Wild Horses twin stick education

[SP66]

So Iv'e got this rig built for off road. Came with the twin sticks. Most of my driving of about 100 miles a week is local on local roads.

What position should I be driving in.

Do I use the clutch when moving the twin sticks as I do with the tranny or does this have nothing to do with the clutch.

If I ever take it off road which I'd like to what position should I be in?

What position for snow?

Do I ever need to move the hubs outside on my front wheels and when?

Thanks

 

[ericbee]

Twin sticks allow you to engage the front and/or rear drive shafts independently or simultaneously. For the vast majority of highway driving and ON road use, you want the front wheels in Neutral and the rear wheels in HIGH. This makes it a 2 wheel drive car and the best for gas mileage.

Front LOW and rear LOW would be for real crawling or towing heavy load at slow speeds.

Front HIGH and rear HIGH would be your standard 4 wheel drive and best for road or highway snow or heavy rain.

To the best of my knowledge I do not know of a situation where you would want a combination of LOW and HIGH in either stick. Some say it isn't even possible but, I never tried so I cant tell you.

 

[70_Steve]

What position should I be driving in.

Normal street driving should be 2HI. With the twin sticks this would be rear hi. The stock shifter is labled 2HI, 2LOW, 4HI and 4LO. The 2 is really rear drive only while the 4 refers to both front and rear drive. See the pics below for the stock t-shift and j-shift patterns as well as the twin stick patterns. With the twin stick, the rear drive shifter is to the passengers side, and the front drive shifter is on the drivers side.

Do I use the clutch when moving the twin sticks as I do with the tranny or does this have nothing to do with the clutch.

Transmission and transfer case are completely seperate. The transfer case has straight cut gears and no syncronizers. That means no shifting while moving!

The straight cut gears and no syncros means that when you go to shift from one range to another, or, in the case of the front drive, from neutral to either HI or LO, the gears may not be lined up so they will engage. In that case, just let out on the clutch just a little, to move the gears just a little, while pushing on the transfer case shift lever. You will feel when the shifter moves, engaging the gears.

If I ever take it off road which I'd like to what position should I be in?

That all depends on what you're doing off road. For a graded dirt road, Rear HI is fine. For anything else, the best I can say is use whatever you need to. I've found that, although I can climb some reasonable hills in Rear HI or Rear LO, I get some wheel spin and that tends to rip up the rear tires. Typically I'm either in RearHI or both Front and Rear LO.

What position for snow?

Again, all depends on what you're doing. If you're plowing, probably Front and Rear LO, but I dunno... Phoenix AZ doesn't see a lot of snow, and when I'm in it I am 4-wheeling!!!

Do I ever need to move the hubs outside on my front wheels and when?

If you have manual locking hubs, you would set them to the LOCK position if you intend to, or suspect you will have to, drive in 4 wheel drive. The hubs are what lock the wheel to the front axle. With the hubs unlocked, the wheels just spin on their own.

For driving on the street, the hubs should be unlocked.

When I'm going off-road, typically there will be a time when I (and everyone I'm with) air down the tires. That's the time I lock the hubs. Then when the day is done, and I'm getting ready to air up the tires, that's the time I unlock the hubs.

 

[BRONCOBERT]

What he said and no you don't need the clutch to shift them.

 

[Scoop]

One in high and the other is low is "anti-theft" configuration - LOL! It won't move and you'll usually need to jack up one axle to unbind it to shift out of it. You really don't want to ever do it!

To shift either of the sticks you want to have the tranny in neutral and shift one at a time. The neat thing about twin sticks is you can shift in and out of 4WD on the fly. Just blip the throttle and shift either axle in and out.

 

[SP66]

Thanks to everyone that responded---you all added useful info and I appreciate it.

 

[DuctTape]

Note that some transfer cases require modification if you want to get front wheel drive only.

 

[JB Fab]

One in high and the other is low is "anti-theft" configuration - LOL! It won't move and you'll usually need to jack up one axle to unbind it to shift out of it. You really don't want to ever do it!

To shift either of the sticks you want to have the tranny in neutral and shift one at a time. The neat thing about twin sticks is you can shift in and out of 4WD on the fly. Just blip the throttle and shift either axle in and out.

Only if the hubs are turned in......

 

[mortimersnerd]

If I ever take it off road which I'd like to what position should I be in?

What position for snow?

Driving while seated is generally the recommended position. The pedals are hard to use while standing and you can't see out while lying down.