Thread: Disengaging Traction Control

Originally Posted by Franrick

Hi all. I notice with my new D2a that there is no way of easily disengaging the traction control on the occasions when it might be more hindrance than help.
Obviously you could just pull the TC fuse and then replace it later but that is a bit of stuffing around at times when it might not be convieniant to do so.
Another way might be to run two small wires from the fuse block to a fused switch on the dash and just turn it on and off from there.
I remember hearing somewhere that if you engage the CDL and then turn the engine off and restart again that the ETC does not engage when you restart.
Does anyone know whether this is true as it would be the simplest way of disengaging the ETC it that was the case.
Thanks in advance, Rick

The "cdl shuffle" only works on D2's built prior to MY03. Pulling the fuse is your only option, but I'd have to ask under what circumstances do you feel you'll need to disable TC?

Btw would you mind not posting in green. It's really difficult to read.

what he ^ said,,

Hey mate, sorry about the green, looked pretty cool to me but I guess if it can't be read there's not much point in using it.
In relation to the TC. It's not something I'm knocking, I think it's great almost all of the time but you must also be aware that there are a few circumstances in the loose stuff where TC isn't doing you any favours.
I'm new to my D2 and love all the nice little things it has and in coming months hope to learn how to use them to my advantage.'
I'm old school when it comes to 4wd's having bought my first 4wd in 1976. Since then I have always owned a 4wd or two of one brand or the other and they all had their advantages and disadvantages but the one constant was that they nearly all went about what they did in basically the same way.
Skip a generation or so and we now have some really good 4wd's most of which have some great technical advancements that get us further down the track or make life easier in one way or the other.
I also own a D1 that took us to the Cape and back a few months ago towing a camper. As you know, it is quite different from the D2 but we still had an excellent trip in a very capable vehicle. I expect the D2 to be more even capable before to long.
It's not my intention to disengage the TC every time I see a bit of dirt but I certainly want to have the option to override it if I think it is not being my friend.
I have spent the last 36 yrs driving 4wd's without TC. I don't think it will be a disaster if I disengage it from time to time. I might even come to have more faith in it sooner or later.
Kind regards, Rick.

Originally Posted by Franrick

Hey mate, sorry about the green, looked pretty cool to me but I guess if it can't be read there's not much point in using it.
In relation to the TC. It's not something I'm knocking, I think it's great almost all of the time but you must also be aware that there are a few circumstances in the loose stuff where TC isn't doing you any favours.
I'm new to my D2 and love all the nice little things it has and in coming months hope to learn how to use them to my advantage.'
I'm old school when it comes to 4wd's having bought my first 4wd in 1976. Since then I have always owned a 4wd or two of one brand or the other and they all had their advantages and disadvantages but the one constant was that they nearly all went about what they did in basically the same way.
Skip a generation or so and we now have some really good 4wd's most of which have some great technical advancements that get us further down the track or make life easier in one way or the other.
I also own a D1 that took us to the Cape and back a few months ago towing a camper. As you know, it is quite different from the D2 but we still had an excellent trip in a very capable vehicle. I expect the D2 to be more even capable before to long.
It's not my intention to disengage the TC every time I see a bit of dirt but I certainly want to have the option to override it if I think it is not being my friend.
I have spent the last 36 yrs driving 4wd's without TC. I don't think it will be a disaster if I disengage it from time to time. I might even come to have more faith in it sooner or later.
Kind regards, Rick.

The green is a mongrel on mobile devices - it looks ok on a "proper computer" but with tapatalk it's a pale neon green that blurs with the white background.


There are a number of very experienced drivers on here that will tell you that there is never a reason to disable TC on a D2. The general consensus is the only surface that you might actually gain something from disabling TC is on very soft sand. Apart from that TC will get you further than open diffs and no TC every time.

On the D2a's the TC works across axle when the CDL is locked so if you lose grip on the right rear wheel, that will be the only wheel that has braking applied in order to transfer driving force to the left rear wheel. Without TC enabled you would basically loose any drive from the rear axle until both wheels regain grip (just like a D1 with open diffs). The same applies to the front axle. I'm yet to figure out under what circumstances that is preferable.

Having 36 years of non-TC experience doesn't mean you know how to drive with TC, and it actually might be HARDER to overcome your preconceptions. TC requires a slightly different driving approach to get the most out of it. You need to keep a steady throttle input when you start getting wheel spin rather than lifting off, or flooring it.

There is segment at about 1:14 into this history of LR video that covers ETC that is worth watching:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81ukCq4bdUU&t=1m14s"]Land Rover at 50: Discovery 2 - YouTube[/ame]

Try driving the D2 with TC until you can't get any further. THEN pull the fuse and see if you make any more progress with the TC off.

""Having 36 years of non-TC experience doesn't mean you know how to drive with TC""

Hi again Offtrack. Your above statement is absolutely correct but then I made that point right from the start that this is my first vehicle equipped with TC. What it might suggest is perhaps I can get by just fine if I decide to deselect it at some time.
I am looking forward to seeing just what it can do for me and I concur that in most cases I will get more from having it on than from having it off. No disagreement there.
It may not have occurred to you but I didn't come down with the last shower of rain and spent quite some time researching TC in it's different forms knowing that my next Discovery would be equipped with it.
There are enough forum comments, on this site and others to suggest that TC can have a negative impact on your forward progress in some situations. As I have not had my D2 long enough to find this out for myself and of course my D1 does not have TC at all, then I will just have to wait get it out in a bit of loose stuff and see for myself. Almost all new 4wd's on the market today have TC as standard or an option and many of these have a switch or mode that disables the TC. That switch is there for a reason.
Honestly mate, I can't see why your so dead set against me playing with my TC. I love seeing what my vehicles can do. It may be that I end up totally agreeing with you or I may find a few drawbacks but there's certainly one sure way to find out, lol.
Cheers, Rick.

personally i would leave the tc in place and learn to drive with it, after all most new 4x4 come with it.
however i would assume the d2a has thr same wiring under the skin so check out the instructions on the ashcroft site for snipping the wire that controls the tc (blue/grey wire, check 10 times to be sure, then snip). then just put a switch in the line and away you go, switchable tc.

disclamer: i may not know anything and will not be liable for situations you may get into without tc!.

When i saw this i remembered i had this somewhere, i have never tried it but if it works its what you want.


ToDisable ABS/TC

With the vehicle is running and the diff lockis engaged then the TC and ABS will remain enabled, however if the vehicle isturned off once with the diff lock engaged and then restarted then the computerwill disablethe TC and ABS (i.e. the TC and ABS dashboard lightswill be on).

Hi Yorkie,

I most certainly intend to learn how to use my TC. That was never in question.

In regards to snipping the blue/gray wire. I think I will just pull the fuse out of the fuse box and wire a fused switch into the bayonet sockets where the fuse would normally live. Then mount the fused switch somewhere handy. That way if I later decide I don't want the ability to disconnect the TC all I have to do is remove the two wires from the fuse box and "hey presto" were back to normal.
I am not suggesting that I disconnect the TC every time I see a bit of loose stuff, far from it, all I want to do is play around and see what happens with it when it's on or off in different situations. When it's not engaged it can't be any worse than my D1.

Speaking of coloured wires. I'm about to take the Eletric Brake Controller (Tekonsha) out of my D1 and put it into my D2. Do you know if the D2 has an adaptor plug under the dash for eletronic trailer brakes or will I have to wire it as in the D1. 'Not a big job but a lot easier if there's a an adaptor plug hidden down there somewhere. I tried looking in the Manuel but couldn't see any reference to one.
Cheers, Rick.