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Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

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Mags
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by Mags » Sat Dec 31, 2022 11:59 am

dave77 wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:42 am
When you guys say FWD are you meaning Front Wheel Drive or Four Wheel Drive.
yup, I mistook the F as 4.
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Mags
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by Mags » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:52 pm

I'll elaborate a little from my earlier response.
https://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic. ... 06#p214006

As shared, I have both 4WD and AWD vehicles. Since I thought the F was a 4, I didn't include my Front Wheel Drive Prius.
I don't take the Prius anywhere when the roads are slick. The car is too light. I got stuck once in someone else's icy rut at a stop sign. It just sat there and spun its wheels.

When I'm going to the Oregon dunes, mountain snow or Tillamook forest back roads, I take my 4WD. Brute force fully locked up 4WD is perfect there. Unfortunately fully locked up 4WD is not so good when going around icy corners or steeply crowned roads. 4WD can have a tendency to keep going straight instead of cornering and drift off the shoulder of the road, even taking it slow. I would not intentionally take my AWD onto the sand or snow deeper than 6".

In general running around and travel in icy conditions or not I use my AWD. Under non-slick conditions AWD behavior isn't noticed. But in slick conditions you can feel the AWD shifting power delivery to the wheels differently. Now the spooky part with my AWD is recovery from a sudden black ice skid. My AWD also takes over the steering briefly along which the pulsing of the drive to the 4 wheels. I didn't know it would do that, until it actually happened.

I do have chains for my vehicles, just in case. However the last time I chained up a vehicle was in the 90s on a rear wheel drive vehicle I no longer have. I haven't used studded tires since I was a kid. Dad told me learn to drive an you won't need them, but do carry chains just in case.

So, Sir Henry, I highly recommend AWD.
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dave77
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by dave77 » Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:27 pm

Sir Henry wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:40 am

FWD is front wheel drive and 4WD is four wheel drive. I’ve had several Bronco II’s with true 4WD and they could go anywhere with real snow and mud tires. They had the manual Dana 28 and Dana 35 lockers where you had to get out and turn the hubs. Wish I had them now.
I had manual locking hubs on my '53 Willys and my old Ramcharger. I had automatic locking hubs on my '97 Ranger but they became very difficult to unlock so I replaced them with Warn manuals. When I'm driving on combination slick and dry roads I leave the hubs locked and just switch between 2 and 4 wheel drive. My Ranger does pretty well in 2WD as long as the snow is not too deep as it has Blizzaks, they are a great snow tire.

My old Jeep was probably the best rig I had for snow. Studded walnut snow tires and I took it to places off road in the snow/ice that I would never consider taking the Ranger, of course I was considerably younger and more adventuress (stupid ;)) then, also took the jeep to some pretty crazy places on dry and muddy roads.

I sometimes wish I had never sold that jeep but then I think I'm lucky I survived it. Had some pretty close calls with it, up on 2 wheels from taking a corner a little too fast (lucky I came back down instead of rolling it), sliding on ice toward a 20/30 foot dropoff, got it stopped about a foot from going on over, going as up a steep track as far as possible, pretty scary backing down, it had no seat belts or roll bar.

If I had the money (and was a little younger) I would love to have a rock crawling rig, very expensive to set up and also to pay for repairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPBw9RKrgRs
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Sir Henry
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by Sir Henry » Sat Dec 31, 2022 3:26 pm

Mags wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:52 pm
I'll elaborate a little from my earlier response.
https://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic. ... 06#p214006

As shared, I have both 4WD and AWD vehicles. Since I thought the F was a 4, I didn't include my Front Wheel Drive Prius.
I don't take the Prius anywhere when the roads are slick. The car is too light. I got stuck once in someone else's icy rut at a stop sign. It just sat there and spun its wheels.

When I'm going to the Oregon dunes, mountain snow or Tillamook forest back roads, I take my 4WD. Brute force fully locked up 4WD is perfect there. Unfortunately fully locked up 4WD is not so good when going around icy corners or steeply crowned roads. 4WD can have a tendency to keep going straight instead of cornering and drift off the shoulder of the road, even taking it slow. I would not intentionally take my AWD onto the sand or snow deeper than 6".

In general running around and travel in icy conditions or not I use my AWD. Under non-slick conditions AWD behavior isn't noticed. But in slick conditions you can feel the AWD shifting power delivery to the wheels differently. Now the spooky part with my AWD is recovery from a sudden black ice skid. My AWD also takes over the steering briefly along which the pulsing of the drive to the 4 wheels. I didn't know it would do that, until it actually happened.

