You can definitely take them off and put them on whenever you want.
I leave my rear disconnected all the time and my front stays connected. When on road the front becomes dangerously spongy in my opinion if it's disconnected. No problem when off road except it can wear your ball joint quicker when extending alot. The rear stays pretty stiff cause of the solid axle when it's disconnected so doesn't affect the road manners too much.

Just go experiment. Take them off and drive around the block and put them on one set at a time to see how it feels. It only takes a few minutes to remove them.