Snow-crawl on steep incline--LONG

Amen! Being a good Texas redneck, I thought I had seen it all - sand, mud, even sheet ice. That first year in Wisconsin I got to the top of a south facing hil just as the sun went below the trees, dropping it into shadow. Instant ice! Suddenly, my dead stop turned into a slow slide. I didn't have enough traction, even with the slight crown, to pull it into the ditch. Most helpless feeling in the world.

Up at elk camp this last season, there was one trail into the wilderness area that, upon scouting, we realized that NO ONE was hunting. Partly it was because the trail itself was brutal with all the blowdown and deep snow, but partly it was because the only road to the trailhead was just plain terrifying. So we, of course, hunted it hard . Whoever "made" that road should be forced to drive my TJ across it. It was pure ice and tilted slightly outwards into the abyss, instead of tilting into the hillside. About a 2-foot "shoulder" that was just the snow that wasn't compacted by tires. Jay-sus, it was scary. The Jeep would be inching it's way sideways the whole time as I crawled across in 4-low WITH CHAINS ON the front tires.

I agree with Mike... it can seem really easy to drive on ice when you are not doing it. Sometimes, when you ARE doing it, you are just plain screwed; the rig is on the verge of getting away from you and that's just how it is!

-jeff

I agree 100%. Doing a decent in snow or dirt needs the engine and 4x4 to have the best control.

Mike

Well you found the 'only' example where I will agree with you. Most folks have matching diffs though and 'none' have brakes that split

They started putting combination valve into Jeeps in the 70's to prevent rear wheel lock up, so your brake setup is only valid for old beasts and is extremely dangerous for normal driving because the rear wheels will lock up causing you to do instant 360's. They even put a weight switch in the Comanche to prevent rear wheel lock when unloaded.

Mike

Rich Hampel wrote:

Ya, and yr butts all puckered up around the seat, yr foreheads sweatin, and the heaters OFF,yr armpits have the stink of death, reaking from them, yr minds going over every ESCAPE senario you ever learned growing up in Maine- (when snow used to be fun)and you come up with two options, leave it-(and the two-legged buzzards will pick it clean in hours) or just go for it. so you say a prayer, telling him if he alows you out of this STUPID asinine, situation you got yrself into you promise,,,promise,,never,,ever to do it again, letting off the emargency brake(after high-jacking yrself outa the ditch again, tires sitting very close to the ditch sholder) you look at yr wife, and she waves bye,bye, and you wonder what shes realy thinking,,,hmmm, i am inshured,,,new jeep for her,,and the dawg,, looking back down the slope, you know what a stupid human you are, and put it into gear,4low, and let off the clutch, slowly creeping foreward, ass-puckerd up nicely,head sticking out the door looking at the side of the ditch keeping yr tires on the edge. then as you say sh%T the jeep starts a slow slide, rear outward cutting the wheel does nuthing, stupid maybe, pushing in the clutch you start rolling with the weels. and just drive it back into the ditch. you hard-drive the ditch(leaning over enough to later see i lost powersteeering fluid outa the container vent hole) then hitting a culvert and folding a leafspring back,,sh&T, shackles suck. highlift again, digging again, then another attenp over the culvert. weeee. now im high-centered with my two drive wheels up in the air, another rig, a short tug. im freee. flat drivers front tire,(i believe this was a GOD-send, i made it around the hairpin-corner where ther plumbing-cargo-van was ass-end over the cliff with a broken rear axel, hes been there awhile lotta snow on his windshield. now safely back down elevation, far enough to have stickiee snow. slow drive down. change tire, look at damage, HE got me off the mountain, "I" WAS Stupid, And my folded leaf is keeping me from doing anything stupid in the upcoming future. hence the question about doubleing up on the second leaf

Hi- im john and im a jeep-addict, a telescope-addict and i need alot of theripy, and i dont spell vry wel ieder.

Think that if you want, but when you get to the bottom of the ditch, or wrapped around a tree, ALWAYS remember to put the gear selector back into gear. It is illegal in many states, if not all, to coast in Neutral.

Sounds like you fit right in here. ;-)

Mike

My TJ rears lock up really easy on a damp road until they have warmed up a bit (usually takes about a mile), and is perfectly capable of making me swap ends. The fronts are also very easy to lock on a damp road. I don't think I've ever driven a vehicle with such vicious brakes when cold. After a mile or so, they all lighten up, and the TJ brakes amazingly well (you can't lock the rears unless you are going very slowly and mash the pedal very hard). To the best of my knowledge, they are the original pads - 33000 miles on them (I bought the vehicle at 11500).

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

That's not nice and is a sign you should think of new shoes sooner than later. It sounds like they are swelling from humidity when sitting and cooling. I have had a mess of them die that way here in Toronto Canada. We are at the bottom of the Great Lakes Basin and the humidity is insane.

Mike

Dave Milne wrote:

Could be - my Jeep doesn't get a lot of use as I am in walking distance of both work and the shops, so I only use it at weekends. It has been extremely wet here of late (Carlisle - 100 miles away - had 9" of rain in one day) I'll try to replace them next week.

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Here's a dumb question, but if, at some point, you don't press your clutch pedal your engine stalls and you loose your power-steering, brakes, etc?

That sure won't happen with my Jeep!

My 258 will run the rpm down to about 400 climbing sand pit walls, then if I am just plain too steep it will start digging holes. This is on dirt in low range. I do have to give it gas pedal to run.

On snow, the tires will break free long before the rpm gets down even close to a stall.

If you have a TJ, you cannot stall it on a hill climb unless you hit something. The computer will keep upping the gas to keep the idle constant to match the load.

You literally can get out and walk beside a TJ while it calmly climbs the sand pit wall all by itself. I have photos of one gent from this group, Bob Anderson doing just that. Then I ran shotgun with him on a ravine climb that had the ATV drivers standing with their jaws hanging. I watched him not touch the gas pedal once going up that. I was impressed.

Mike

Not in the context of this thread Bill. The OP was stopped, well his 'wheels' were stopped....

But even with no power steering or brakes you can still use them, you just have to push harder.

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

I have watched lots of those happen over the years. Never been in the middle thankfully.

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

There was a screamer before the commercial on the news last night, I don't know where. The screamer was something like, "A 26 car pile up when we return." I looked up from the 'puter to watch the pile up after the commercial was over. The trouble it seems was on a residential street, at least a street with a crown in the road. The cars were sliding over to the curb, which then treated them like a bowling ball in the gutter, and they all slid down the street into the next car. I saw one guy (maybe a woman, I couldn't tell) that was hanging onto the door from outside, trying to hold the car back so it wouldn't slide anymore. This was the passenger, the driver was standing on the brake pedal. I saw another driver actually JUMP FROM THE CAR and let it go on its way without her. The trouble for her was then that the next car was coming, and she was not protected by the cage of her car anymore. She managed to get out of the way in time, but the entire scene was very surreal.

I don't know why these people had to stop, I assume the light turned red. There was no significant speed involved, so the people were being careful, or trying to be careful.