Did I screw up?

[MoJo]

As my sig says; '98 Z71 A4 with 3.73 gears.

I was helping my son move (again!) this week end and had a 6'x12' covered U-Haul trailer. Well, with all the rain here, the ground was really soft and I had to use 4wd to get up the hill from our storage building. We were done so I parked it for the night.

Got up Sunday and pulled the loaded trailer 200 miles at speeds up to 65 mph. I did NOT discover it was still in 4wd until I refueled.

No warning lights came on and I have anouther 400 miles on the truck since then and everything seems OK.

Did I do any damage?

[97whitez71]

My dad did sort of the same thing. He wasn't pulling a trailer but drove about 100 miles at 65 to 70 in 4WD. That was about 60,000 miles ago. You should be OK. But, it probably wouldn't hurt to at least stick your finger in the front end and transfer case and see if the fluid looks dark. If unsure, you could change the fluid in both. I think your probably OK though. Good Luck.

[MN Z-71]

I think most of us have had blonde moments like that, generally not 200 miles but...

 

Were the roads wet or dry? Had they been dry and you made any sharp turns Im guessing that you probably would have noticed sooner. But cruising down the highway, even at 65 mph and on dry roads, shouldnt do any damage.

 

I wouldnt worry about it.

[covvy]

Nah the only real consequence may be heated tires as the front alxe ratio is a bit higher than the rear but as long as no sharp angles were turned no real problem should happen. Remember can't kill a chev

[MoJo]

Thanks,

Actually, it was mostly raining and the only time I noticed anything was when I pulled out of a driveway and had to make a tight turn. However, the trailer had the "hitch activated" brakes and I thought they were the problem. The tight turnes which caused the popping noise only occured at 2-3mph or when manuvering the trailer back into the drive. Once I was above 5mph, I didn't make any turns sharp enough to cause any noise.

So, I lucked out!

CHEVY!

[motoman502]

I did the same thing for about 80 miles and didn't realize it until I got home. That was about 12,000 miles ago and I haven't noticed any issues.

[Plainsman]

I used to run down the interestate 80-85 in my dodge in 4x4. Never hurt a thing but they are more durable.