Ok so if you spend 3 hours on the internet looking for which is better, full time or part time 4×4, you still would not end up with a straight answer. It seems every “experienced” mechanic out their loves to throw their jargon around to display their knowledge of the field. From “slip differential” to trans axle and all this other stuff. From what I understand PT 4×4 locks the axles together so to me that means it would be worse than FT 4×4 but i am probably wrong. What I am asking is a simple yet comprehensive explanation of what the difference is between FT and PT 4×4. To let you all in on a little secret, I am currently in the market for older style (1994-2002) Jeep Cherokees and Jeep GRAND Cherokees. For those of you that do not know, most Jeep Cherokees are 2WD with the option of going to 4×4 while most Grand Cherokees are full time 4×4. I plan on using this car as a regular commute but probably a little bit of fun as well if you catch my drift ;). Which of these cars would be best off road and in the snow and please talk to me as if I were someone who knows nothing about 4x4s.
oh god.. part time 4×4 gets better mileage, I had an awd dodge caravan and the mileage was nearly half of a 2wd full time 4×4’s semm to get worse than selective 4×4’s in commuting driving, but thats just my experience
Some of the Grand Cherokee’s have both 4WD PT & FT transfer case as well as 2WD (my 98 does), so that may solve the problem.
full time is much better traction then 2w drive and can be used on non slippery surfaces.
pt 4×4 has better traction than full time but you have to be careful not to use it on non slick surfaces.
locking the axles forces the front and rear to work as a team pulling and pushing each other, but requires that the front or rear axle to be able loose traction or slip when road conditions are inconsistent . full time 4×4 allows the front and rear axles to work alone and are not affected by road conditions but they don’t help each other – no team work – there are 4wheel drives that have full time – pt 4h and pt 4L