Bypassing Traction Control

[Longtimer]

G'Day Gents,

Anyone put a switch into their Puma to allow the turning of of the traction control?

Any problems???


I am getting sick of fighting my way up a sand dune or sand track, and having the smell of red hot brakes greet you when you open the door at the top.


I was thinking of either fitting a switch in my dash, inline after the fuse. Or. Fitting the switch to the dash, and running a relay from it to control the power to the TC. It is a 30A fuse after all.

I also want a flashing red light when the TC is turned of. Just to remind me....



You thoughts Gents?

[Tombie]

If you're fighting it your tyre pressures are incorrect...

TC has been in Defenders for over 16 years now and if pressures suit terrain it isn't a problem.

[Xtreme]

I've been driving a Defender with traction control for 14 years now and have never had "red hot brakes" or any other problem with it - four Simpson crossings plus numerous beach drives.

Spinning wheels will take you nowhere so you need to drive in such a manner that you avoid making the wheels spin. And if they do then, instead of the normal reaction of planting your right foot, you need to back off the go pedal and you'll find that you'll usually regain traction and continue your progress. But best to drive in such a manner that you don't incur wheelspin in the first place.

It takes a bit of experience but with the correct tyre pressures (as Toombie said), sufficient momentum and the avoidance of wheelspin you'll begin to appreciate and enjoy the Defender's capabilities a lot more.

Give it a go - you might surprise yourself and also any onlookers.

[Surrufus]

I thought the Pumas had TC switches from the factory. I know my MY16 does.
And the TC turns itself back on every time you stop and start the engine.

[TimNZ]

I thought the Pumas had TC switches from the factory. I know my MY16 does.
And the TC turns itself back on every time you stop and start the engine.

That'll be the "Dynamic Stupidity Control". You'll find yourself bogged in short order if you forget to turn this off.

Cheers,

[mwbrydon]

Get a 130.

[Longtimer]

I don't normally have many problems with hot brakes, except on the really loose sand hills that are chopped to the ****-house.

On those, if you aren't going fast enough, you are not getting up them. They are simply too long and steep. And, you have to use your right foot to try to maintain momentum to a large extent. In 2nd high, once you go below 20kmh you are almost buggered. But that also means that you get wheel spin, regardless of tyre pressure, as you go across the tops of a cross pitted track.
If your tyres are too low, you can't safely cross them fast enough to maintain momentum to get up the hill. Too hard and you only get wheel spin and go nowhere.

Therefore, you have to accept some wheel spin. And that means your traction control will grab hold of all wheels in it's effort to eliminate wheel spin. The problem starts with it not reacting fast enough to the changes in which wheel is spinning. Effectively braking 4 wheels.

Now, I do admit to liking a challenge, so the harder the dune to get up, the more likely I am to try to go up it. When there is 50m to 250m of cross pitting on a sand dune/hill, you get really hot brakes.... Once clear of the cross pitting the rest of the climb is comparatively easy.

I easily climbed Calcup hill 2 weekends ago, with 12 psi, but had stinking brakes at the top. And so did the other Defenders, Disco's, & Rangie, that had traction control. As a group, we ranged from 8 to 15psi (Rangie) in our tyres. You can't not break traction on that hill.

Hence why I wondered if any one had bypassed the traction control for just such sand hills.

[roverrescue]

Sounds to me like you should pop an ATB in your rear diff
The rear will be loaded up going up a dune
An ATB will give more definitive traction at the rear and save the TC work out for the front axle

S

[scarry]

You will find without the TC you won't be getting far in the soft stuff.

My sons had the TC disabled due to a fault with a wheel sensor on Fraser Island a while back,and the vehicle was nowhere near as capable as it was while it was working.

[Xtreme]

Calcup Hill is a 25m climb over a distance of 2kms. Next time you're out there I'd suggest you try 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear low range and see how you go.

I've seen people hit the bottom of Big Red at 80kph and dig themselves in with wheels spinning madly before cresting the top. Last time I was at Big Red I watched a few doing this before I walked the Td5 Defender up in 3rd gear low range with very little wheel spin at all. One of the guys in our group stopped part way up then restarted and also walked over the top. A comment from some onlookers at the time was "Is there anything these Land Rovers can't do?"