I have owned my last 2 wheel drive pickup

[Hay Dude]

My Ram 5500 in a 2WD version would be totally useless to me. Even with a locking rear differential (which it actually has).
4WD has helped me pull more loads of hay off soft fields and get paid for delivering the hay than I can remember.

 

[Fixastuff]

Dude….Im trying to be polite, but that is the silliest argument against 4x4 I have ever heard.
And BTW, very few 4x4 trucks come with an open rear diff. Limited slip differentials are like power windows or AC now.
99% of all trucks made for the last 25 years have a factory L/S.

Dude... a LSD isn't the same as a push button solid locked differential.

 

[Fixastuff]

I’ll pass. I have both and while the diff lock helps, the 4WD definitely goes better. Just getting from my road onto the highway can be a challenge. I would never be able to do it in 2WD.

Among other things, by the time the differential locks one tire is already spinning. That works about as well as waiting until your stuck, then shifting into 4wd.

That's not the type I'm talking about, I'm talking about the ones with a manual push button vacuum actuated locker, if it's locked on dry payment it jumps and chirps when turning locker.

 

[Hay Dude]

Dude... a LSD isn't the same as a push button solid locked differential.

Im aware. Ive installed ARB air lockers in differentials. I have a Jeep Rubicon with front & rear switchable lockers, so I know a little about what I speak of
However, once locked, theres no way RWD equals 4WD.

 

[Fixastuff]

Im aware. Ive installed ARB air lockers in differentials. I have a Jeep Rubicon with front & rear switchable lockers, so I know a little about what I speak of
However, once locked, theres no way RWD equals 4WD.

I know RWD with a true locker is better than 4wd with opens for not getting stuck

If I'm paying for 4wd I want a locking rear and center. The only way you get stuck with that set up is to be on the frame. Most people don't want to hear their 4wd system is crap but I've seen it on many a slippery boat ramp. 2wd with a locker drives out and 4wd with no lockers sends all the power to one wheel.

 

[jjeff]

from observations and experience a RWD Tacoma prerunner with a push button rear locker cant go anywhere close to where a tacoma with 4wd without a manual locker can. also The used 2wd prerunnners sell for a lot less on the used market compared to a 4wd in markets around here.

 

[check]

Yup. 4WD for me all the way. Had it in all my pickups over the las 15 years or so, all of which were Supercrew F150’s. There is a switch on the dash to from 2WD to “4 High” to “4 Low”. I turn it to four high as soon as I get on a snowy road, and then switch it back to two when I get back on to pavement.

Only got stuck once – in a parking lot of all things! But to be fair, the snow is quite cheap, and the weather has warmed up enough to make it quite slick. A bunch of people help push me out, and one guy tried – unsuccessfully – to pull me out with his Dodge pick up. Boy that would’ve been embarrassing!

 

[Oaktree]

from observations and experience a RWD Tacoma prerunner with a push button rear locker

What's a prerunner?

 

[jjeff]

Basically a 2wd with a 4wd suspension/clearance. I think they stopped making them a few years ago.

 

[Jstpssng]

I know RWD with a true locker is better than 4wd with opens for not getting stuck

If I'm paying for 4wd I want a locking rear and center. The only way you get stuck with that set up is to be on the frame. Most people don't want to hear their 4wd system is crap but I've seen it on many a slippery boat ramp. 2wd with a locker drives out and 4wd with no lockers sends all the power to one wheel.

That's why they offer several options. If we all thought the same, the world would be a pretty boring place.

Yet you seem to be comparing AWD to your 2WD; when you lock the transfer case in any pickup I've ever seen, you have at least one wheel on each axle pulling. More and more, I'm seeing limited slip on the rear so when one tire slips the other kicks in. My Colorado has the G80 so at lower speeds it does lock up, yet as I previously mentioned, the other side is already spinning. We have this thing called "Snow" here... I will take my 4WD any day.