How steep can you climb?

[Mountainwalk]

Still learning how to drive off road in my jeep. I try to get out once a week and try new things. I have gone to our local off road park and some of the hills seem quite steep when I am going up but then I get out and walk it and it doesn't look that bad. How steep have you climbed in your jeep? without lockers? With lockers? I know a lot plays into it such as the condition of the trail but trying to get and idea of what is possible. I am sure I haven't even come close to pushing the limits of my vehicle.

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[alphawolff]

The Jeep will ascend hills so steep you can't walk up. Trust in the Jeep, just don't roll it.

 

[jadmt]

i know 45-46° feels like you might come over backwards....but you won't.....

 

[entropy]

if you can get out and easily walk up, it isn't that steep and you are not near the limits of the Jeep.

 

[Blues Fan 30]

Still learning how to drive off road in my jeep. I try to get out once a week and try new things. I have gone to our local off road park and some of the hills seem quite steep when I am going up but then I get out and walk it and it doesn't look that bad. How steep have you climbed in your jeep? without lockers? With lockers? I know a lot plays into it such as the condition of the trail but trying to get and idea of what is possible. I am sure I haven't even come close to pushing the limits of my vehicle.

Without lockers 3.45 gears and 285s, in ruts, and with a rock on the right i couldn't get over this is how I got stuck. Hard to see how steep it was but it was a pretty steep hill. Excited to see how it performs now on 37s with 4.56s and lockers.

 

[Megawatt]

This was driving out of one of the hot tubs in MOAB years ago. Only had rear locker but no locker jeeps drove out just fine

This is in logandale trails outside of Vegas. No lockers needed. I even saw a Tacoma make this hill (little bit of drama and scraping but drove out the other end).

Hit the trails with a club or friends to learn what you machine can do. They are impressively capable.

 

[txj2go]

Climbing is limited by traction- so it depends on the terrain and on your tires. I'm on Rubicon tires and they seem to work well at least on dry trails. I did a trail in southern Colorado where I was at the limit for that terrain. It felt like for every 2 feet I drove forward I slid back 1 foot. This was normal Colorado terrain with rocks and dirt. In Utah I've come close to the limit on Elephant Hill. There is a lot more traction on slickrock, you can literally sit in one spot and spin all 4 tires, so you can climb something pretty steep. I don't have the angle measurement in my dash display so I can't say what I've done.

On a steep trail lockers really don't do much for you, you won't be able to climb something real steep unless you have good traction for all 4 wheels and that is not the situation where lockers are of benefit.

 

[Sparty]

Mud, granite, sandstone?


It's steep - but it's a wide range

 

[bd100]

Long before I got into 4x4, drove up a really steep hill in a rear-wheel drive sports car with limited slip diff in back. Probably had the all-season tire on it instead of the racing tires. Most of the weight goes on the back so that's where the limited slip and tires really matter.

Another time on a steep icy driveway, we could not back a rear-drive van up the drive. Had to turn it around so the driven wheels were down hill, and went forward up the drive no problem. Weight transferred to the back where it helped.

And this is probably where a longer wheel base can help.

 

[Terrymo]

On a steep trail lockers really don't do much for you, you won't be able to climb something real steep unless you have good traction for all 4 wheels and that is not the situation where lockers are of benefit.

Can you elaborate? I think I’m misunderstanding what you mean because your two main phrases seem contradictory to me.

 

[21JLURDG]

Really depends on the traction surface. Moab and Sand Hallow have very steep climbs that are easy. Attached is a track of one of the steepest forest trails I've done. It's approximately 1000 ft long with almost 300-foot elevation gain.

 

[txj2go]

Can you elaborate? I think I’m misunderstanding what you mean because your two main phrases seem contradictory to me.

Drive axles have differential gears so if you go around a corner the outer tire can roll farther than the inner tire,. If one tire ends up on a spot with lower traction it can spin and no torque will transfer to the other tire. If you have lockers then the differential gears get locked together to the tires are locked together. If one tire is on something slick then the other tire still gets torque and pulls the vehicle. Offroad it works the same way if you have one tire on something slick but more important offroad if you are articulating over very irregular terrain you will have one tire not pressing on the ground as hard and it will be more likely to slip, or the extreme case you will have a tire up in the air and it won't have any traction. Without lockers or some other tricks such as electronics to control the brakes, once one wheel is off the ground then the other wheel that is on the ground won't get any torque.
If you are climbing steep terrain and one wheel is off the ground or nearly off the ground you won't have much traction from that axle. With lockers you will have full torque applied to the wheel that is on the ground, but this is just one wheel not two. So in a situation where lockers are useful you are already not able to climb terrain as steep as you could if it was less irregular and lockers weren't of benefit because you are pulling with 3 wheels and not 4.

 

[21JLURDG]

If you are climbing steep terrain and one wheel is off the ground or nearly off the ground you won't have much traction from that axle. With lockers you will have full torque applied to the wheel that is on the ground, but this is just one wheel not two. So in a situation where lockers are useful you are already not able to climb terrain as steep as you could if it was less irregular and lockers weren't of benefit because you are pulling with 3 wheels and not 4.

I get it but I don't completely agree with you. On a perfectly flat steep surface, I would agree. But in the real world we climb bumpy surfaces that might cause the suspension to unload causing loss of traction on a tire. With open diffs, the transfer of torque to the spinning tire would immediately cause loss of momentum and probably a failed climb.

 

[AZ Hella]

Pitch doesn't bother me, it's roll that gives me anxiety.

 

[Blues Fan 30]

I get it but I don't completely agree with you. On a perfectly flat steep surface, I would agree. But in the real world we climb bumpy surfaces that might cause the suspension to unload causing loss of traction on a tire. With open diffs, the transfer of torque to the spinning tire would immediately cause loss of momentum and probably a failed climb.

Yep this is what kept happening to me on the hill in my photo. There was a rock jetting out from the right and you had to bounce over it but every time I hit it my drive wheels would come off the ground and as soon as the jeep settled back down itd just spin in the loose dirt. I would have kept trying but after two times my six year old was pretty terrified so we conceded and winched up over to where the hill tapers off and its easy to just drive the trail again.

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