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Driving 2012 liberty in 4WD on drive pavement

6K views 45 replies 19 participants last post by  DrD28 
#1 ·
Let the wife drive my liberty in the snow. She put it in 4WD HI to get through in plowed side roads. She forgot to take it out when she hit dry pavement. She drive it like 15 miles in HI should I be worried
 
#23 ·
Still shaking my head at this statement. I didn't know a weaker, inferior t-case with a babysitter option(full time mode) was superior to a better built, stronger t-case. Hate to break your heart, but some circles consider the Liberty an entry level 4wd. :hahaha:

I don't consider it that, but I would rethink what you consider entry level. Snobbery usually doesn't fly far in the jeep community.
 
#6 ·
If you can't feel any driveline symptoms, you are probably just fine. It is a pretty tough 4WD system and it can take it when this happens occasionally. I drove from Chicago to Detroit on Snowy/Icy/Wet roads that were unpredictable and you couldn't tell what was ice and what was just wet or snow until you hit it. I'm sure the wet pavement gave me nearly as good traction as dry pavement with my new Duratracs, but the ice made it worth having 4WD on for nearly the whole trip. I saw dozens of cars in the ditch and three jackknifed semi's that night. The Jeep was just fine and handled amazingly, although I had to keep on my toes for that ice. No problems with 4WD binding at all, even though I surely logged many miles with only wet pavement. I have Command Trac.
 
#9 ·
lfhoward said:
If you can't feel any driveline symptoms, you are probably just fine. It is a pretty tough 4WD system and it can take it when this happens occasionally. I drove from Chicago to Detroit on Snowy/Icy/Wet roads that were unpredictable and you couldn't tell what was ice and what was just wet or snow until you hit it. I'm sure the wet pavement gave me nearly as good traction as dry pavement with my new Duratracs, but the ice made it worth having 4WD on for nearly the whole trip. I saw dozens of cars in the ditch and three jackknifed semi's that night. The Jeep was just fine and handled amazingly, although I had to keep on my toes for that ice. No problems with 4WD binding at all, even though I surely logged many miles with only wet pavement. I have Command Trac.
What year is your KK
 
#11 ·
It is very bad,I've seen some t-case explode in as little as 15 miles.You have a gearing difference between the front and rear diffs so the front wheels will spin faster then the rears even going straight.With the command trac II the front and rear driveshafts are locked and turning the same speed so after some time something will give.When something will give nobody knows,can be 15 miles could be 4000+ miles.It will wear the tires faster,place greater strain on the driveshafts and the most strain is on the t-case case and chain.
 
#13 ·
Probably in my situation the tires were able to slip every so often (quite often) on the ice and snow and relieve the strain on the driveline from the unfrozen patches. I wouldn't recommend going any distance on dry pavement and agree with your post, tjkj!
 
#14 ·
Why should warranty cover it?
I guess too many times I still put my old Service Managers hat on and think of the folks who tried to pull one on the dealership where I worked. A warranty should be something covered that was a manufacturing mistake, not one made by the consumer .
 
#16 ·
tommudd said:
Why should warranty cover it?
I guess too many times I still put my old Service Managers hat on and think of the folks who tried to pull one on the dealership where I worked. A warranty should be something covered that was a manufacturing mistake, not one made by the consumer .
Lol your right I've seen it many times in retail customers returning things that clearly broke by their misuse. However I think I dodged a bullet drove her today in the snow tested it out no signs of any problems. I also called 3 different dealerships spoke to 3 different techs that told me not to worry about it
 
#19 ·
Front and back wheels are locked together. When you turn each wheel spins at a different speed which binds the driveline. That binding will eventually break stuff. You get away with it offroad because there's slip that allows that to be eliminated. Even going straight binds the driveline due to slight differences in tire height and even though both axles are 3.73s, there's a slight difference in each.
 
#20 ·
The front and rear driveshafts are locked together,not wheels.The D30M and C8.25 in your KK are not geared the same even though they state they are,the front diff will be geared slightly higher then the rear so the front axle will spin slightly faster.The only way you can have identical gear ratio's front and rear is if you have the same axle front and rear like TJ/JK Rubicons have(D44's front and rear).

Little example,when I switched to 4.10's in my KJ the rear gears were actually 4.10 ratio while the front gears were actually 4.09's.Same goes for no with my HP60 rear which is actually 5.14 gears with the front HP44 being 5.13's but both gear sets are labeled 5.13's.
 
#30 ·
tommudd said:
Good tires is what everyone needs to install, even with 6-8 inches of snow on the roads I hardly ever use 4 wheel drive. Its simply not needed. But then I was taught how to drive in slippery conditions back in the late 60-early 70s before all the new fandangled electronics were installed.
Exactly! Good knowledge and good tires. Can't completely relate (I wasn't even alive in the 60's and hardly even the 70's). Ha ha, sorry Tom had to throw that jab!

