Me and Racer drove up the road to Yosemite today. Got to test out my 4WD on icy roads and she did really good! I've only got 7500 miles on the stock DunFlops but they provided a fairly decent grip.
Road Conditions were mostly ice/snow covered that started about 2 miles before Fish Camp. Never used the Differential Lock. The air temp never got above 38 deg. and on the way home it was 27 deg. I engaged 4WD just past Oakhurst.
There were 3 driving checkpoints. Checkpoint #1 was just past Fish Camp and #2 was a few miles past the entrance. #3 was in the Valley floor as you were leaving the park.
Saw 4 separate accidents on the day. 2 people in cars went sliding off the road on long sweeping ice covered turns. Both of the cars had chains on. Another accident near Bridalveil where an older guy in his Honda car (also with chains) thought the road was wider than it really was (snow plow push) and buried his Honda in about 3ft snow filled ditch when he got a little to close to what he thought was a paved shoulder.
The last accident was on the way home and caused quite a traffic jam of cars for 30 minutes. Someone lost control of their SUV, slammed into the snow covered rockface next to the road and then flipped over. Thank goodness they didn't go the other way and over the steep cliffs. There was no guardrail in that area.
The 4Runner did fabulous and without putting on chains. I used the parking lot at the Badger turn-off to test the slipping. I tried to get things to slip sideways and it was harder than I thought. The 4WD did it's thing!
Question: Do you guys use Downhill Assist Control (DAC) when going downhill on the snow in 4WD mode, or do you just use a lower gear?
Accident #2 (near Bridalveil Falls)
Racer checking out accident #4
Road Conditions were mostly ice/snow covered that started about 2 miles before Fish Camp. Never used the Differential Lock. The air temp never got above 38 deg. and on the way home it was 27 deg. I engaged 4WD just past Oakhurst.
There were 3 driving checkpoints. Checkpoint #1 was just past Fish Camp and #2 was a few miles past the entrance. #3 was in the Valley floor as you were leaving the park.
Saw 4 separate accidents on the day. 2 people in cars went sliding off the road on long sweeping ice covered turns. Both of the cars had chains on. Another accident near Bridalveil where an older guy in his Honda car (also with chains) thought the road was wider than it really was (snow plow push) and buried his Honda in about 3ft snow filled ditch when he got a little to close to what he thought was a paved shoulder.
The last accident was on the way home and caused quite a traffic jam of cars for 30 minutes. Someone lost control of their SUV, slammed into the snow covered rockface next to the road and then flipped over. Thank goodness they didn't go the other way and over the steep cliffs. There was no guardrail in that area.
The 4Runner did fabulous and without putting on chains. I used the parking lot at the Badger turn-off to test the slipping. I tried to get things to slip sideways and it was harder than I thought. The 4WD did it's thing!
Question: Do you guys use Downhill Assist Control (DAC) when going downhill on the snow in 4WD mode, or do you just use a lower gear?
Accident #2 (near Bridalveil Falls)
Racer checking out accident #4
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