I do have chains for my vehicles, just in case. However the last time I chained up a vehicle was in the 90s on a rear wheel drive vehicle I no longer have. I haven't used studded tires since I was a kid. Dad told me learn to drive an you won't need them, but do carry chains just in case.

So, Sir Henry, I highly recommend AWD.
What you said now makes perfect sense.
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markiver54
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by markiver54 » Sat Dec 31, 2022 3:51 pm

dave77 wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 2:27 pm
Sir Henry wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:40 am

FWD is front wheel drive and 4WD is four wheel drive. I’ve had several Bronco II’s with true 4WD and they could go anywhere with real snow and mud tires. They had the manual Dana 28 and Dana 35 lockers where you had to get out and turn the hubs. Wish I had them now.
I had manual locking hubs on my '53 Willys and my old Ramcharger. I had automatic locking hubs on my '97 Ranger but they became very difficult to unlock so I replaced them with Warn manuals. When I'm driving on combination slick and dry roads I leave the hubs locked and just switch between 2 and 4 wheel drive. My Ranger does pretty well in 2WD as long as the snow is not too deep as it has Blizzaks, they are a great snow tire.

My old Jeep was probably the best rig I had for snow. Studded walnut snow tires and I took it to places off road in the snow/ice that I would never consider taking the Ranger, of course I was considerably younger and more adventuress (stupid ;)) then, also took the jeep to some pretty crazy places on dry and muddy roads.

I sometimes wish I had never sold that jeep but then I think I'm lucky I survived it. Had some pretty close calls with it, up on 2 wheels from taking a corner a little too fast (lucky I came back down instead of rolling it), sliding on ice toward a 20/30 foot dropoff, got it stopped about a foot from going on over, going as up a steep track as far as possible, pretty scary backing down, it had no seat belts or roll bar.

If I had the money (and was a little younger) I would love to have a rock crawling rig, very expensive to set up and also to pay for repairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPBw9RKrgRs
We think alike and have experienced much the same/similar Dave. I did a lot of off roading with my '86 4Runner. It had the manual hubs and was lifted. that thing would go almost anywhere. I now have a third gen '98 4Runner that does quite well off road too. It has the auto locking hubs, as does my 2016 4Runner. Of the three, my '98 is the best for most conditions. I will always own a 4WD vehicle because it is necessary when we go to our cabin in the higher mountains.
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John E Davies
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by John E Davies » Sun Jan 01, 2023 10:34 am

The longer wheelbase will make it much more likely to get high centered on a snow berm, but it will ride really nicely on long trips. Since it has a damage history it would be smart to ask for the repair records, or better yet, take it to a DIFFERENT shop to have it inspected. Car dealers won’t sell a unit as Certified if it has had body repairs….

Where did it come from? You have to be alert for flood damaged vehicles coming from Florida or the east coast.

FYI you really REALLY need dedicated winter tires on your primary winter car, especially in WI, All Seasons have a much harder rubber compound that loses grip below 40 degrees F. AWD cannot fix that!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s

In your situation I would put Nokian Hakkapellitta R5 studless tires on the Subie. My daughter has a 2006 Outback XT and just replaced a ten year old set of Michelin X-Ice with the Hakkas, they are phenomenal. She did get rear ended because somebody else, in a Wrangler with “highway tires”, slid into her at a red light. I am running the studded LT version on my Land Cruiser 200.

https://www.nokiantires.com/snow-winter ... liitta-r5/

John Davies
Spokane WA
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markiver54
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by markiver54 » Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:16 am

Since tires were mentioned, I will speak for Faulken Wildpeaks which I have on my '98 4Runner. they have an aggressive tread yet run surprisingly smooth on the highway. I've had them on over a year and really like them. When the hwy tread tires wear out on my 2016 4Runner, that is what it will be wearing.
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Sir Henry
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Re: Ford AWD Transit 9 passenger van

Post by Sir Henry » Sun Jan 01, 2023 3:54 pm

markiver54 wrote:
Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:16 am
Since tires were mentioned, I will speak for Faulken Wildpeaks which I have on my '98 4Runner. they have an aggressive tread yet run surprisingly smooth on the highway. I've had them on over a year and really like them. When the hwy tread tires wear out on my 2016 4Runner, that is what it will be wearing.
My Outback is primarily for summer use as I don’t want it to become a rust bucket because of the Wisconsin brine. Also the snow here in Wisconsin is a lot different than the snow in Washington. The tires on my van are very aggressive and are directional.

The passenger van in the link is not what I’m considering to buy. It was posted because it’s similar to one that I am considering that isn’t yet listed.
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