Newbie advice on 2x4, 4x4 hubs
My gf and I have just gotten an old 1988 SJ413JX as we’ll be renovating an old farmhouse in Italy that has some seriously steep hills to get to it. Many of the locals have 4x4 pandas and other small Italian cars similar to get up and down the hills but it’s fairly new to us. We have manual hubs that are set at 2x4 which we’ve not touched yet as the mechanic who sold us the car did all we need to do is change from 2 wheel drive to 4H using the small gearstick inside the cab. My question is, is this deploying the 4wd? From all I can see online we should be turning the hubs to 4x4 first then changing the gear to 4H. And while the hills are rollercoaster-like steep, they are paved/some potholes but not mud, sand etc. So is 4x4 really necessary? Any harm in doing it? Thanks!
My gf and I have just gotten an old 1988 SJ413JX as we’ll be renovating an old farmhouse in Italy that has some seriously steep hills to get to it. Many of the locals have 4x4 pandas and other small Italian cars similar to get up and down the hills but it’s fairly new to us. We have manual hubs that are set at 2x4 which we’ve not touched yet as the mechanic who sold us the car did all we need to do is change from 2 wheel drive to 4H using the small gearstick inside the cab. My question is, is this deploying the 4wd? From all I can see online we should be turning the hubs to 4x4 first then changing the gear to 4H. And while the hills are rollercoaster-like steep, they are paved/some potholes but not mud, sand etc. So is 4x4 really necessary? Any harm in doing it? Thanks!