I went to some dirt trails yesterday. I thought they would be more like dirt roads, but I soon found out they were far from it. There were some hills and drop offs and tight turns and mud (most of it was frozen). I drove around for maybe 35 minutes then my front wheels fell into a deep muddy ice rut. I figured with 4 wheel drive that you can just pull out of anywhere. Not really. The wheels that had traction wouldnt move - while the wheels that had the least resistance were just spinning. Lame.
There is a product called a locker with goes into your axles to ‘lock’ the left and right wheels together for off roading. I dont have those and they are pretty expensive plus it wouldnt be very easy to install myself. I called Wade who lives nearby and who ultimatly told me about the trails. He came to get me out, but didnt want to break his truck and risk getting stuck as well. He called his friend with a huge lifted Land Cruiser on 37″ tires. It is at least a good foot taller than my Jeep. We hooked up a tow strap and it was unstuck in about a minute.
Cool, and lame at the same time. I would have figured you could just get out too. But, it looks like fun!
nothin like a little muddddd in your hair ….
O.K. here’s how it works….
the command trac 4WD system locks front and rear shaft but not the axles left and right. so if one wheel front and one wheel back has no grip they will spin and the wheels with grip will not turn at all. However, this is not the end of the story…
4WD guys who know their Jeep and how Command trac 4WD works will apply the parking brake slightly…. by doing so you keep the wheels without any grip from spinning freely because you apply brake force to them. This then will result in torque being transfered to the wheels that still have grip and they will turn. In most cases, and I’m positive in the case in your pictures, this will work and get you unstuck without having to call someone to pull you out.
Try it next time…
and please… don’t ever call a Wrangler lame ! this vehicle in your pics in the hands of someone who knows how to use it is able to do things that will make you jaw fall down, trust me !
Good Luck next time !
Daniel
First off - I wasnt calling the Wrangler lame.
Second - I just got the Jeep and am still learning. Thanks for the tip of the parking brake. I tried applying the brakes while revving to give the spinning wheels some resistance but I didnt know it was supposed to be the parking brake. Now I do. Thanks.
Hey sorry if I sounded a bit offensive there earlier :) you had a LAME in there somewhere and I guess that caused it… my YJ got me through or out of so many situations that I get kinda defensive sometimes :) of course are the full locking hubs ( as standard on rubicon ) much more capable…. still, the command trac has good bang for the buck.
I’m sure you’ll have great times with your Jeep, at least I hope so.
All the best to you and lots of safe off road fun !
Daniel
Thanks. Where are you from? Maybe we can wheel together.
I’d really like that… however, I don’t see it happening in the near future.
I’m originally from Germany, lived a couple of years down in New Mexico where I was stationed with the German Air Force. That’s when I got my YJ and did some offroading… I love the southwest. Anyway, when my time was up I had to leave and now I’m back in the whole school life thing in the middle of an engineering degree program here in Newfoundland, Canada and I had to sell my Jeep cause money is tight. :(
Where are you from ?
Maybe one day when I’m a proud Jeep owner again and life takes me there we can get some mud on the wheels :)
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