wd, the truck should be able to hand a lot.

 

[TheJackRabbit]

Here is yesterday in Carson National Forest- Valle Vidal Unit, about 9,000 feet. BTW, up the road ran into a herd of first 20 then 200+ Elk just as the snow started to really come in.

 

[TheJackRabbit]

Forgot tp add, yesterday, we had a major winter storm in northern NM. I had to drive into and back from Taos, about 100 miles round trip in blizzard conditions. Mostly drove in two wheel drive at about 45 mph. Only went to H$ on the up grades. The LC did not break traction once. The combination of weight and center of gravity seem to make the LC about as stable as a car can be. It is not "nose heavy" like my Ford Powerstroke 3/4 ton 4X4. That truck fishtails on ice like, well, a fish!!!!

 

[lifelonglove]

Here is a quick way to check if your hubs are engaged without getting under the front end to spin the drive shaft.

get on dry pavement, turn your hubs to the FREE position, pull the transfer into 4h, turn your wheels all the way either direction, Idle forward or reverse, dont throttle up too hard.
It should drive nice and smooth. If you feel it binding up you have a problem with your hubs.

I do this in the opposit manner (hubs in lock position) when I am purchasing any 4wd to check the working order of the system.

 

[hobiesbestfriend]

I'm not sure what to make of this hub situation. Everything I know tells me your hubs have to be locked or broken to get any benefit from shifting into 4 wheel drive. However, in the example you gave about passing at higher speeds, maybe by shifting into 4 you are now splitting the torque between the front and rear driveshaft and as such is lessening the amount you might spin out at the back end. Just a theory, otherwise, your hubs are !@#$%^&. My 2 pesos!

 

[redandtootall]

I have FJ60 and I live in Issaquah, WA. People's reaction to the snow was nuts. I probably saw 300 abandond cars on the roadway last Tuesday because the people around here don't know how to deal with snow. My wife and I picked up a 90 year old woman named Ethel because she lost control of her car and drove into a ditch. When we saw her she was standing out in the elements freezing to death. We drove her up to the Sammamish platue back to were she lived. All the way up the hill their were dozens of people slipping and sliding around who didn't have control and eventually had to ditch there vehicle. The LC performed great as usual. The funny thing was though Ethel bitc$ed all the way to her house about my 3" lift and how dificult it was to get into the truck. That unapretiative woman doesn't know how close she came to dying from exposure. You just have to laugh.

 

[-VSG-]

However, in the example you gave about passing at higher speeds, maybe by shifting into 4 you are now splitting the torque between the front and rear driveshaft and as such is lessening the amount you might spin out at the back end. Just a theory, otherwise, your hubs are !@#$%^&. My 2 pesos!

If the hubs are free, there should be very little torque needed to spin the front driveshaft (no resistance from the front wheels). So I don't think there would be hardly any change with the amount of torque making it to the rear tires. Maybe, at the most, it's the equivalent of using a tiny bit less throttle.