Why is our 2WD truck so high?!

[giant_mtb]

C'mon, kids.

[Submariner]

[giant_mtb]

[Submariner]

I'm eating Strawberry Jell-O right now!

[giant_mtb]

[Submariner]

I'm doing that too!

[giant_mtb]

I'm doing that too!

<--- Jealous.

[Submariner]

<--- Jealous.

Underage! 

I'm telling Greg! 

[MX793]

I much prefer the phrase "Who lit the fuse on your tampon?"

[giant_mtb]

Underage! 

I'm telling Greg! 

Greg wouldn't do that to me. 

[SVT666]

You troll, I retroll.

How was I trolling? 

[Byteme]

It's so high because they only build the trucks with one suspension design, the 4x4 suspension.

Think about it: if you built a separate suspension for the 2WD truck, a lower suspension, you'd have to have completely different parts. New springs, new dampers, new control arms, new torsion bars, new driveshaft, blah blah blah, etc. This way they don't have to spend money on designing the new suspension, finding a supplier or a retooling a factory to make the parts, yadda yadda yadda.

I's suspect the shock absorbers, and springs/torsion bars would be different on a 2WDwd than it's 4WD counterpart anyway, certainly the rates would likely be different.,  And the driveshafts are likely different as well.  Further, regardless of ride height, there might be enough camber adjustment to compensate for a lower riding 2WD adjustment.

I think they are jacked up like that becase that's what image truck buyer's expect.  They want a hulking pickup, not some wimpy one.

[TBR]

I's suspect the shock absorbers, and springs/torsion bars would be different on a 2WDwd than it's 4WD counterpart anyway, certainly the rates would likely be different.,  And the driveshafts are likely different as well.  Further, regardless of ride height, there might be enough camber adjustment to compensate for a lower riding 2WD adjustment.

I think they are jacked up like that becase that's what image truck buyer's expect.  They want a hulking pickup, not some wimpy one.

+1

The 4wds are even higher.

[Rupert]

For what? It's worthless offroad and gets stuck very easily. I'd rather drive my Focus offroad.

It looks like this except it's green and has west coast mirrors:

On a dry dirt road, a 2WD pick-up is fine, especially with some weight in the back. Around here, in the summer, you don't so much need 4WD as you need high clearance. Honestly, even with a 4WD in the winter (i.e. yesterday, and in a 2500HD 4WD), you don't really need 4WD more than once in a rare while, unless you get onto some very non-main roads. It makes driving easier (less slippery), but I could have still gone everywhere I did last weekend with 2WD. To me, the idea of a low pick-up of any drive-wheel configuration is pretty silly. Maybe they should make a high- and a low-clearance 2WD.

The real question here is, why are the 4WD 2500HDs so low? At least on the 2005 generation, the frame rails hang down a good five inches below the body. Both the Ford and Dodge heavy duty trucks have at least another few inches on the Chevy.

[Rupert]

Don't be so obtuse. For example - a one side of a trail is slick mud, or ice, and the other side has good traction, a 4x4 with open diffs will spin both wheels on the slippery side, and possibly get stuck. A 2wd with a locking differential will keep going.

Then again, if you go through a mud hole that spans the road, there will be one wheel on a 4WD that has good traction, but the locked 2WD might be spinning both wheels. The solution here is clear: locked 4WD.

[Rupert]

I won't speak for or defend the multitudes of truck buyers that don't need a truck, but high clearance on a 2WD truck is absolutely useful.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Then again, if you go through a mud hole that spans the road, there will be one wheel on a 4WD that has good traction, but the locked 2WD might be spinning both wheels. The solution here is clear: locked 4WD.

A limited slip 2wd is simply amazing in its abilities in comparison to an open 2wd. A locker is just that much better. I want one for the Rodeo, but I can't finds!

I won't speak for or defend the multitudes of truck buyers that don't need a truck, but high clearance on a 2WD truck is absolutely useful.

It allows you to get more speed up to plow through low-traction situations, without getting stuck on stupid rocks.

