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4H with traction control vs. 4L in clay/mud

mgroeger

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We have an auto tranny, open diff, 2" lift, disco's and 33s on a Sahara.

While in 4H your traction control plays with the brakes and other things to try to make the power go to the wheels that are not slipping. When you go into 4L the traction control is off but now you have completely different low gearing to help get you through.
On dry soil or even a little slick I will vary... if it's a trail that may even be a little slick I'll keep it in 4H. If we start crawling on rocks I'll put it in 4L.

The question is when it's really slick on the trail and the rocks. Been raining here for 4 days and we will hit Uwharie National Forest on Sunday and I expect the trails will be a mess and it's clay based soil. Which is the better option to get over those obstacles.

And before you start saying "A Rubi is the best option" or "Lockers are the best option"... yeah I know that and lockers are in the future. I need an answer for the way we are set up now.
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Sheepjeep

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Keep it 4l, it will help keep you in control if you need momentum start in a higher gear. And in slick conditions 4h cacn causeyour tires to slip around faster and when they catch the faster spinning tire will either throw you in a place you don't want to go our blow up a shaft/u joint


The big thing with muddy rocks is clearing the mud out of the tires, big part of this is tread pattern how big are the gaps between the pads. A trick we do in new England is to get your tires out of the mud and in the rock and lay on it. But seeing that you are asking this question I take it you are not doing any hardcore rock crawling.

Steady controlled momentum is your friend, keep it controlled in 4l.
 
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mgroeger

mgroeger

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Keep it 4l, it will help keep you in control if you need momentum start in a higher gear. And in slick conditions 4h cacn causeyour tires to slip around faster and when they catch the faster spinning tire will either throw you in a place you don't want to go our blow up a shaft/u joint


The big thing with muddy rocks is clearing the mud out of the tires, big part of this is tread pattern how big are the gaps between the pads. A trick we do in new England is to get your tires out of the mud and in the rock and lay on it. But seeing that you are asking this question I take it you are not doing any hardcore rock crawling.

Steady controlled momentum is your friend, keep it controlled in 4l.
Thanks for the info. No heavy rock crawling, more like going up a gully with 2' to 3' rocks and one of teh trails is more challenging than that.
Questions...
"it will help keep you in control if you need momentum start in a higher gear" - It's an automatic so you mean putting it into manual mode and starting out in 2nd or 3rd vs. letting it start ou tin 1st? What is the advantage of this?
"get your tires out of the mud and in the rock and lay on it" - "lay on it" do you mean jump on the gas, floor it?
 

Torero

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We have an auto tranny, open diff, 2" lift, disco's and 33s on a Sahara.

While in 4H your traction control plays with the brakes and other things to try to make the power go to the wheels that are not slipping. When you go into 4L the traction control is off but now you have completely different low gearing to help get you through.
On dry soil or even a little slick I will vary... if it's a trail that may even be a little slick I'll keep it in 4H. If we start crawling on rocks I'll put it in 4L.

The question is when it's really slick on the trail and the rocks. Been raining here for 4 days and we will hit Uwharie National Forest on Sunday and I expect the trails will be a mess and it's clay based soil. Which is the better option to get over those obstacles.

And before you start saying "A Rubi is the best option" or "Lockers are the best option"... yeah I know that and lockers are in the future. I need an answer for the way we are set up now.
In 4L TC is only partially disabled. The BLD portion of the system is still active. ( unless you actively disconnect it by holding the tc button pressed for several seconds) With an automatic transmission in your described scenario It’s all about RPM control. I would go on 4L.
 

Sheepjeep

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Thanks for the info. No heavy rock crawling, more like going up a gully with 2' to 3' rocks and one of teh trails is more challenging than that.
Questions...
"it will help keep you in control if you need momentum start in a higher gear" - It's an automatic so you mean putting it into manual mode and starting out in 2nd or 3rd vs. letting it start ou tin 1st? What is the advantage of this?
"get your tires out of the mud and in the rock and lay on it" - "lay on it" do you mean jump on the gas, floor it?
In 4l you can easily start in a higher gear like 3rd or 4th, I have a Rubicon manual so can't give you direct JL comparison but other Jeeps I have had with standard transfer cases you can start it in higher gears to help offset the reduction of the t-case


And lay on it means press the gas fully down
 

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Wabujitsu

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Thanks for the info. No heavy rock crawling, more like going up a gully with 2' to 3' rocks and one of teh trails is more challenging than that.
Questions...
"it will help keep you in control if you need momentum start in a higher gear" - It's an automatic so you mean putting it into manual mode and starting out in 2nd or 3rd vs. letting it start ou tin 1st? What is the advantage of this?
"get your tires out of the mud and in the rock and lay on it" - "lay on it" do you mean jump on the gas, floor it?
Setting the auto to second or third gear doesn’t stop it from starting in first gear. It only stops it from exceeding the gear you manually selected.
 

BlackGenesis

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I'm both 4H and 4L traction control is disabled and BLD is active (automatically braking tire that's spinning to send more power to those that have traction).
 

DadJokes

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Setting the auto to second or third gear doesn’t stop it from starting in first gear. It only stops it from exceeding the gear you manually selected.
Are you sure? Not quite the same vehicle but the same or very close transmission in a Challenger, you can start in second.
 

Wabujitsu

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Are you sure? Not quite the same vehicle but the same or very close transmission in a Challenger, you can start in second.
Because of your post, I just went out and checked. I was partially wrong; thanks. When staring from a stop, it allows you to select 2nd gear. It will not allow 3d from a stop. It says on the display that the selection is not allowed.
 

DadJokes

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Because of your post, I just went out and checked. I was partially wrong; thanks. When staring from a stop, it allows you to select 2nd gear. It will not allow 3d from a stop. It says on the display that the selection is not allowed.
Yeah, makes sense. Some started in 2nd to keep from shifting before the 60 ft mark and for better traction sometimes. Thanks for checking on that.
 

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SpeedKills

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There's no wrong answer for this question. There are too many variables with mud, plus personal preference and driving styles. I've almost always used 4H in mud across a broad range of vehicles.
 
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mgroeger

mgroeger

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Setting the auto to second or third gear doesn’t stop it from starting in first gear. It only stops it from exceeding the gear you manually selected.
Wow... so much has changed in two years since I made that post. We now live 10 miles from Sand Hollow in Hurricane UT and all we do is heavy rock crawling... lol.
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