Removing the front axles, differential and drive line would have reduced weight for a slight increase in fuel economy. Probably worth while if you could have done it yourself. Quite a long term payout if you pay someone else to do it for you. With your low miles per year, really not worth while.
Part of the reason for suggesting removal was to eliminate concerns about mismatched front and rear differentials if you swapped in a numerically lower gear ratio in the rear. But I wasn't taking the automatic transmission into account. I now think
Big Dave is correct, you don't want to mess with a taller gears.
Another reason for suggesting removal - on older ford 4x4s with manually locking hubs, hi-mileage, worn parts would eventually lead to the passenger side hub locking itself simply by virtue of the wheel spinning at highway speeds. (And the driver's side hub would unlock itself while you were using 4 wheel drive). I'm told, more modern 4x4s such as yours lock the hubs automatically. I'm presuming they're subject to the same sort of worn parts and may also become engaged at unintended times? This would be a large parasitic loss. Fairly easy to test for this. With front wheels off the ground, turn each wheel several turns by hand and watch front drive line to see if axle is engaged.
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I can say this though. I can do without 4WD AND air conditioning. The only problem with no air is the windows will be rolled down- it's hot here. I'm not sure if the drag from open windows will negate the savings from getting rid of the A/C or not.
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At highway speeds AC on is better than windows all the way down. Below 35 mph or so, windows down wins. AC comes on automatically with defroster to help dry the air blown on fogged windows. Depending on humidity and how often you must defrost, you might want to add a toggle switch and relay so you can prevent AC compressor clutch from being engaged.