ETC vs Lockers vs Tyres?

I am pro-diff lock person, ETC is okay though but you can't beat a manually locking diff lock, end of story.

At's are crap in mud especially BF's. I ran 4 sets of BFG at's on several Rangies I owned and good in most terrain but mud. Plus IMO they're nowhere near as good as the pre-KO series ones. I am a pro narrow tyres person, but I recently fitted 285/75R16 Siverstone MT117 sports which are a bit wider than I would have liked (don't make a narrower size so they had to do) but so far in mud they're been reallty good, better than the 255/85's I had on beforehand. hardly use the maxi's now unlike with the BF's I had on previously.

Re Levuka. That Dingos run is a tricky one uphill, downhill is easier but you still need to climb over a slight incline at the end and definatley a diff-lock track uphill in spots. Done Havoc crossing several times in the past but recently it's far too dicey and panel damage is garunteed (even for me :eek:). Bllody great place, it's seems to be yobbo free unlike other 4WD parks :(

Trav

What air pressures were you running?

I was running at about 20 psi.

Totally agree that Levuka is a great place, even with a day and a half of constant drizzle! The times I've been there we haven't had any yobbo toubles - its a good spot to bring the kids.

I don't think I've come across Havoc crossing yet. We had a quick look at dingoes run, but we'd already been on the tracks for most of the day by then and didn't fancy a couple more hours of snatching/winching etc ...

G'day mate,

I discovered for myself TC a bit tricky for the first time to drive offroad. It took me time to learn... sand, deep mud, slippery uphills, etc.

Main thing is right gear, basically I use +1 higher compare to non-TC. Too much power on wheels makes them spin with no forward motion. Once you start spinning you in trouble, TC kills engine revs. Don't look on others driving style, go steady and you will be right in most situations. And no damage to track and your vehicle.

Also do not hesitate to turn steering wheel right-left-right-left at half a turn each side when you feel start loosing traction. Even AT tyres can get some bite.

Cheers,
Ruslan

actually on the thread from the trip 12/8/8 up here you can see a perfect demonstration of more noise making TC work..


in the vid you get to see the D3 crawl on up then fail to proceed as all 4 wheels break traction at the same time...

as all 4 wheels are turning at the same speed TC doesnt know that the vehicle isnt moving, but a bit more loudpedal sees the wheels spin enought that one of them spins faster or throws enough crap out to grab some traction and slows down. At this point TC has a look at itself and works out that something aint right and does its job then grabs at the wheels that are going to fast, stops them at that point that wheel will have some grip and as the brakes release you move forwards untill the wheel looses grip again.

This means that you cant do the "full noise, Damn the treadwear" method of tackling terrain as traction control wants to do it the other way around.

when you want to do that then Lockers are the way to go but if real tread lightly is your apporach then Id tip LSD's and TC as the way of the future.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

actually on the thread from the trip 12/8/8 up here you can see a perfect demonstration of more noise making TC work..


in the vid you get to see the D3 crawl on up then fail to proceed as all 4 wheels break traction at the same time...

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Hi Dave,

Can you please post the link on that thread/vid

Thanks,
Ruslan

I can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnAlv5vzVeoTc at work vid

thread containing original link

Ty wrex for the footage.


at about the 26/7 second mark you can see the rover go from "Im a landie and have a brilliant footprint" type hill climbing to failing to proceed as all the wheels spin then the traction control kicking in. the driver backs off (or tc limits the throttle you chose I cant)then gets right into it and lo sligh progress is made with the spin-stop-move-spin-stop-move-spin ect tango that Tc makes your wheels do when its actually working. at 32 seconds or so the driver stops backs down and has another go a touch faster but the same sort of thing happens and he keeps on it and makes it up.

I also need to defragment my brain... The vid is of a rangie not a D3 the D3 appears in an earlier vid (in the same thread) showing TC at work but not the 4 wheels spinning failure that the rangie went into.



IMHO he would have made it on the first go had he kept the loud pedal on max noise but it would have been hard on the track and the tyres so he did the right thing by tracking back and moving over a foot or so and taking another bite. In this situation if hed had difflocks hed have not been any better off as all 4 wheels had lost grip at the same time, Lower tyre pressures AND a marginally more agressive set of rubber would have seen him up and over without much effort

If memory serves the bloke driving the series rover with the shot RR spring and open diffs made it up the same track.

Note how the LH front was locked when reversing down the hill.
The ABS doesn't seem to work in reverse.
I have seen this much more dramatically with a Disco.
Regards Philip A

The tyres make a HUGE deal. I can drive through things in the Disco with maxxis muddies that even my mate in a pootrol with lockers cant do:D I even pull him through sometimes:D:D:D:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PhilipA

Note how the LH front was locked when reversing down the hill.
The ABS doesn't seem to work in reverse.
I have seen this much more dramatically with a Disco.
Regards Philip A

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And it can't work unless at speed, ****ing scary stuff especially without a CDL when in tricky situations:eek: