Thread: Some Offroad Advice Requested...

How deep is the hole and what is the bottom like (ie sludge hard etc)..?

But basically... low range, 1st or 2nd gear a little bit of momentum (don't floor it like a yobbo though) and steady through... don't stop or chances are you will sink.. try not to change gears while driving through and keep your foot off the clutch or you'll lose traction. Just bear in mind that you might drive straight through without a care in the world, or you might bottom out and sink, get your cars interior wet and muddy, have to be recovered by a prado (eek) (usually with photographic evidence) and you could cause some damage to your car. That's the risk you take when you go 4WDing..

Personally I would go around it though - hate mud... it does terrible things to cars..

Be careful you don't damage tyres, pic 3 has the telltale branches and timber used by someone to get through.

Yup, figured 2nd low. Would probably lock CDL, even though it means crawling under the car.
Auto so changing gears isn't an issue
Once I get into the large puddle at the end which is the deepest, I'm not too concerned, I've dealt with stuff like that before. It's the sticky, muddy section before it that concerns me, and the sheer drop offs. From the middle to the deep puddle it's maybe a thigh high drop down, where I run the risk of bottoming out on the bar. The mud is very sticky for between 5 and 15cm in places, but has a firm bottom.
I don't mind being recovered if I'm giving it a go, but I'd rather put an end to all their taunts

Yep Strangy I went and had a squiz today, people have chucked in wood. I've cleared most of it, but I'd get rid of it all before I went through.

I'm with Sue. Ugh, mud.

But if you must: Go first. That way it won't be as churned up. 2nd low is the go. No stabbing the throttle but if you feel yourself slowing increase revs to compensate. If you feel like progress is about to stop, stop and put it in reverse before you get properly bogged.
You may find more grip against the edge of the rut than the centre, but if you steer too hard against the edge you'll make it fight harder as it'll try and climb.A little sidewall pressure is good. A likely risk is diffing out if the ruts are deep enough-keeping right may give you a bit more clearance due to diff offset, but every hole is different.
Get some 7.50R16 tyres with a heavy lug pattern!

Originally Posted by Disco Muppet

Would probably lock CDL, even though it means crawling under the car

you should make that a rule whenever you go offroad

the biggest thing you need to check on the 245's is that you have enough diff clearance on the track because thhat will be the thing that will bring you to a halt in open diffs..

I have found if you have lockers it will just drag the diff through if you don't once the diff is hung you then start to dig yourself little holes.

Lots of people have differing opinioins when it comes to mud, but for us we drove mud mainly in the UK we always kept our pressures high to cut through the slop to get to the firmer stuff down the bottom...it worked very well for us and rarely ever got stuck in mud..but its horses for course and of course depends on tyres etc...

if you do feel yourself starting to bog down just be careful putting the boot in hard to early just increase the revs a little, if you feel the car beginning to work I would say gently work the wheel because if you have muddies on you may just get a bit of traction from your side biters.. in saying that though also depends on the mud a bit of a spin from the wheel can clear treads giving you a bit moe of a chance with traction if all the reads are blocked up with clay.

this is just my/our experiences though Im not saying this is how to do it just what has worked for us and something to bare in mind if you do find yourself in a situation.

changing gears is an issue if the water is deep enough and gets between your flywheel and friction plate and at worst you then lose all drive[happened to an aquaintence in a patrol-i had to winch out], later a mate in a disco 1 auto chewed out his auto box front seal in a deep mud hole. I strongly reccomend wading plugs if your planning a dirty day, im a bit of a sook and would drive around the hole now, spent to many hours in freezing cold puddles stuck[now have a winch] and the silt is abrasive to seals[swivel hub in my case[not yours on a disco 2] and steering boxs] but it is good fun.

Given that I now have dedicated road tyres waiting to go on some rims, some muddies are one the cards
I'm aiming to go more across to the right to try and minimise diffing out, although that won't work on the approach to the final entry to the deep puddle. I'm not a mud runner, and I do prefer rocks but I'm interested to see if I can make it through
I'd aim to enter with some momentum but not heaps to break traction.
AFAIK there are no wading plugs for a Td5 D2 auto, certainly none that I've come across.
The bloke in the prado has gone through before and he said he did diff out but he then proceeded to clear the tops and didn't the second time around