How important is four-wheel-drive?

Da Nag":1t8yb15s said:
While I'm firmly in the 4WD camp, there's another option - 2WD with a winch.
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Bill, is that an ARB bumper you have? How do you like it?

Warren
 
The thing which may be missed in all of this, is that there are a number of vehicles short of 3/4 ton trucks which will work fine for the C Dory 22 and still have four wheel drive. For the 25 , Tom Cat, and the Ranger 25--you need a bigger vehicle.
 
Whoa, gotta challenge you on that last part! Our Nissan Titan, a four wheel drive half-ton truck with tow package, handles our CD25 just fine.

thataway":265bpag8 said:
The thing which may be missed in all of this, is that there are a number of vehicles short of 3/4 ton trucks which will work fine for the C Dory 22 and still have four wheel drive. For the 25 , Tom Cat, and the Ranger 25--you need a bigger vehicle.
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Doryman":2dzyg65t said:
Bill, is that an ARB bumper you have? How do you like it?
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Nope. Custom made by an outfit in Sonora, CA - ProZap Manufacturing. No web site, far as I know.

Most standard winch bumpers are way overbuilt, since most are designed for electric winches - which weigh significantly more than a hydraulic. Having a bumper custom built with the hydraulic winch in mind, kept the front end height unchanged with stock suspension...the entire setup only weighs about 50 lbs. over stock. Makes a big difference on an F250 front end.

Also, if you look closely just below the roller fairlead, you can see the front mounted hitch I had them integrate into the setup. It's invaluable when pushing a trailer around in tight spaces.
 
Funny winch story, an unnamed person (my brother) decided to unroll his cable on an ele winch while waiting for someone. He’s in the woods and on a slight hill. The hardest part of wrapping a steel cable on a drum is keeping enough tension on it. So park on a hill and tie off the hook end of the line to a tree put the truck in neutral and stand in front of the truck with a remote. Now first thing first is to unroll the cable. Just hit the button on the remote and watch the cable slowly unroll. once you get to the end you can reverse the drum and slowly wrap the cable back on with the weight of the truck keeping the cable tight, If the cable end is connected to the drum............. :shock: cable got to the end and came right off the drum and the truck rolled down the hill and into a tree. The unnamed brother had to run to the truck and try to jump thru the window, if you have seen my gravity challenged brother ( 250) the idea of him jumping thru a door let alone a window of a moving truck will bring tears to your eyes. :cry :cry :cry
 
Four wheel drive is a great asset IF you have it. Lots of C-Brats may not have the luxury. I carry a 25 foot, one inch nylon rope,with 24 inches of 5/16th chain spliced on each end with an approperate hook. Most of the time there will be some one at the ramp that would be happy to show you how great their 4 wheel whatever can pull you up the ramp.
As for sand, I lived and windsurfed in Mexico for 10 years most of us had 4 wheel drive Jeeps or Broncos. It was amazing to see Mexican cars and 2 wheel drive pickups driving on very soft sand where it was a chore for a newbe with 4 wheel drive to operate on the same beach. The trick, lower the pressure in all four tires to 10 psi. I've seen pick up trucks draging 20 foot Pongas up a very soft beach. Be sure to go back to normal pressure when reurning to hard surface. We used a dive air tank for this purpose.
Gary
 
A winch should be a standard feature on all Ford trucks, just like the extra hood latches that come standard. :lol:
 
Anita Marie":1mzj0rvc said:
A winch should be a standard feature on all Ford trucks, just like the extra hood latches that come standard. :lol:
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Of all the photo opportunities I've missed, in the top 5 would be my Powerstroke pulling a certain Cummins powered 4WD Dodge Dually from being stuck in the mud.

I'll not name the affected party. Unlike you Froderick, he's not deserving of such public humiliation. :twisted:
 
After years of watching launch/retrieve fiascos, the last thing I would want to do on a launch ramp is ask someone to tow me out or look for a post to attach my winch cable to. There are usually people waiting to launch and they're usually impatient. Bottom line, Get the 4X4!
 
Roger,
I agree most people would be at the end of their rope (pun intended) if they had to wait while some greenhorn without four wheel drive got in over their head at the launch ramp.(Oops, I did it again) I might get a free beer if I came to the rescue with a quick tow. My suggestion was not to buy a two wheel drive and a tow rope, but to be prepared in the event you do get on a slick ramp with a two wheel drive. Patience's would really be strained if the "stuckee" had to go through the "waitees" and ask if anyone had a tow rope
.Gary
 
thataway":2rglaaef said:
The thing which may be missed in all of this, is that there are a number of vehicles short of 3/4 ton trucks which will work fine for the C Dory 22 and still have four wheel drive. For the 25 , Tom Cat, and the Ranger 25--you need a bigger vehicle.
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As Bob suggests I pull my 22 with a Jeep Cherokee 90% of the time and it pulls fine and is a lot more comfortable than my 3/4 ton truck.
 
