Did you guys know? (1 Viewer)

[teghogh]

 

[teghogh]

 

[Bluegill]

This is the reason behind a lot of rollover videos you see on steep climbs. The driver uses momentum to get a good ways up a hill and then they lose traction and think that they can just stop and back straight down. But the front wheels are unloaded compared to the rear wheels because of the incline and when you add the front brake bias, the fronts just lock up and the truck slides sideways, hits a dip, and rolls. A locked center diff mandates that the front & rear axles turn at the same rate, so the rear brakes suddenly become exactly as strong as the front.

The main point is, why would you attempt a steep climb without your center diff locked? If you don't have a center diff lock, then you shouldn't be doing this kind of off roading.

Also, it's interesting that he included a Land Rover Discovery Series II in his video. When the Series II Disco came out in the USA in 1999 to replace the original 1994-1999 USA Discovery (called Series I ex post facto), the center diff had the proper mechanical ability to lock but, for some reason, the brains at Land Rover didn't equip the trucks with a locking lever in the cabin. People had to retrofit a mechanical lever so you could lock the diff from inside the cabin. I think this was for the 1999 and 2000 trucks. Then the 2001 - 2003 trucks didn't even have center diffs that could be locked by retrofitting a lever. For the final year (2004), Land Rover finally brought back a lockable center diff with the lever in the cabin. This made the 2004s so much more desirable. This was when we knew Land Rover was fully devoted to soccer moms and mall crawlers. It also made for a lot of pissed off people who bought a Discovery II and assumed it had basic "Best 4 X 4 X Far" off roading equipment like a locking center diff.

 

[teghogh]

This is the reason behind a lot of rollover videos you see on steep climbs. The driver uses momentum to get a good ways up a hill and then they lose traction and think that they can just stop and back straight down. But the front wheels are unloaded compared to the rear wheels because of the incline and when you add the front brake bias, the fronts just lock up and the truck slides sideways, hits a dip, and rolls. A locked center diff mandates that the front & rear axles turn at the same rate, so the rear brakes suddenly become exactly as strong as the front.

The main point is, why would you attempt a steep climb without your center diff locked? If you don't have a center diff lock, then you shouldn't be doing this kind of off roading.

Also, it's interesting that he included a Land Rover Discovery Series II in his video. When the Series II Disco came out in the USA in 1999 to replace the original 1994-1999 USA Discovery (called Series I ex post facto), the center diff had the proper mechanical ability to lock but, for some reason, the brains at Land Rover didn't equip the trucks with a locking lever in the cabin. People had to retrofit a mechanical lever so you could lock the diff from inside the cabin. I think this was for the 1999 and 2000 trucks. Then the 2001 - 2003 trucks didn't even have center diffs that could be locked by retrofitting a lever. For the final year (2004), Land Rover finally brought back a lockable center diff with the lever in the cabin. This made the 2004s so much more desirable. This was when we knew Land Rover was fully devoted to soccer moms and mall crawlers. It also made for a lot of pissed off people who bought a Discovery II and assumed it had basic "Best 4 X 4 X Far" off roading equipment like a locking center diff.

This is somewhat dangerous in our cars where you can even go to 4low without locking the center. I’m not sure why Toyota gave us this option . At first I thought it is cool since now I can take turns in 4low but I don’t see a use case where the convenience of taking a tighter radius turn becomes more important that having the center locked

 

[mlinkibikr]

Man this is great info for newbies like me. Never even thought about it. Thank you!

 

[Bluegill]

Unlocking the center diff is a benefit on tight, high-traction trails like Moab slickrock where you pretty much stay in low range all day. On sandy, gravelly desert trails keeping the center locked doesn't much matter. I always associate locking the center diff with "climbing". Or if you get stuck in mud.

 

[48Njim]

While you're at it cover the brake pedal when climbing steep.

We often push RPMs up on automatics as the torque converter slips. You have likely stalled part way up a steep climb or held yourself on a hill with the gas pedal. Just know if for some (any) reason the engine stalls you will immediately and quickly roll backwards.

It only happened to me once, on a steep Moab climb after climbing a few big ledges. I rolled backwards down the hill, and off the ledges, before I knew what happened. Fortunately I found myself in good shape sitting at the bottom. Ever since I cover the brake with my left foot. This was in a FZJ80 Land Cruiser, my prior experience had been with standard transmissions. Time to learn the two foot method.

Regarding the above diff locking, you can add side hills (lifting wheels) and deep water crossing (floating).

Ain't wheeling fun!