offroading trouble

[ryanc8514]

so i took my rover offroading today and had a bit of trouble...i got stuck 3 times mostly because my tires dont have good tread but i noticed when i was stuck that my front tires wouldnt spin at all...i had it in low gear on the regular shifter but the small gear shifter is stuck so i dont use it and i dont know if thats the reason the front wheels werent pulling...otherwise i guess my 4 wheel drive doesnt work?

[keptin]

first off....what model and year of rover do you have?

The power will go to the wheel with the least resistance.....so if your center differential (CDL) is unlocked....and you have no traction control, then you would only have to have one wheel loosing traction for all of the power to go out through it.


On DIs......they have no active traction control (I believe)....so this will happen often. What they do have is a CDL which must be engaged to lock the transfer case. If the CDL is locked then you must have 2 wheels (one on each axle) loose traction for power to be lost.

My guess is that one wheel was spinning....but you couldnt see it.

[Funrover]

The small shifter is how you get to 4-wheel low..you will not get stuck then!!

[gordo]

Originally Posted by Funrover

The small shifter is how you get to 4-wheel low..you will not get stuck then!!

I agree you would be better off in low but you could very well have a bad VC in your transfer case. Hard to say but when I had the same problem in my 89 that is what it turned out to be. Thankfully you can just remove a driveshaft to check it. If the truck wont move your VC is toasted. It it is like mine it sounded like someone put marbles in my tcase. When both shafts were attached it worked fine and was quiet. If your VC is okay then it should drive perfectly normal. One assumption is that your RRC is 89 or later. This wouldnt apply to an 87-88 with a LT230 TC. Gordo

[keptin]

Viscus coupling?....out of my league here....thats for you RRC guys to work with..

[ryanc8514]

its a 1994 range rover county lwb

[c93werdna]

I want to go off roading... soon hopefullySo LOW should be used? (on that shifter)
How fast can you go in low?

[sven]

I agree with Gordo on the VC issue. I'd troubleshoot that 1st. Another possibility is a broken CV joint or front axle shaft. Get ready to take things apart yourself or pay big $$ at a shop.

[Disco Mike]

Originally Posted by c93werdna

I want to go off roading... soon hopefullySo LOW should be used? (on that shifter)
How fast can you go in low?

I would suggest you wait on playing and find out what is going on with your truck as well as how to use your truck, may save you alot of time and money. If your viscus is or has failed, you are really limited to what your truck will be able to do.
Get someone to check it out .
Mike

[cellulararrest]

Originally Posted by gordo

I agree you would be better off in low but you could very well have a bad VC in your transfer case. Hard to say but when I had the same problem in my 89 that is what it turned out to be. Thankfully you can just remove a driveshaft to check it. If the truck wont move your VC is toasted. It it is like mine it sounded like someone put marbles in my tcase. When both shafts were attached it worked fine and was quiet. If your VC is okay then it should drive perfectly normal. One assumption is that your RRC is 89 or later. This wouldnt apply to an 87-88 with a LT230 TC. Gordo

Usually when Viscous Couplings fail, they fail frozen. Meaning they allow no slip and are effectively "locked". This causes tire scrubbing, bad cornering, and drive train wind-up. I haven't heard of them failing loose like that, but it's certainly possible.

i got stuck 3 times mostly because my tires dont have good tread but i noticed when i was stuck that my front tires wouldnt spin at all...i had it in low gear on the regular shifter but the small gear shifter is stuck so i dont use it and i dont know if thats the reason the front wheels werent pulling...otherwise i guess my 4 wheel drive doesnt work?

It's possible you were only looking at one side of the vehicle. With open front and rear differentials, you really only have 2 wheel drive. As long as 1 front wheel and 1 back wheel are spinning, your 4 wheel drive system is working properly.

As for the front shifter, your truck is always in 4 wheel drive. That front shifter (transfer case) just changes your gear ratios. This gives you more control off-road. It also puts less stress on the engine.

[RageRover]

I don't even have Lo accessible to me, that damn solenoid on the transfer prevents me from doing it, it is frozen.

I might've been able to pull myself out of the rut I got stuck in, but not sure about it, if I had Lo range engaged.

[Greg M]

Couple of quotes and questions here about low range. Its a mis-conception that low range somehow gives you more traction. It does not. A low range setting allows for the gears to muliply the axle differentials, thereby reducing rpm output. This will subsequently boost torque, so there is more torque available at each wheel. This is great for rock crawling or other difficult situations when you need to slow down each wheel for precise control. However, low range has nothing to do with traction and if you're stuck it is not going to get you out. This is when you need some type of electronic traction control or a locker.

[RageRover]

Yeah I agree with that. Some guys I knew, when they got stuck in their Ford Rangers, and Jeep YJ's, CJ's, TJ's, and whatever-J's, they would assume to put it into 4 LO and try to rock her out, only one time out of like the only 10 times I have been wheelin' in thick/soupy stuff, have I seen someone pull themselves out by going into 4 LO, and they weren't that stuck.

[cellulararrest]

Sometimes if you're stuck you might even try putting it in high range. In super sticky mud sometimes too much torque is a bad thing.