4L and 1st Gear

[InMyImage]

We went out with a group last weekend and on a couple of obstacles, the group leader told my daughter to put her JLU in 1st gear while already being in 4L.

This seems counterintuitive so I was wondering what others thought of this advice.

Also, if it might affect your response, she A 2019 Rubicon with the 2019 2.0T with eTorque engine.

Thanks

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[limeade]

Nothing wrong with it depending on the trail and obstacle.

When I'm in 4L, I put the trans in manual mode so I can select the gear for the terrain. On harder rock obstacles, I like either 1st or 2nd, lockers on (at least the rear), sway bar disconnected and can then just give it a little gas to crawl on up.

If I stay in 4L and the trail opens up a bit, I can shift up to 4th or 5th to get a little more speed.

I'm teaching my son to drive trails the same way and he hasn't been stuck or had to use excessive wheel speed yet. Using too much wheel speed leads to broken parts. Let your Jeep's gears, lockers, and suspension do the work instead.

 

[ThirtyOne]

I probably shouldn't answer since I don't have an automatic, but my understanding is the auto has a tendency to want to crawl in second gear. And you may want that extra grunt from first gear to take it slow and easy.

 

[Uhdinator]

Never had a problem with the Auto and just letting it do what it needs to when in 4 lo. To be honest I don't even pay attention to what gear its in. It does usually default to 2nd and have never needed to force it to 1st on any obstacle. Its pretty darn slow in 2nd. If i can go fast enough to need 5th or higher........I prob don't need lo range anyway. No point in winding up the transfer case if its smooth enough to go faster than a crawl either. I use 2Hi as much as possible until it gets to rough or steep where traction starts to slip.....saves on wear an tear also. Lots of trails I frequent don't require 4WD all the time. Of course if traversing a muddy spot I would not do it in 2Hi, and would probably use 4H if speed/momentum is needed and there are no obstacles that require crawl speed.


Need 4lo here.

Don't need 4WD here.

 

[InMyImage]

Thanks, for the feedback. Our first time out the trail leader didn’t have her manually shift at all and we didn’t feel like we ever needed more grunt.

This is the first experience I’ve ever had with a vehicle that has low range 4wd and just wanted to make sure we aren’t learning to do something “Bad” just because some guy on a trail ride said to do it that way, especially given the turbo engine.

She has only had it since the Fall and this was only our second time out but it’s been a great bonding experience and we are both enjoying it.

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