Hi all, I've read around a little bit and searched but can't find what I'm looking for. Hopefully you can help me sort this out. Just today I bought a used 1994 4runner with the 3.0 and manual transmission. It has 10.5x31 AT tires, no lift. The rest appears to be stock. I bought it with the intent of handling tough roads with lots of big rocks and occasional muddy spots for a new business endeavor involving communications towers.

On the way home from buying it I decided to go over to the BLM lands by my house where the arroyos have been running and it's pretty bumpy. I got over some bumps my SUV could never handle due to low clearance, things were going great, and I made to come home. Keep in mind most of this area is fine for passenger vehicles most of the time.

There's a spot where the road out gets a little rutted and muddy. Normally I drive around it in my Traverse. I figure, hey, I've got this great new off-road vehicle, I know these ruts aren't too deep, I'll drive on the high part to be safe. I make sure it's in 4-HI and roll through. About halfway through (probably about 2 of 4 car lengths) I start to slide into the ruts. Uh oh. I try to keep plowing on and get stuck.

Now, I have basically never off-roaded, and I haven't driven a stick in a while. After trying to move forward and back a bit, trying to rock, I determine I'm pretty stuck. I get out and have a look, and to my surprise the tires don't look stuck at all. I was afraid I'd dug myself in down to the frame or something. One or two of the tires have largeish 'ramps' to go up, but no reason (in my uneducated thinking) the car shouldn't be able to push itself up on all four wheels. However, most of the time the wheels don't even spin (as I'd expect) despite the engine revving.

After a bunch of back and forth and not much actual motion, I realize at least some of the time I've not properly been putting the stick in 1st gear/reverse. Again I literally just got this car and was expecting to ease into this sort of stuff after some reading.

Anyway, finally I got out, much to my relief, after about 30 minutes. Everything seems ok, drive the 5min home on the highway alright.

Now, a few questions:

1) Aside from tackling mud I apparently wasn't ready for, what did I do wrong?
2) Could there be something with the engine/transmission/differential? Shouldn't the wheels have spun? Shouldn't the wheels turn as long as the engine is turning or it would die on a manual? Was it just me not actually putting the car in gear?

Thanks in advance and please don't treat me too rough, I realize I made some dumb mistakes, hopefully I didn't make dumb mistakes I *don't* realize!

Welcome to the forum!

A little helpful information:



You don't have any of the brake activated LSD that they discuss, those didn't become available till later years.


Difference between lockers and open diffs:



The best (cheapest) thing you can do to help your current situation is to air down your tires when you are off-road. Dropping your air pressure down to ~15-20 psi will effectively double your contact patch and greatly improve traction. No - it won't make much difference when you've got 1 front wheel and 1 rear wheel that have lost traction and thereby spinning uselessly, but it will make a big difference in keeping you out of those sorts of situations, i.e. sliding into the ruts.

Airing your tires back up will require a quality air pump. Anything the plugs into the cigarette lighter is garbage and you can expect it to fail. Here's a link to a review of the cheapest "worthy" air pump I'm aware of:

air compressor test

The MF-1050 (aka MV50) is sold at a bunch of different auto parts stores. I haven't seen it for sale as cheap as he says in that review (that was 2005), but I did just pick one up at O'Reilly for ~$80.

You can upgrade your existing axles to limited slip or lockers and there are several different ways to do it - none of them cheap! Learn to drive what you have effectively and then make the decision whether you want/need to upgrade. Learning to understand the shortcomings of open diffs can help keep you from putting yourself into problem situations in the first place.

HTH

David

That second jeep was me in the mud, 100%! Makes more sense now. It wasn't spinning any wheels that much (and neither was the second jeep in the video) but it just wouldn't go.

Didn't know until just the other day there was a 4wd light, turns out my VSV had the hoses switched. No 4wd, no wonder I got stuck.

Well yeah! That will make a difference!

David

Yeah, actually having it in 4WD will make quite a difference (LOL)! For future use, when pulling up to a mud hole remember that momentum is your best friend--NOT balls to the wall flying, but steady, even rolling. Roll up to the hole in 4HI (4LO will dig in too much), and use second gear to keep from digging down, also (it's best to hit second just before the hole, so you're not going too fast when you hit it--you don't want to "part the Red Sea" when entering). Keep steady momentum, feeling the terrain and making quick steering corrections, and just drive through without acting like you're in a competition bogger pit. If you start to slow down, working the front wheels back and forth quickly can help the sides of the tires grab traction and keep you moving. Of course, the best thing you can do when attacking something like this is bring along a friend in another vehicle that can pull you out (or vice versa for them)--you shouldn't be trying mud without others to help.

Aaaaand this is why I now avoid mud. It used to be fun until I got stuck high-centered in deep slop twice. Luckily I got pulled out. Never go mudding alone! Even with recovery gear, it may not be enough to get yourself out if you don’t have a tree to winch off, enough dirt/rocks/logs to stuff under. You never really know what’s down there, how deep, how slippery, etc.

I’d invest in a Truetrac limited slip dif in the rear.

You could do both axles but that’s where the cost gets high.

Rock solid traction aid and in the streets you hardly know it’s there.


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I won't ever buy an off-road vehicle without lockers again personally myself. Glad you're having fun out there!