Using 4WD on 2012 F-250

Asked by HopeRN55 Feb 08, 2015 at 09:32 AM about the Ford F-250

Question type: General

The 4WD has a "shifter" on the floor to put it into 4WD, but then the lock for it is on the wheels so you have to get out and turn it to lock.  The book says not to drive in 4WD on dry pavement, and not to leave the wheels locked to shift back into 4WD.  How the heck can you drive it around town and shift to 4WD when you come upon snow drifts??!!  The guys at the dealer don't have the answer-  Can you drive it in 4WD without turning that lock on the wheels?!  
This is a lightly used truck and I don't want to do anything to damage it!!
Thank you!

2 Answers

103,825

I used to own a Toyota 4X4. It had the manual hubs that you had to jump out and lock in. Then you also had the shifter on the floor to go from 2WD to 4WD. If weather was bad, I would leave the hubs locked and would drive around with 4WD High. If roads go to be safe, I would shift into 2WD and finish my drive home. I would later unlock the hubs when weather became nice. I would also drive the truck above 50mph with the truck in 4WD high. (Which is not Recommended) I never had a problem with the drive train. I drove it for 250k and I lived in Vt at the time. I did all my own work to it, and you must keep the drive shafts greased and make sure all oils in front and rear are always full. It's totally your call if you want to drive your truck the way I did mine. And yes, you never want to drive it on dry pavement while in 4WD. And no, you can't turn it to 4wd without the hubs being locked.

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1,120

Above answer is great and correct. If dealer had no answer....find new dealer. Hubs simply lock the wheel to the drive axle located inside differential. Floor shifter simply engages front driveline. So if you engage floor shifter and dont engage hubs then front driveline and differential will be spinning but not able to put power to front wheels due to hub "coupler" not being engaged. same rule applies if you have one hub engaged and not the other....the power will simply be sent to the free spinning/disengaged hub.

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