My next truck will be 4wd for other reasons, but i have never needed 4wd at the ramp, steep or not. Throttle control is key, no need in hammering down the gas to get the boat out of the water. I have never even spun a tire on a ramp and i have a 2wd non-limited slip rearend.

love the 4x4 system on my truck. that auto selection is awesome especially in the rain when you got to get up and go. no spinning or fish tailling. I will never own a truck that isn't 4x4 just how i am i like that if i want to go off road i don't have to worry about getting stuck. don't even need a boat ramp to launch my boat. my truck will go places and do it safer than a 2wd will. just how it is. if you are mostly on the highway i am glad you have a 2wd. i don't care about resale my trucks get beat up so bad it doesn't really apply to me. 4x4 are better for me always. can't wait till i can get another diesel.

I take it you have never put at one of the hill climbs at Travis. If you have a little lightweight Bass Tracker you would be OK but not with a fiberglass boat.

Well, i guess im good then cause i have a Bass Tracker and i dont live in the Austin area.

Anytime I have the urge to say: "Watch 'Is Here!!"

Uhhhhhh......DAILY!

any one lookin to buy a 4x4 lol I am sellin mine ist a 94 dodge 4x4 just PM me

2wd drive at river ramps after a flood is a really good reason to turn around and go home. Something tells me that when the truck keeps moving even when all 4 wheels are stopped you may just want to have 4wd.

I use front/rear lockers and 4x4 when pulling others out. Got 12,000lbs worth of dead pull if that doesn't get it

So far the biggest I've pulled is a 4x4 John Deere tractor stuck in a muddy creek bank. 73:1 crawl ratio works out pretty well.

Every time. I've got it so I use it.

Depends on the weight of the boat really. Some people use it cause they have it, I've pulled my 16ft boat out of every lake its been in just using D with the O/D off. Never spun a tire. A buddy of mine goes to pull my boat out for me one day and spins the tires says the truck can't do it. I get in and pull it right out, its all about the throttle.

"O/D off" isn't going to make any difference until about 50mph.

Putting it into "1" will allow the low clutches to apply and as a whole makes the transmission "stronger" in a low rpm pull range. While it "can do it in D", "1" is better for it..

hmmm.
Can't argue the "throttle control" argument. Ex:my wife pulls the boat out and rarely will spin a tire(if she does, she will reach over and grab 4H) yet, there are many times that others will pull out in the same truck and spin every time. It IS about throttle control and understanding torque on a diesel. Yet, there are times that 4wd comes in pretty handy on a ramp even for an experienced driver.

Every truck I own is 4wd and every truck I purchase in the future will be 4wd.
When you need it, you need it. And I need it quite a bit.

when you manually shift the transmission, it takes the electronics out of it- and the line pressure increases. thus the improved shift quality and less tear on the clutches.

only in the winter when roads are bad

i own a 4X4 and i use it alot threw out the year just never had to use it at the boat ramps though. when im fishing for flatheads i always seem to find them biteing off a muddy trail and theres no option but to have a 4X4 in that mess. yeah i used to play around in the mud but after trying to clean up all the mud its just not worth "playing" any more. another good outcome for owning a 4X4 work gives time and a half on icy days if you show up! =)

My boat trailer has a short tongue on my 14” boat so my rear tires get into the water. Most of the time there is algae and need to use my 4 wheel drive. Just launching it, but loading no 4 wheel drive is needed.

Always had it, always will. From cruising down the beach, pulling out 2wds, or pulling out my Striper 2600 with the short trailer tongue, I've needed it and been glad to have it. At some point I'm going to pull out the factory locker and install ARBs.
Joe

4WD is like having a jackplate on a bay boat. Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Quite a bit. Especially on ramps that don't have the ridges on them. Then when there is chance of some ice forming.

All the time at the local ramp on Chocolate Bayou. Especially at low tide. Slippery with algae and mud, big hole just under the water and really steep.

Says the guy living in Little Elm. I used to live in the metroplex, no real need for 4x4 up there, I agree. Come down to the hill country with the low lake levels and see how well you do with you 2WD.

I had to sell the only 2WD truck I have ever owned just to be able to continue to fish the lakes I want to fish.

If you have a use for it it is worth it many times over... if you dont then it is just to say you have it.

Personaly I had a 2wd truck for 16 years and never needed 4x4 on a boat ramp and I fished hill country and south texas lakes. We bought a place in south texas in the middle of deep fluffy red sand, now I have a 4x4 and wouldnt trade it for the world.

As far as fishing goes if you dont use mud ramps, fish river ramps that get silted in or some other special situation you dont need 4x4.

I use the heck out of my 4wd during deer season. Especially the past season when we had so much rain. Without 4x4 you couldn't make it to camp, much less get around the pasture.

Back to the question, if you have it, why not. I learned along time ago if your in trouble then have to put in, it it's probably too late. I'll put it in 4 whenever there's any kind of chance of getting in a bind.

Passed a guy in a newer 5.7 tundra 2wd on the way home at 1130 on saturday night. He got stuck trying to go mudding/doing donuts after a couple inches of rain in a plowed field, sure bet he wished he had 4x4

I stopped and asked if he had a tow strap or chain because I didnt, he didnt so I said good luck... I just hope the farmer isnt the one who found him...