TRACTION control

[Jupiter Rover]

hey, do any of you guys go muddin, and the traction control screws you over?

because i was out today and two of my tires were in mud, and the others were not. so basically TC knocked in and put all the power towards the already stuck tires.. which got the more stuck.. is there any way to switch of TC. either by pulling a fuse or something..

thanks.

PETE

[drum655]

i dont think traction control is your problem....i think it is an unlocked t-case and open diffs!

[Choqiees]

ATs + heave mud = not good

[drum655]

My BFG At's have done really well in Heavy mud.

[Choqiees]

that's what I've heard...don't see too many of them here lol

[p76rangie]

With traction control you need to keep the right foot down and not back off when it starts to work. As traction control only controls wheels that are spinning, or spinning faster than the others, it would have most likely locked you back wheels in an attempt to get drive to the front wheels. I do not think that switching it off would have helped you get out.

[jhmover]

Tires make a huge difference. I ran my D2 with stock tires and then with MTR's over same area in Nevada. TC was going on frequently with the stock tires, when I had the MTR's on I think it went off 2-3 times all day long, was quite a difference.

[Jupiter Rover]

Originally Posted by drum655

i dont think traction control is your problem....i think it is an unlocked t-case and open diffs!

alright so. thats good to know. and on a 03 discovery, there is no lock or anything. right? just TC?

[Choqiees]

just TC

[smileyq]

Your best options with an 03' is to put TruTrack in the front and rear or some other combination. TC combined with TT can be pretty impressive.

[Disco Mike]

Originally Posted by smileyq

Your best options with an 03' is to put TruTrack in the front and rear or some other combination. TC combined with TT can be pretty impressive.

A TT won't work unless you have CDL, without it, the ETC is going to be bouncing back and forth between all four tires and won't give the TT a chance to lock and do their thing.
The big draw back with an 03, no CDL, consider switching out the t/case to an older one, sell yours and then if you still want extra traction above and beyound what CDL and RTC do for you then drop in a locker.
Mike

[RJG18]

Not sure that the T/C was your problem. What you're describing sounds like the opposite of what your TC should have done.

Basically how it's meant to work is as follows:

The differentials on your axels are, like on any car, primarily there to allow the left and right wheels to turn at different speeds, which is necessary every time you corner because the inside wheel travels a shorter distance that the outside one. In addition, on a four wheel drive car, the differentials allow the front an back wheels to turn at different speeds to each-other, otherwise your drive train would slowly get put under greater & greater tension (called "Wind up").

However, the downside is that the differencials that allow wheels to turn at different speeds also make it mechanically inevitable that the power will be passed to the wheel with the least resistance, so that a wheel with reistance will receive less power (and turn slower) than a wheel under less resistance. Hence, when you are off-road and one of your wheels has no traction (like when a wheel is stuck in mud) it will have almost no resitance, so will spin, while the wheels that do still have grip receive no power at all (it's all going to the spinning wheel), so you get stuck.

Older LRs had diff-locks, which locked the differentials so that all the wheels turned at the same rate and that power was always evenly distributed to all the wheels, allowing the wheels that still had traction to receive at least some of the power, and get you out of the mud. Disco1's had these.

Your Disco 2 DOES has diff-locks, but no contols to activate them (don't ask). Instead you have traction control. This works using the ABS system, in that when it detects a wheel spinning it applies the brakes to that wheel (or wheels), either contantly or in rapid bursts just like ABS. In the latter case you will usually hear a very quick "tap-tap-tap-tap-tap" as your TC kicks in. By applying the brakes to the spinning wheels it means that these wheels now have a greater resistance than the wheels that have the grip, so the drive passes mechanically the other way through the diff and gives the gripped wheels all the power. And, as before, you get unstuck.

Main thing to remember is that unlike an LR with diff-locks, in which when you lose grip you need to back off the power a bit to stop your wheels from spinning, on a Disco with T/C you actually need to put you foot down on the gas much harder as soon as the T/C kicks in in order to retain constant power. When the T/C is on it will feel like you Rover has suddenly gone really weedy and gutless, as you need to put a lot more power down for little return.

So basically, if you has switched off TC (like by taking out a fuse or something) in the situation where two wheels were in mud and two had grip, it would have just made it worse, as ALL the power would have gone into spinning the stuck wheels.

Bottom line - buy better tyres.

[Jupiter Rover]

alright. thanks man. that REALLY helped. your awesome. and im sticking with my tires till they get worn out. but now i have a better view on TC and how it works and how to use it well. thanks bro.

[p76rangie]

A centre diff lock in older LRs do not lock up all the wheels. Basically with no centre diff lock your car is one wheel drive. That is, lift any wheel and it will not go anywhere. With the centre diff lock engaged it becomes 2 wheel drive. That is, you have to lift one front and one rear wheel to loose drive. add a rear diff lock and it becomes a 3 wheel drive and then add a front locker and it is a true 4 wheel drive.

Ian

[nfrey2]

Originally Posted by drum655

My BFG At's have done really well in Heavy mud.

The peat bog we have down here shows no mercy to A/T's. I wish I'd got a M/T tire.