[GoCougs]

Having owned both open diff and limited slip 4WD vehicles and having off-roaded them to a moderate degree, the 4WD w/open diffs will be better in all conditions and all scenarios than the 2WD with limited slip/locker.

Also don't forget 2WD won't have a 2-sp T-case, meaning it is virtually impossible to even begin to get into a serious off roading condition without that low gear set.

[280Z Turbo]

Having owned both open diff and limited slip 4WD vehicles and having off-roaded them to a moderate degree, the 4WD w/open diffs will be better in all conditions and all scenarios than the 2WD with limited slip/locker.

Also don't forget 2WD won't have a 2-sp T-case, meaning it is virtually impossible ti even begin to get into a serious off roading condition to begin with without that low gear set.

How could they not be better? I don't understand what he's talking about.

[GoCougs]

How could they not be better? I don't understand what he's talking about.

Not sure, though he may have just been trolling.

[SVT666]

Not sure, though he may have just been trolling.

He is.  For some reason he's been after me lately.  He's completely contrary to everything I post in any thread regardless of topic.

[GoCougs]

He is.  For some reason he's been after me lately.  He's completely contrary to everything I post in any thread regardless of topic.

But you'd have to admit that your Mustangism makes you a target, no?

[omicron]

Nicholas wants a Falcon RTV, you see, which is one of those 2WD-with-locking-differential jobbies:



This one comes with a dog, apparently.



And my goodness - they have excellent resale value, too. Utes always do here, it seems.

[Rupert]

A limited slip 2wd is simply amazing in its abilities in comparison to an open 2wd. A locker is just that much better. I want one for the Rodeo, but I can't finds!

It allows you to get more speed up to plow through low-traction situations, without getting stuck on stupid rocks.

Sure, if your options are open or locked 2WD only, the locker is gonna be that much better. But for my money, I want a proper 4WD. That two-speed transfer case is sure handy, and so is getting traction both front and rear.

For example, if you're driving up a muddy road with an open 2WD, you spin a tire and eventually get stuck. In a locked 2WD, you spin both rear tires, and the back end wanders wherever gravity takes it (i.e. off the road). In a 4WD with an open rear diff, you spin one of the back tires and one of the front tires, you stay on track, and get stuck further up the road ( ).

Shit, just the other day, I was driving a big 4WD in 2Hi down a wet gravel road with muddy spots and very soft muddy shoulders. I was going slow, and looking at the forest, so I was late turning into a corner. The front left tire went onto the shoulder, and then the rear left. I spun the rear left as I tried to get it back on the road, but the rear stayed in the mud (basically a drift ). It's that easy to get the back end moving when only one tire is spinning and the surface is slick.

I could have steered across the road and driven out, but I decided to put it in 4Hi and leave it there until we hit pavement, instead.

[Rupert]

How could they not be better? I don't understand what he's talking about.

In some situations, like those where traction is high, but you might get a wheel in the air or almost in the air, a locked 2WD will be pretty close to as good as a 4WD. But not most situations.

[Tave]

The real question here is, why are the 4WD 2500HDs so low? At least on the 2005 generation, the frame rails hang down a good five inches below the body. Both the Ford and Dodge heavy duty trucks have at least another few inches on the Chevy.

Hemi and I have been saying that for years. And in fact this is the very reason my dad's company no longer buys Chevy work trucks.

[Raza]

First of all, the notion that you need a truck for offroading is ludicrous.  I've done plenty of offroading and never once got stuck in a FWD Passat.  Per my experience, the ultimate offroad vehicle is the B5 Passat.

That is 100% irrefutable. 

[JWC]

Having grown up in farming country, there was a time when a two wheel drive truck was it for going through muddy fields...AKA, off-road.   It really wasn't until the 1990's that everyone felt they had to have a 4wd to go off-road.   

[Eye of the Tiger]

 @ 4wd trolls, on a futile mission to somehow prove that two wheels provide so much more traction than two wheels, and that anyone who thinks that two wheels could possibly be as good as two wheels off road must be a troll, themselves. Omicron has the right idea, as usual.

[Onslaught]

Chevy thinks massive wheel gap is hot? 

They must all think that way now. It looks like shit. But Chevy is the king of massive gaps.