In echoing what most others have said, I too am in the "pro-4 wheel drive" camp. There have been occasions when I probably would not have launched had my tow rig been a 2 WD for fear of getting stuck....most notably at extreme low tides when mounds of sand/mud are covering the lower portion of the ramp. There have been a few times when I've experienced no traction pulling the boat out while in 2 WD and have had to slip the truck into 4 WD to get up the ramp. Had I not had the convenience of the 4 WD, I probably would have succeeded somehow, but it is certainly reassuring to just engage the 4 WD and crawl out of there. (I'd certainly not be a happy camper if the tide were coming in and I couldn't get my tow rig up the ramp :disgust ).
 
This has been MOST illuminating, gentlemen. Thank you all very very much.
 
I kind of agree with Thataway Bob. If I was retired and towing the boat all over the country, I would get at least a 250/2500 rated truck for towing. But, our boat is dry stack stored, so we only tow it a couple of times a year. The 2 week trip this year was around 800 miles round trip. Our '07 Expedition handled it fine. We do have a weight distributing hitch and electric over hydraulic disc brakes on the trailer. That seems to cure the handling and stopping problems. However, you are not going up any steep hills at 60 mph. This is my daily work rig and I don't want to have to drive a stouter pickup every day, or have a second vehicle for the limited number of times that I tow. I need more patience anyway, so I'll deal with the slow uphill climbs.
Lyle
 
On many rigs used for towing the transmission seems to be the weak link in the drivetrain. Taking long steep uphill grades at lower throttle settings will probably pay off in the long run.
 
I wouldn't be caught dead without 4x4 as my boat towing rig. Of course, even with it I got stuck 3 times launching my old sled on some of our river banks. :oops: Never get a river sled with a single axle trailer! Single tires and iffy river banks = stuck fast!

Many times I'll drop the truck into 4 low but leave the hubs unlocked. This is enough to slowly walk up a slippery ramp at low tide. Other times you really need to have all 4 pulling. The ramp at the Coho Resort in Sekiu is one that is really nasty at low tide.
 
We never assumed it would work, but in fact our Dodge Grand Caravan with rear-wheel drive has done fine towing C for Two.

We use the same public ramp most of the time, timing put-ins and take-outs for the best tide, but we did do one trip this summer where we towed her 3 hours north, put in on a gravel beach in Sorrento and took out at a ramp in Winter Harbor, before trailering 3 hours home again. We had no problems of any kind. Not sure how long we'll be this lucky, but so far so good.
 
I've never had much of a problem getting my CD-22 launched and retrieved with my Durango, although on a snowy or icy ramp the 4WD comes in very handy, as did chains on my 2WD Ford F-150 Econoline van in the same scenario.

However, to demonstrate the value of 4WD, a limited slip rear differential, a low range setting on the 4WD, and some oversize 10.5 x 31 inch mud and snow tires, we've hauled my ~8500 lb Sea Ray (includes trailer) out of a mud and sand covered asphalt ramp on about a 6% grade without any problems except some initial slip of those wheels with the least grip till all were biting solid. Absolutely could not have done it with ordinary 2WD.

We use some back roads and tow on the freeway for short distances only at about 50 mph, and all seems well.

The Durango's set up is much better than my Friend's Ford Explorer with a full time all-wheel drive set-up which doesn't have the low range or limited slip rear end.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the capacity of this tow vehicle, but know I must be very careful concerning stopping distances, and am very careful to watch the performance of my trailer brakes.



Joe :teeth :thup
 
We towed our cape cruiser 23 from naples,fl to Tampa bay about 160 miles or so .The Pilot towed it no problems .The ramp was not the best but with the 4 whl drive Pilot it just eased it right out no muss no fuss . We got a little over 10mpg towing the cc-23 .We towed with only 6-8 gallons in one tank and none in the other ,no water ,I didnt weigh it but I will this week I think about 4700lb or so . In the Pilot we carried nothing just my wife and I . In the boat we put in the cooler and sleeping bags also the spare tire went all the way in the back cockpit . The tougue wt was 400lb towed wt about 4700

Also when we filled the one 30 gallon tank we used 20 gallons and went 80 statute miles for a 4mpg overall for the 5 days Usually when i'm the naples area I get 4-5 mpg but we do a lot of idling whereas here we did mostly cruising at 4000-4500rpm 18-24mph with f-115 yami
 
I was talking to a friend that owns the local transmission shop here in marysville, Bobs transmission but his name is Steve? any how he suggest that you always pull your boat out of the water in 4 low, not with the hubs locked but in 4 low. It saves the torque converter. If you just use drive it will heat up. over time it will shorten the life of the tranny in half if you launch a lot. So from now on if I need it or not I will be selecting 4 low when I retrieve. Oh he said the the heat will jump up very fast but for such a short period of time that the temp gage (if you have one on the tranny ) will not see it.
 
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