Best mode to preserve dirt road?

Question - I'm looking to move to a house at the end of a couple of dirt roads, including some windy uphills. Currently, they're pretty washboarded. I'm wondering, what's the best mode to drive in to prevent that from happening? 2016 SR with 4WD, so I figure I have 2WD, 2WD with Auto-LSD, and 4hi (4lo would be ridiculously overdoing it for this road). What will chew up the road the least?

 

Going slow. Washboards happen because people go too fast.

 

My ski house is on a steep dirt road.

In the last 16 years we've found that the road is basically always a disaster, but, anything you can do to prevent wheel spin is good.

And speed doesn't help. Keep it slow.

 

Depending how steep it is I don't think 2WD vs 4WD will make a huge difference. Erosion is caused by wheel spin (mostly). 2WD open diff only has 1 wheel spinning, but will spin more often. 4WD locked will have 4 wheels potentially spinning, but with better traction probably won't spin at all.
Washboard is often caused by going too fast.
So, I would say, slow and steady is the key.

 

avoid when wet

 

Agree with all of the above, go slow.

My sister lives in rural MT, it's 4-5 miles down a perfectly flat, wide and straight gravel road followed by 1/2 mile of narrow winding road to their house. The first section of road is washboarded to shit because you can safely go fast enough to float the road (~40mph+) and they regrade it annually as a result. The second section of road hasn't been graded in the 6 years they've lived there because you simply cannot go fast enough to create washboarded without risking collision with someone coming the other direction.

 

4wd on washboard sections. Having the front wheels tied to the rear will aid in preventing one wheel slip in an open diff rear and will absolutely cut down on furthering the washboard. I've got a super steep section of my driveway that I routinely shape with a scrape blade behind my tractor and 4wd absolutely lengthens the time between regrading.

 

I vote 4hi and going slow. I tend to put in 4wd even when not needed just to prevent wheelspin and chewing up the trail

 

Definitely use 4 hi on the steeper straight sections. Any wheelspin is a killer for the road.

 

Washboarding is caused by rain runoff. Nothing you can do about it except maybe install better drainage. I'd be more concerned about the shaking washboarded roads cause to the truck. Drive accordingly and try hi range 4x4. When the road is wet you'll maybe make ruts, but other than being aware, not much you can do. Sounds like you've got the right vehicle so your ahead of the game already. At least you won't have to worry about the 4x4 features falling into disuse like some soccer mom's in their 4runners.

 

Totally incorrect. Washboard is almost entirely caused by wheelspin.... As someone who has a mile long dirt driveway and regrades it multiple times a year, I can assure you that high speed and wheelspin are the primary cause of washboarding.

 

if you drive fast enough, won't that keep the wheels off the road longer? Sorry couldn't help it. If I lived on a dirt road, it would be a mess, I love flying around dirt roads, maybe cause thats what I learned to drive on, and I love to drive fast.

 

Put some work into the road. Gravel does wonders, and work on drainage to get the water off the road. Then, as others have suggested, keep it slow. Will last a long time.

 

Disagree, Worked for years on road crews, grading, paving and everything associated with road maintenance. Wheel spin doesn't help a road surface but rain runoff is the worst culprit, causing the washboard effect. Our graders had to go out after every rain to smooth out the wash board roads. You can watch a slightly inclined road during a rain and if the water runs off covering the whole surface you will get a rippled washboard effect. That's why washboarded roads typically have the washboard effect across the whole width. Not because people are spinning their wheels over the whole width of the road surface. Also depends on the surface material to a large extent. Some clays don't wash board as much but definitely rut more. Wheel spin can damage a road surface for sure. We've all seen a wash boarded road that extends the entire width of the road and can continue for quite some distance. To think it is all caused by wheel spin is just not correct. Unless your definition of a washboarded road is different than mine. Ruts caused by vehicles driving on a muddy road is not wash boarding.

 

I'm aware of what washboarding is and speaking from my experience, I've got my road properly crowned with clear ditches on either side. We haven't had a drop of rain in 2 months and I rescraped it back in August - already have washboarding through the steep sections. Perhaps runoff exaggerates it, but as soon as it starts, spinning tires cause it to get worst at an almost exponential level.