omnitonic
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Michael
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2021
- Threads
- 37
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 1,734
- Location
- Southwest Virginia
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 JLU Willys in Sarge Green
- Occupation
- truck driver
- Thread starter
- #1
After watching some Youtube videos of guys walking right up and on top of tree stumps and big rocks, I realized that is a thing a Jeep can do. I'm new to this game. I'm learning what I can pull off.
There is a parking lot in my neighborhood with a stupid high curb that has destroyed many air dams on many FWD cars. It's pretty stupid for cars, but it seems like a great place to practice rock crawling skills. It's about 20" tall, and it's at about an 88° angle. I have the clearance to go up the curb and over the sidewalk, but I've found that it's actually very hard to do in practice.
I have JLU Willys with stock 32" Firestone Destination MT/2s and the 6MT. In order to avoid stalling on a hill, I have to rev it fairly high, and ease through the clutch release to avoid stalling. My usual driving around a hilly town technique wasn't nearly in the ballpark to get over this obstacle. I bumped into it, bounced off. I stalled out a couple times.
I finally made it over in 4 low, but I was revving to nearly 5,000 to get there, and as I started to go up and over, I saw a huge cloud of smoke. Shit! That was clutch! I am really ashamed of how badly I smoked the clutch. I've driven manual transmissions for decades, mostly in 18-wheelers, and smoking a clutch is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD m'kay?
So I thought I would ask for advice on what I did wrong. One thing I can think of is that if I had aired down, it would have helped. I obviously wasn't going to air down pulling a silly stunt in a commercial parking lot before climbing a sidewalk onto a paved street, on my way to Harbor Freight to buy trim removal tools for my upcoming Mopar aux switch install.
Maybe I should try this exercise aired down though. This 20" obstacle isn't jack compared to stuff I've seen people clear in these things, but it's a really tall challenge to me. This seems like a good opportunity to get some rock crawling practice in, and if I'm going to destroy a clutch, it's better that it be a clutch that is still under warranty.
Still, I hate smoking a clutch. I know the arguments for automatics on crawls, and torque converters actually do this job better. Even so, people have been rock crawling since the original Willys MB, and I know it can be done. Obviously, my technique is just complete shit, and I need some training.
There is a parking lot in my neighborhood with a stupid high curb that has destroyed many air dams on many FWD cars. It's pretty stupid for cars, but it seems like a great place to practice rock crawling skills. It's about 20" tall, and it's at about an 88° angle. I have the clearance to go up the curb and over the sidewalk, but I've found that it's actually very hard to do in practice.
I have JLU Willys with stock 32" Firestone Destination MT/2s and the 6MT. In order to avoid stalling on a hill, I have to rev it fairly high, and ease through the clutch release to avoid stalling. My usual driving around a hilly town technique wasn't nearly in the ballpark to get over this obstacle. I bumped into it, bounced off. I stalled out a couple times.
I finally made it over in 4 low, but I was revving to nearly 5,000 to get there, and as I started to go up and over, I saw a huge cloud of smoke. Shit! That was clutch! I am really ashamed of how badly I smoked the clutch. I've driven manual transmissions for decades, mostly in 18-wheelers, and smoking a clutch is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD m'kay?
So I thought I would ask for advice on what I did wrong. One thing I can think of is that if I had aired down, it would have helped. I obviously wasn't going to air down pulling a silly stunt in a commercial parking lot before climbing a sidewalk onto a paved street, on my way to Harbor Freight to buy trim removal tools for my upcoming Mopar aux switch install.
Maybe I should try this exercise aired down though. This 20" obstacle isn't jack compared to stuff I've seen people clear in these things, but it's a really tall challenge to me. This seems like a good opportunity to get some rock crawling practice in, and if I'm going to destroy a clutch, it's better that it be a clutch that is still under warranty.
Still, I hate smoking a clutch. I know the arguments for automatics on crawls, and torque converters actually do this job better. Even so, people have been rock crawling since the original Willys MB, and I know it can be done. Obviously, my technique is just complete shit, and I need some training.
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