Off-roading

[chrisdarmanin]

anyone got any offroading tips?

i once saw somewhere on a magazine that when you become cross-axled you press the brake slightly to stop the spinning wheels from spinning and the power goes to the wheels with traction... anyone ever tried it? i one tried it but i wasn't sure if it was the brute force that got me through or this technique

[bradc]

I have done exactly that in a fwd car on the public road!

Let me explain....

I was at a set of lights going uphill in the rain. The hill was reasonably steep, the car is an auto and it would roll back if I lifted off all pedals, the grab in the torque converter wasn't enough to keep it stationary. So rather steep.

I didn't realise but the left wheel was sitting on a big square metal manhole cover. In the wet going uphill like that it was just like driving on ice. I hit the throttle when the lights turned green as normal, probably 30% power or so and the left wheel spun up and the car slowly rolled backwards. As soon as it happened I knew exactly what was happening, I pressed the brake pedal down steadily and the car began to move off, sending power to the right wheel.

It will only be a useful technique if you don't have an LSD or lockable diff, I can't imagine very many (real) off roaders would actually be like that though?

[chrisdarmanin]

of course with a LSD or lockable diff this technique would not be neccesary.

but my land rover has open diffs and in the club i belong to i compete in an open differential class so this technique can be very handy

[Alfa_Kilo]

Left foot braking works somewhat in vehicles with open diffs and drum brakes. Assuming everything to be ideal, the brakes on the spinning wheel will bite harder (drum brakes, leading shoes) and behave like a crude traction control. This does not work on my 4x4, which has discs up front.

To get the best out of left foot braking, one should have 'torsen' type LSDs.

[Weerwolf]

That technique does exactely the same as traction control does. It slows the spinning wheel , so the diff sends more power to the other wheel(s).
Traction controle does that automatically.

If you need more tips , check out the Top Gear polar special. They have a group of Icelandic specialist with them , that help them out several times.