Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

[r32]

On a spur of the moment, Racer and I headed up to the high Sierras to go camping. Found lots of snow and many closed off-road trails. I forgot they were closed until May. Oiy! I was drooling to go off-road!

We tried to go up one open trail. I switched into 4H for the first time! I was amped! I got out and carefully checked the snow for depth and density. It was very icy as we've not had snow since Feb. I backed up on the dirt road between the trees to get a run at the snow patch and blasted over the first patch but slid sideways and fishtailed a bit. Fun. I kept going but the snow quickly got deeper and the road was barely wider then the side mirrors (by inches).

Question: How do I know when is a good time to use Diff Lock? How bad does the trail have to be, and how do you make that judgement call?

I didn't go much further as the snow quickly got deeper and way more gnarly and I was by myself, without a wench or shovel, no cell coverage, and nobody else around. But hey, at least I finally went off road

Our campsite.

 

[josh220]

That first picture looks so cool that it almost looks fake. Looks fun. :bigok:

 

[Thai]

Question: How do I know when is a good time to use Diff Lock? How bad does the trail have to be, and how do you make that judgement call?

IMHO, you should lock your center diff any time that you're off-roading. Basically, if the ground is soft or slippery (mud, washboards, dirt, snow, etc.), then i lock the center diff. The only time that i would UNlock it while off-roading is when i have to make a U-turn and the ground is moderately solid.

 

[Falls]

Re: Re: Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

IMHO, you should lock your center diff any time that you're off-roading. Basically, if the ground is soft or slippery (mud, washboards, dirt, snow, etc.), then i lock the center diff. The only time that i would UNlock it while off-roading is when i have to make a U-turn and the ground is moderately solid.

I 2nd that.

 

[Mirlen]

I didn't go much further as the snow quickly got deeper and way more gnarly and I was by myself, without a wench or shovel, no cell coverage, and nobody else around.

I hate it when my wench forgets to bring her shovel... *sigh*

Where's the snow? I don't see any snow...

 

[r32]

Re: Re: Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

I hate it when my wench forgets to bring her shovel... *sigh*

Where's the snow? I don't see any snow...

Hahaha good one!

I didn't get any shots of the Runner in the snow. I was to busy R(ing)TFM on all the options for off roading. Should I be in H4 or L4? Should I be in D, 4, 3, or 2. Should I have Diff lock on or off? Should I have DAC on or off? I read it before I went on the trip but geez, I just started laughing at all the options. What happened to getting out of the Jeep, locking the wheels, putting in 4L and just go. Haha.

Here is a pic where the trail got to icy and thick for my liking. You can see the melt depth around the rock in the foreground. The road is actually on the left, and goes behind the rock, then turns left and winds up the mountain and 12 miles through the forest to Wishon Resevoir.

 

[JB.]

Question: How do I know when is a good time to use Diff Lock?

...the snow quickly got deeper and way more gnarly and I was by myself, without a wench or shovel, no cell coverage, and nobody else around.

:awais:That's a good time.

 

[r32]

Re: Re: Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

:awais:That's a good time.

I will take careful note next week when I go back up. It's only about an hour drive from the house.

Here's the trail on google earth, if you guys want to check it out. There are tons of trails in this area of the Sierra's for off-roading and some of them are super gnarly with huge boulders to climb over and stuff of that nature. You can see tons of jeeps, hummers and toy's up here all summer long!

In fact, I saw about 10 hummers getting ready to head up another trail just to the northwest of me.

 

[ImOnAPlain51]

That first picture looks so cool that it almost looks fake. Looks fun. :bigok:

:iagree: , looks like it came out of the 4Runner brochure...nice shot.

 

[keylay31]

Re: Re: Re: Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

Hahaha good one!

I didn't get any shots of the Runner in the snow. I was to busy R(ing)TFM on all the options for off roading. Should I be in H4 or L4? Should I be in D, 4, 3, or 2. Should I have Diff lock on or off? Should I have DAC on or off? I read it before I went on the trip but geez, I just started laughing at all the options. What happened to getting out of the Jeep, locking the wheels, putting in 4L and just go. Haha.

You should be in H4, L4 is for crawling (i guess depending on the type of offroading you are doing..).

I would think you should be in 4 to start, and downshift as you see fit. Remember, that's not a gear selector, its a gear limiter.

You should have DAC off (Downhill Assist Control, virtually useless unless u go down a steep slippery slope)

You should also turn ur side airbags off (button the the left)

 

[Ginuwite]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

You should be in H4, L4 is for crawling (i guess depending on the type of offroading you are doing..).

I would think you should be in 4 to start, and downshift as you see fit. Remember, that's not a gear selector, its a gear limiter.

You should have DAC off (Downhill Assist Control, virtually useless unless u go down a steep slippery slope)

You should also turn ur side airbags off (button the the left)

??? Weren't you the one asking about tips for beginners in the General forum??? =) Good Advice though :biggrin2:

 

[keylay31]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Finally went off-roading!....well, sort of.

??? Weren't you the one asking about tips for beginners in the General forum??? =) Good Advice though :biggrin2:

Ya, offroading tips. I know how to use my 4runner's 4WD though! It's snows quite a bit here ;-) I was asking for more angle approaches on rocks, or like "always put your tire on the rock, not beside it", or something like that
:bigok: