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An old but insightful Brake Lock Differential blog for newbies

roaniecowpony

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Take any open differential RWD automatic transmission car and jack one rear wheel off the ground. Try to drive and the wheel off the ground spins freely while the car won't move because no power is going to the other wheel. Put the brakes on fairly hard and push the accelerator up aggressively and it'll put power to the wheel on the ground if the balance of braking and power is right.
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Take any open differential RWD automatic transmission car and jack one rear wheel off the ground. Try to drive and the wheel off the ground spins freely while the car won't move because no power is going to the other wheel. Put the brakes on fairly hard and push the accelerator up aggressively and it'll put power to the wheel on the ground if the balance of braking and power is right.
I wasn’t into off road vehicles way back then but I recall watching one and they had a truck they were trying to get up a small embankment and I think they were applying the brake and gas at the same time to get up it. Is this the likely reason?
 

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There are a lot of people who are searching always for new things and always avoid old ones, so am I. Anyway, I think this blog is very actual even if it was written I don't know how much time ago. Also, it would be great, if there was someone who would perform it a little bit, so it is going to be read by more people than now. Moreover there are a lot of tips and tricks for bloggers. This blog, can be upgraded and transformed into a modern one. Personally for me, it is important how everything is arranged besides the text.
 
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There are no real negatives or driving style adjustments needed to be made, really. It's a good system and works well enough for most trails. One main thing it won't do is climb a face. If you've ever seen a picture of a jeep with its front tire on top of another jeep's tire, BLD is not strong enough to do that.
This is with BLD. It was a vertical face. I cannot do a face much higher than this, unless I use MTs and air down.

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Wabujitsu

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Mud, snow, jello, haha it's all a dumpster fire. I suppose if you were stuck in a ditch with a back wheel off the ground it'll help. The way it bangs things around and hammers the drivetrain is a mess and also slows overall wheel speed, which is super important when stuck in snow.
I disengage traction control before hitting heavy mud or sugar sand. Momentum in this situation is your friend. TC will slow your momentum.
 

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There are no real negatives or driving style adjustments needed to be made, really. It's a good system and works well enough for most trails. One main thing it won't do is climb a face. If you've ever seen a picture of a jeep with its front tire on top of another jeep's tire, BLD is not strong enough to do that.
Some driving style adjustments need to be made when using BLD while traversing an obstacle. Gunning the engine and backing off doesn’t allow BLD to engage. It takes steady, consistent pressure on the skinny pedal to get the most out of it.
 

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Been going to some spectacular places in our fun rig. Love it. No lockers yet, just BLD. BUT!!!! The traction control button automatically shows "OFF" when I shift to 4Low and I it won't turn back on while in 4Low. I 'think' it used to offer selection of off/on in 4low before. I want BLD in 4Low. "Help!"

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BLD is fine, as far as it goes. But it will never replace a proper rear locker.

I was in a rock garden recently, in 4Lo, and BLD did absolutely nothing on a certain set of rocks. I was just spinning away. Engaged the locker and problem solved immediately, with zero drama.
 

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Been going to some spectacular places in our fun rig. Love it. No lockers yet, just BLD. BUT!!!! The traction control button automatically shows "OFF" when I shift to 4Low and I it won't turn back on while in 4Low. I 'think' it used to offer selection of off/on in 4low before. I want BLD in 4Low. "Help!"

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BLD has different programming than the standard traction control. When you go on 4lo what turns off is the system that reduces wheel spin for regular driving. BLD which is a system designed to keep both wheels rotating at the same speed stays on on 4lo. So you don't have to worry about it.
 
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Mud, snow, jello, haha it's all a dumpster fire. I suppose if you were stuck in a ditch with a back wheel off the ground it'll help. The way it bangs things around and hammers the drivetrain is a mess and also slows overall wheel speed, which is super important when stuck in snow.
Do you know if BLD is deletable? I pulled the fuse for esc delete but the damn BLD still engages most likely connected through the speedo. I hate BLD, its actually kind of dangerous traversing sand dunes sideways. I have arb lockers but the BLD still interferes.
 

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Well I actually like the BLD. In 4low I push that little off-road plus button and crawl all day. I do plenty hard trails off-roading and know when I need lockers and when I don’t. Jeep has a pretty good system that works well in all but the most extreme conditions. I use it along with some left foot braking and i don’t have to use my lockers very often.
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