The well-used knob

Do you have a well-used knob?

Has your knob been well-used by yourself or someone else?

Have you used someone else's knob well?

Feel free to comment below in answer to these knob-related questions if you'd like to.

See those two knobs in the image above, they're in my truck and they've been well used...by me.

The one at the top left of image moves my four wheel drive from high-range four wheel drive (H4) to low range four wheel drive (L4) and it's when in L4 the fun starts.

My truck is full-time 4WD meaning it drives all four wheels all the time in high-range gearing; and when L4 is selected it drives all four wheels in low-range gearing - it's the latter I use when doing serious off-road driving like a few weeks ago as mentioned in this post. It's great fun.

The knob below to the centre of the image is the "terrain select" knob which has different grip-assist settings for various terrain conditions like rock-crawling, sand, loose gravel and shale, snow, mud and so on. Play with the knob and the vehicle will provide some magical assistance to help the driver maintain control of the vehicle in various terrain conditions. This doesn't mean it self-drives and there's no need for the driver to have skills, it just means the systems in the car help augment the driver's skills by changing various settings.

I use these two knobs well.

What I mean there is that I use them often because I'm off-road four wheel driving a lot and that means I'm in low-range gears with the traction control off (the traction is automatically disabled when in L4) in various off-road driving situations...and I love it!

Oh, you might see a button to the right of the image immediately to the right of the terrain select knob...that's the differential lock which is used in many off-road situations but I don't have the headspace to explain what it does right now. Let's just say it adds additional "magic" and makes the vehicle even more capable in specific off-road situations like climbing steep and rutted inclines and so on where one wheel lifts off the ground - sometimes two opposing wheels lift - maybe I'll do a post on diff locks someday. One of my older 4x4's ⬇️

When I started off roading all those years ago my 4x4's never had such technology. I had to engage the hubs (lock in) manually, select low-range with a second gear stick and there was no terrain select knobs...just my eyes, judgement, hands to steer and feet to use pedals. It was a lot more fun but also a lot more risk as user-error was more possible.

Anyway, I've been planning some short trips lately, for when I'm not as busy with work, and hope to play with those knobs a lot more leading into the end of year.