Yep, it is a must for many reasons. The boat ramp is probably the least of those reasons. I won't have a truck without it.

Can't count how many 2wds I've seen towed up the launch at Alan Henry.

It is the only launch I've been to where I occasionally have to put my truck in 4wd to pull my boat out of the water.

I think the add'l cost upfront is well worth it, and probably mostly pay for itself with trade in value later on.

Have had a truck without 4x4...it was a sport truck and had over 450HP....no need for 4x4 when going fast

All my others have and will always be 4x4.

I’ve only used the 4 wheel drive on a ramp one time, and it wasn’t the ramps fault. I had a neighbor kid wanting to fish a jackpot with me forever, I finally said ok and when we got to the ramp I backed it almost all the way. I knew he grew up on a farm and had pulled every kind of trailer in the world except for a boat trailer. I told him to just back me in til it came off the trailer and then go park it. Apparently that wasn’t quite enough instruction. He started backing and I turned around looking at the motor to make sure it was pumping water, it’s a habit. When I faced forward he had the bed of my truck under water. I screamed stop and pull forward, but he was so far back when he hit the gas it slipped sideways and was even deeper in the water. I screamed put it in 4 wheel drive, and luckily he did know how to do that lol. As an added bonus I knew everyone at the ramp that day, and they still holler “ Pull forward!” at me everytime I see them now.

No, 4x4 is not required. But, you then have to be more careful not to put the truck in a situation it cannot handle.

I put in last night on a rock bank. It would never happen with a 2wd.

With my 1st two tow trucks, I had to be pulled up a ramp several times at different lakes. I'll never go back to that helpless feeling not being able to get up the ramp.

I have both a 4x4 truck and a 2wd truck.. never had any issues with either one at the ramp
except once when there was ice involved.. in which case I was glad I was in the 4x4

I've fished for a span of nearly 40 years out of a boat towed on a trailer and I've only seen one time where I needed 4 wheel drive. We left out one morning to go crappie fishing ahead of a cold front and when it blew through the temp dropped so drastically that the waves spashing up on the ramp were freezing SOLID. My truck would not move. I wound up backing the truck down the boat ramp as far as I could and getting a running start to get across the ice. I'm not even sure 4x4 would have helped being it basically black ice. I currently tow with a 2 wheel drive Ford F150 and it does just fine.

I run a 2WD, but if you go that route, I'd take a close look and see if you have a limited slip differential. That will help keep you from the dreaded one-wheel-peel.

It’s America not France. Get it….lol.

Launching/retrieving on concrete ramps; you don’t need it 99% of the time.
Gravel ramp or grassy bank retrieval; recommend 4x4

For me it is.

Nope..

Same here, if you keep your foot out of it no problem. I have had to use my locking rear end a couple of times on ramps, but did not need 4x4.