Hey I am new...2wd or 4x4 Explorer?

[PLRBEAR]

Hmmmm....okay....i'll try with my limited knowledge. Here's my opinion:


Having a 4x2 gives certain advantages like low weight, power delivery and possibly lower maintenance costs due to fewer moving parts. If you are going to spend a lot of time in mud, deep snow, adverse weather conditions, then getting the 4x4 will be worthwhile.
If you live in places like California (other than Lake Tahoe), where snow is not an issue, and you don't go off-roading like in "The Dukes of Hazard" or worse, then getting a 4x2, in my opinion is fine.
Nevertheless, i am "pro 4x4" all the way, since you'll never know when you need it. Think of how you'll be driving your Mustang in Calgary weather....hehe...slippin'n'slidin'!

 

[Oknut]

There was a guy from this board who told me that his 2wd explorer, locked up would go as many places as my 4wd explorer would. I just can't see how it would. I actually think that a 4x4 not locked up would go more places then a 2wd locked up would.

Plus a 4x4 you can lock up both front and rear.

Be a man and get the 4x4, 2wd's are for old people and soccer moms.

 

[tbomb]

my family has gone through 5 explorers since 91. every single one of em has been 4x4. i dont do any offroading, so i cant comment on that aspect of the decision, the first thing i thought of when i read this post was "how about driving in snow?" huge difference between driving in snow with 2wd and driving in snow with 4wd. if you look at it from that point of view, theres no contest = 4x4.

 

[tbomb]

well, i just noticed that youre in CA, so you probably dont get too much snow, heh. i would still get a 4x4 anyway. i always thought the point of getting a truck or an suv is to get 4wd.

 

[Oknut]

That's true, if you want a 2wd you might as well get a minivan.

 

[jfrank]

The thing about California Tbomb is that you can have what ever weather you want when ever you want it. We have snowy mountains, hot deserts and balmy beaches.

One day when I was young and single (some time ago) I skied with one young lady in the morning at Big Bear, played golf with another at Palm Springs, and had a ocean sunset dinner with a third at my home at that time in Newport. All on the same day.

Now I live on California's central coast just seven miles from the last ocean beach in the state you can drive a vehicle on to (Oceano/Pismo). I can go all over the sand dunes in my kid's 92 EB where any two wheel drive would have to be towed out. Sunny and 70. Or I can head for our place in the Sierras at Mammoth, where I keep my 91 XLT and tear through the snow 6 months a year for some skiing or go off roading to some secluded trout fishing the other six months.

It's a tough life but somebody has to live it.

Snow or sand, rock or slope, 4wd drive is the only way to go. Of course there is another side of me that likes gut wrenching highway performance and I have other cars for the need for speed. Let's face it real men love real toys.

 

[rock883]

Originally posted by Oknut
...2wd's are for old people and soccer moms.

So which one drives this an old person, or a soccer mom?:
Dead Link Removed
Or this?:
Dead Link Removed
I don't see your 4x4 doin that. Personally, if I lived out in California still, I would rather have a 2wd and be jumping my truck, and doin some prerunner action, than to be goin through some mud or climbing rocks, although I do enjoy both of those. Not trying to start a war, but just wanted to defend my point of view. My friend has a 4x4 and he has a locker and will go a lot of places in just 2wd. The only time he really puts it in 4L is when he gets into some really deep water and on really soft ground, but he likes rompin through the mud in 2wd because that is a lot more fun to do donuts and stuff like that.

 

[leenjen]

that looks cool, but would scare the $%!+ out of me.
how do they land without f*@%!^# up the frame??
that must do some major damage. but it still looks cool.

i was about that high off the ground in my 73 plymouth roadrunner. needless to say, the car didn't make it (and the cops were surprised that i made it).

 

[Tom M.]

I bought a '92 2wd mainly because it was 10 times nicer than the 4wd's I was looking at (having a budget sucks). I am more into desert running not climbing telephone poles, & the 2wd works great for this. I will tell you this the 2wd suspension lifts are way more than the 4wd because of the lack of companies making them. I love that Navajo converted to 4wd. I am seriously considering the same conversion, that is if I ever start climbing telephone poles.