But growing up driving big tanks with rear weak drive (79 Malibu and '78 Cadillac sedan de'ville) if you didn't learn how to "respect" the snow, then you were just gonna end up in your own dug in hole.

Sent from my iPhone using JeepForum
 
#32 ·
As I been reading through this post, it could be beneficial to you the next time you take your vehicle in, is to have the system checked out. For now if you want to test it on your own in a snow covered area or dirt and listen and feel out of the ordinary you could do that. I drove mine for about 15 miles in 4wd but the roads were covered with snow and filled with crazy Jersey Drivers - I have no issues with system at all.

I do have a question about command track and select track. Owning a command track Lib I have 2hi,N,4hi,4lo. Does select track have 2hi, N,4hi,4lo and auto?

If so it is an extra option, so in that sense it would be better, but it is an extra option and it could be something else that could go wrong down the road. It depends on how well both systems were built.

One thing about awd I'm not fond of, at least what I learned about Subaru that the tires almost have to be the same kind and tire wear or it messes up the system. A friend was fixing his son's WRX with a flat tire and had to buy 4 new tires because the tire he needed wasn't available and his other 3 tires were worn down fairly well so a new tire would might mess some things up for him. Not sure how sensitive the select trac is in the Lib.
 
#33 ·
In reality, all 4wd and AWD vehicles should have a matched set of tires. What negates the need with 4wd as much, is that it isn't used all the time, and on dirt and other slippery surfaces the tires can slip to offset the differences in tires. With AWD, on any system really, you can't have more than a 1/2" difference in circumference from the largest tire, to the smallest. Not diameter, but circumference. Any more difference will create too much difference in turning speeds of the front and rear tires. This confuses the AWD systems into thinking there is wheel slippage. It thereby locks the system to fix the slippage it thinks it is seeing. This loads the drivetrain, just like using 4wd on dry pavement. Broken CV joints, u-joints, munched T-cases or clutch packs are common results.

With the Select-trac, and the other systems that allow a choice of 2wd, 4wd part time and full time, if you plan to run them in the AWD/Fulltime mode, you must have a matched set of tires.

The select-trac t-case(NP242?) is known for not being as robust as the NP241. For more serious wheeling, it may not take the abuse. The fulltime mode is nice on snow, but it really isn't needed. Its nice if you are on transitioning conditions, going from pavement to snow and back often and you don't want to constantly shift from 4wd to 2wd. Some members on here have it, probably not my choice, it just came with it when they bought the thing. To consider it an upgrade over a regular t-case, I guess you could say that if you think you need a babysitter/nanny nipple on your jeep to do the work for you, lol. Neither of our vehicles that we own have ABS, TCS, ESC or any of that other stuff. All I have seen it do, is give drivers a fall sense of security, leading to brainless acts while driving. If you use good sense, pay attention to road conditions, there is no need for any of it. I'm with the others, after ditching the all seasons on my jeep, I've hardly used the 4wd in the snow. The only time has been due to hapless idiots who glazed an intersection on a hill.
 
#34 ·
With the Select-trac, and the other systems that allow a choice of 2wd, 4wd part time and full time
That would be in a KJ. A KK with Select-trac has 2wd, n, 4wd auto and 4wd low.

I do have a question about command track and select track. Owning a command track Lib I have 2hi,N,4hi,4lo. Does select track have 2hi, N,4hi,4lo and auto?


Only difference with a KK with Command-trac is "auto" instead of "lock".
 
#37 ·
Honestly your probably ok, yes you have Command Trac. And you should try not to use 4W anything on dry pavement, but that does not mean if you drive it once that way its toast or anything. You will see a few that say they have seen it, but I never have and you do not see much talk about somebody screwing up their system by doing this on the web. Test it out, just see if it will shift into 4Hi and 4Lo, you can hear it engage, roll it a dozen feet in a straight line and see if it sounds like obvious grinding or clanking. If not, Id bet your fine and tell the old lady no touchy that little switch.

Your only other option is to take it in and have it checked out.
 
#38 ·
Thanx Ranger I think I'm fine too. I went into a snow cover field and put the 4x4 system through the test nothing seems to be wrong I'm going to bring it to get the tranny rear and 4x4 fluids changed in June so if there is a problem I'll find out then. As far as the wife she usually pretty good she just forgot about it. So I'm going to forget to take out the garbage for a week.
 
#39 ·
I have optional 4wd on mine and she rarely goes out of it being the middle of no where Ohio. My work commute is about 40 mile round trip. City driving, highway driving, parking lot drifts always been in 4wd. Haven't had any issue only the occasional chirping when turning to sharply. Nothing to worry about though
 
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