Can I be in 4Lo to manage speed going downhill?

[zguy1]

I was in Utah about a week ago and I decided to do some light off roading and went on Schafer Canyon road outside of Canyonlands NP. It was nothing crazy other than rough, rutted gravel and dirt road. I was going downhill for a few miles and the road was so rough that I used 4Lo as opposed to 2nd gear in 4Hi to further reduce my speeds. Being in 2nd gear in 4Hi was still too fast for comfort and required me to be on the brakes more than I wanted. I ended up having to go back up so I used 4Lo at times to keep a slow pace.

Any concerns with doing that or am I using the transmission and transfer case as intended?

 

[Ripper238]

I'm always in 4Lo when off roading at slow speeds, especially going down hill. I may even activate crawl control. It's better for the transmission when going really slow to be in 4Lo anyway.

 

[Inv4drZm]

Anytime you don't want to solely rely on brakes, putting it in low gear is a good idea. Keeps you from wearing out or overheating your brakes, and if they ever stopped working even for a second, the transfer case will act as a brake and prevent speeding up rapidly so I see it as being much safer.

 

[zguy1]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear I did something right lol.

I assume crawl control is the same as the DAC button. I tried turning that on for a bit but it causes a lot of noises and commotion in the truck. All jokes aside, I can see using that probably on steeper declines than I was on.

 

[DAW89446]

It has always been my practice, on all my 4x4 vehicles, to use 4-LO on dirt trails. Even dirt roads when climbing steep grades. Keeps me off the brakes downhill, keeps the trucks happiest going uphill (better gearing, keeps the truck in a good RPM range, less shifting).

 

[Bluesky 07]

The truck is designed for engine braking. As far as I know, you can use any combination of gear & 4WD. 4LO in 1st gear would be the slowest.

 

[MikeinNH67]

That's what 4 low is for, low speed control both up hill and down. Good stuff but not so much on dry tar.

 

[ifallalot]

I was in Utah about a week ago and I decided to do some light off roading and went on Schafer Canyon road outside of Canyonlands NP. It was nothing crazy other than rough, rutted gravel and dirt road. I was going downhill for a few miles and the road was so rough that I used 4Lo as opposed to 2nd gear in 4Hi to further reduce my speeds. Being in 2nd gear in 4Hi was still too fast for comfort and required me to be on the brakes more than I wanted. I ended up having to go back up so I used 4Lo at times to keep a slow pace.

Any concerns with doing that or am I using the transmission and transfer case as intended?

This is one of the intended uses of 4Lo

I'll have days where i'm in 4Lo all day long