 

[Kris Guilbeaux]

Now Rock... You cant say that only 2wd can be jumped. I did nto have time to look for it but I have seen Justin Mcneil's Explorer (the Yellow one on the Main page) I have seen pictures of it being jumped in the same way. But the one thing that also stands out is that I got to see Justin do Gold bar Rim at Moab. So I think the 4x4 Explorer can be jumped and climb the telephone poles.

I am Not saying a 2wd is bad. but with a 4x4 you can get the best of both worlds.

 

[FROADER]

Having 4x doesn't mean you can only climb telephone poles and not run fast through the desert. My last truck was a '91 ranger 2x and was set up like a pre-runner. Now that I have my 4x X I still do the same type of driving through the desert (hauling ass) and I can also climb anything I want too. By the way Rock, they have a 4x class of S.C.O.R.E. Racing. I admitt I drive in 2x as much as I can, it's just very nice to be able to push a button and not have to worry about getting stuck.

I can't even remember who started this thread but, just get a 4x4! It's a 2wd until you hit a button!

 

[Oknut]

Hey rock your right I can't jump anything and I wouldn't even wanna try, but 2x4's are still worthless.. I much rather get a dirtbike or a pair of skies if I wanted to do any jumping.. Oh and by the way, do you know how much money these guys put into their little jumping rigs ( rigs that can't do anything but jump) ? Do you think the guy who started this thread wanted to jump his explorer (that he hasn't even bought yet?)..

Another thing is this.. monster trucks have 4 wheel drive and they jump the living piss out of their trucks, if I really wanted to I could jump my truck also.. but 2wd and 4wd is completly different.

 

[Kris Guilbeaux]

Here is the pictureI was talking about.

Dead Link Removed

 

[BoatsRcool]

yeah wars here dont need to be started, but rock, think about it, if you totalled your explorer and got a new one for some reason right now, would you get 4x4 or 2x4.

 

[beaston1]

think about it for a sec...4x4..4x2..what do think would kick more a%& off-road. Hmmmmm let me think. you know the answer. AND look at the baja race. most of those guys have 4x4 and they still haul a%#. so take your pick, 4x2 wuse, or 4x4 hardcore.

 

[Oknut]

Come on give me a brake, there is no questions asked.. period...

Think about it, if you don't want to 4x4 unlock the hubs and your in two wheel drive.. I actually don't lock in my hubs till a have to..

4x4 is the way to go.. or go home

 

[Jimbo92]

come on now guys a 2x4 isnt all that bad, i have a 92 ex with a l/s rear and 31 inch bfg's and a 2 1/5 inch skyjacker list and steering stabilizer, the only thing i dont really like is lack of low range, mostly because of 3:27 gears, i am soon hopefully getting 4:10's with a locker of some sort, a buddy of mine has a 89 cherokee with a 3 inch procomp and 31 kumho muds with open diffs and he hasnt found a place yet i cant follow him. i also hava a brushguard with procomp 55 lights and a towbar with 20,000 lb hooks

 

[Oknut]

You wouldn't even make it up my driveway...

 

[TarHeel085]

Originally posted by Oknut
You wouldn't even make it up my driveway...

haha, mine either!

 

[Nate1]

Okay, just to stick my nose everwhere... I have had both worlds... I had a '92 4x2 and now own a '99 4x4. I have to say, I would never go back. In the '92, I was running some michealin (okay, not a/t tires), driving on a semi-wet field with a HAIR of mabey 1/2" of mud under it, probably less, and I couldn't stop the car from fishtailing... steering was impossible, and unless you went under 5 mph, you would be doing doughnuts. Unless you put a locker in a 4x2 and make some other adjustments... its hard to even get near the functionability of a 4x4. Now I can romp through rather disgustingly thick mud, sand, most anything you want. Turning on wet roads into traffic is now safe and easy... the whole car feels more grippy. And even in the control trac 'full time 4x4' (not awd thank god), you do a little wiring, and you have the amazingly effective control trac on top of any kind of 4x2 you want. I see no reason why you shouldn't get a 4x4 unless of course you couldn't afford it.

Just my 2¢
-----Nate