Some 4WD tips for novice wheelers.

[Jay]

Hey guys, im somewhat new to this site, but not new to 4 wheeling. Ive owned a few other Toyota trucks that were built for off roading and rock crawling, and also drove a Hummvee quite often during my 8 years in the US Army. Some of you might already know some of these tips, but thought i would share for the newer crowd that is getting into wheeling.

1)
Poor Mans locker. If your in a situation where you think your stuck, either it be in a ditch, or a tight area where you have 1 wheel spinning freely in the air while the other tires dont spin, try this. Gently apply the brakes as you give it gas. Easy to do on an automatic, but you can also do this in a manual tranny truck. Apply the brakes while giving gas, what this does is locks up the free spinning wheel, and transfers power to your other wheels that need traction.

2)
Keep your momentum going. If your in mud, loose sand or anything that is easy to sink it, keep your speed up. You dont have to be haulin ass to stay above it, but keep your speed up and stead. Avoid heavy take off or punching the gas, it will cause you to sink. This will also clean out the voids in your tires and keep your traction going.

3)Steep angles.
Approach steep inclines or ditches at an angle. This will keep your front end front getting ripped off or damaged, and also leaving the other 3 wheels for traction. The front wheel in the ditch will act as a rolling guide to get you through it. If you get wheel spin, see Tip #1 for Poor Mans locker.

4)Backing down a steep hill.
Your not going to make it up every hill you try, so be ready for when you dont make it all the way up. DO NOT try and turn around on a steep incline, you will more then likely roll your vehicle, and either hurt yourself, or kill yourself, and you will damage your rig if not total it.
Put the vehicle in reverse while holding the brake down, if its a manual, ill get into that in a second. Keep the brakes on while you slowly decend backwards down the hill. Remember, in reverse your steering is much more sensitive, and steering kick back is much greater, so take it slow and easy. For manual trucks, put the truck in reverse while your on the brakes, let the gearing do most of the work, stay off the gas. All truck have a very low reverse gear, much lower then your 1st gear ratio, so let the truckuse its gearing to do the work, and use the brakes to keep it under control while backing down the hill.

I'll have more tips a little later, feel free to post up any tips you might have.

 

[Jared]

A quick desert tip:

When approaching a set of whoops that you didn't see in enough time (if you drive in the desert this has happened to you), do not attempt to hit the brakes before hitting the whoops. This will compress your front suspension and not allow it to absorb the whoops properly. Instead, let off the gas, hope for the best, and pay more attention next time!!

I'll post more if I find some time later.

 

[rivertrek]

One trick from the old days of 4-wheelin'...

If you can't make it up a steep hill going forward, turn around and go up the hill in reverse. As stated above the gears for reverse are geared pretty low and this helps get up some of those really steep hill climbs.

I don't know if this is true for today's new Runners I haven't had to yet, but it helped me a few times in my 93 toyota 4x4 truck.

I like the trick for the poor mans lockers!!! That's a good one! Keep 'em coming everyone.

 

[Mafster]

Learn the proper art of "rocking it", especially in snow. As long as you have motion (not high centered), take advantage of it by applying smooth power (minimal tire spin) and continuous motion when switching from drive to reverse and back again. You'd be surprised how many people just floor it in drive/reverse and dig themselves deep. And don't stop at the boundry when you "think" you are clear--go an extra 15 feet to totally clear the hazard.

Also in snow, try turning your tires to the left then right when you are trying to get a few extra feet forward.

If you get stuck or high centered, get out and shovel under your rig before making a final attempt to get unstuck. You'll have a 90% better chance of making it out before you totally bury yourself.

Also using floormats, kitty litter, sand, salt, a friend you don't care much for, etc under the tires can help in icy-stuck situations.

Be extremely careful when using winches and straps for pulling one another out. If they snap, they will take your head off. Have your spotter/friend stay way-back when putting power to the cable or pulling on the ropes/straps.

 

[Jay]

Learn the proper art of "rocking it", especially in snow. As long as you have motion (not high centered), take advantage of it by applying smooth power (minimal tire spin) and continuous motion when switching from drive to reverse and back again. You'd be surprised how many people just floor it in drive/reverse and dig themselves deep. And don't stop at the boundry when you "think" you are clear--go an extra 15 feet to totally clear the hazard.

Also in snow, try turning your tires to the left then right when you are trying to get a few extra feet forward.

If you get stuck or high centered, get out and shovel under your rig before making a final attempt to get unstuck. You'll have a 90% better chance of making it out before you totally bury yourself.

Also using floormats, kitty litter, sand, salt, a friend you don't care much for, etc under the tires can help in icy-stuck situations.

Be extremely careful when using winches and straps for pulling one another out. If they snap, they will take your head off. Have your spotter/friend stay way-back when putting power to the cable or pulling on the ropes/straps.

