-
I’m probably gonna catch flak for this, but here I go:
I believe that it’s better to need and not have, and that reason alone justifies 4×4.
But I also have years of experience off-roading heavy and light trucks, ATVs and even up-armored vehicles in places that range from the marsh to the mountains.
And my experience has been that any time we got stuck bad it was a situation that was totally avoidable in the first place. Don’t be stupid!
In 2009 I worked on a ranch out in New Mexico for 30 days. One of the cowboys there had the same sentiment, and his pickup truck was 2×4. He said that if you find yourself needing 4×4 then you already F’d up.
That’s because 4×4 is not a guarantee of getting unstuck. The irony is that with 4×4 you’re more likely to get stuck, because you think you’re good since you have it. But if you didn’t have it, then you’d make a better decision in the first place.
Every situation and everybody’s needs are unique, I get that and I think you do, too.
So I’ll tell you that I have launched from virtually all of Louisiana’s launches or, at the very least, the worst of them.
The private launch by Horsepower Canal in Pointe a la Hache being one and Beshel’s being another.
And I did that with a pickup truck that didn’t have 4×4. (Extra details, it actually did, but the actuator crapped the bed and I just never replaced it).
So from 2016 to 2024 I launched from ramps all across Louisiana’s coast, as well as Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida….with a 2×4.
I got rid of that truck and recently purchased another: a F-150 2×4 with a locking rear differential, and have since used to fish out of Beshel’s and have done fine, even when the water was low.
I get slightly better gas mileage and have one less thing to maintenance or worry about.
I think a 2×4 truck with a locking rear diff is plenty.