Good info to everyone who has posted. The poor mans locker i learned when i was in the Army. A little story behind that, we had some down time back at camp and enjoying the 101 degree heat and suckin down water like it was booze. A Staff Sgt and a Specialist come walking back into our tent. I didnt hear them pull up, and they left in a Hummvee about 4 hours earlier. They had their shirts off, their t-shirts were soaked, empty canteens in hand, and their rifles slung over their backs, and thye look like a couple of dogs that got beat down by a farmer. They got their Humvee stuck in a canyon/ditch about 2 miles out. It just happen to be my Humvee that was issued to me that i lent them earlier that morning.

I tell them and a few others to jump in the back of a duece and a half and we went to recover the stuck Humvee and we grabbed a few chains, tow stratp and a snatch block. We get there, and she didnt look as bad as i thought. Before i took the duece over to it, i said let me see if i can get it unstuck. I think the other guys were taking bets on if i could do it on its own power or not. I get in, start it up and gave it some gas, and i can see the dirt being tossed up in the air by the spinning front passanger wheel. I apply the brakes gently, it stoped spinning and the truck lurched forward. I drove that Humvee up the side of the canyon and up to the flat top where everyone was. Made me feel good that i learned this little trick when i was a kid. Story time is over kids, now back to work, lol.

 

[Jim_Chow]

One trick from the old days of 4-wheelin'...

If you can't make it up a steep hill going forward, turn around and go up the hill in reverse. As stated above the gears for reverse are geared pretty low and this helps get up some of those really steep hill climbs.

I don't know if this is true for today's new Runners I haven't had to yet, but it helped me a few times in my 93 toyota 4x4 truck.

I like the trick for the poor mans lockers!!! That's a good one! Keep 'em coming everyone.

Only problem w/ this is, for '96 runners and LC 80's/100's, the front gears are reverse cut, so they're much weaker in reverse. Many LC80/100 owners have blown their front R&P's by merely trying to reverse up a hill or trying to pull someone out in reverse. Only pre '96 runners, the front R&P is "weaker" in the forward direction than in reverse. So in reverse, you have the front R&P in its strongest orientation (equivalent to a 2wd mini going forward, and we know those come in a 1-ton flatbed configuration that can haul a fair amount of weight).

 

[Thai]

Don't forget about this link:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17

 

[fourwd1]

Only problem w/ this is, for '96 runners and LC 80's/100's, the front gears are reverse cut, so they're much weaker in reverse.
Many LC80/100 owners have blown their front R&P's by merely trying to reverse up a hill or trying to pull someone out in reverse.

Why didn't they blow rear gears also ? The rear gears would be on their coast (weak) side also in reverse.

Only pre '96 runners, the front R&P is "weaker" in the forward direction than in reverse. So in reverse, you have the front R&P in its strongest orientation

Yeah, but the rear R&P is still running on it's weak side.

My point is, while the above is true technically, it's not really an issue to be concerned with. Whether you're running a standard low pinion front 3rd (standard cut gears) or a high pinion front 3rd (reverse cut gears), you still have standard cut R&P in the rear, which will be running on the weak (coast) side in reverse.

Gears are strong, and rarely break unless you are doing something stupid.

I run 5.29 gears (technically weaker than the stock 4.10 gears due to the increased tooth count) front and rear, with 36" tires, with lockers, with a 4.7 geared t-case (super low crawl ratio). I do black and red rated trails, and have never broken a R&P. I only know 2 people that have, any they have larger tires, lower crawl ratios, and do crazy wheeling.

I don't want others reading this post to get the wrong impression, and be afraid to use reverse when wheeling for fear of breaking a R&P. (Or worse yet, be afraid to wheel at all, after all that's what 4WD is for)

 

[fourwd1]

1)
Poor Mans locker. If your in a situation where you think your stuck, either it be in a ditch, or a tight area where you have 1 wheel spinning freely in the air while the other tires dont spin, try this. Gently apply the brakes as you give it gas. Easy to do on an automatic, but you can also do this in a manual tranny truck. Apply the brakes while giving gas, what this does is locks up the free spinning wheel, and transfers power to your other wheels that need traction.

This only works if you have a Limited Slip (Posi) rear. If it is an open rear, it doesn't help.

 

[TeCKis300]

Re: Re: Some 4WD tips for novice wheelers.

This only works if you have a Limited Slip (Posi) rear. If it is an open rear, it doesn't help.

It will work with an open diff as well! My friend in a rear wheel drive sedan got stuck on the beach. He has an open diff...worked like a charm!

 

[Direwolf82]

This only works if you have a Limited Slip (Posi) rear. If it is an open rear, it doesn't help.

It works great on open rears. Dad showed me that trick years ago and it's got me out of some spots.
If you have a properly working posi or locker installed why would you need to drag the brakes?
Honestly curious and want to learn something new here.

 

[patkelly4370]

Noob learning here...
Isn't this what A-trac does?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[LazeR]

To add to the winching.

Throw a shirt, towel, blanket, jacket or whatever on the winch line. It should take the recoil out of it, or at least help. Mainly though, just stay away from it, and out of the line of fire if at all possible.