I did, it wasn’t stuck at all. But when I put it into reverse the front end continued to slip in even more and not knowing how deep the puddle was I decided to not push it anymore. I got scared.

In hindsight I suppose I could have gotten out on my own but in all honesty it felt the tilt was more than 11 degrees. It doesn’t show well in the pics, but in person it looked precarious.

 

A simple measurement of the angles in your photos indicates a tilt of 18°. So nowhere near the limit, provided that the ground underwater was stable.

 

Thanks Muppetry!

Do you think the tilt feature was not reading correctly at 11 degrees? In theory I had another 20 degrees + to fiddle with.

I’m not sure how stable it was but while it was resting it was sinking little by little.

Incredible that these can tilt so much. It was a very unnerving feeling. But now in hindsight pretty cool.

 

Well if it was reading 11° at 18° then that is obviously incorrect. I'm surprised that it would be that far out though. What does it read when the vehicle is level?

 

It reads zero. Maybe the front was 11 and the rear 18?

I need to take the LR driving course.

I’m a fairly good driver and no issues with flat landing etc., but understanding hands on the limitations will help. The last time I was in a tilt like that was many years ago at a LR dealership who had that course. And the tilt was extreme. But I honestly lost my nerve.

 

A rigid body cannot have multiple attitudes, so that's not what happened. Could it have tipped further after you exited the vehicle?

45° is going to feel extremely extreme.

 

Tell it to the sidewalls.

 

Now that looks like a go-anywhere, off-road beast.

 

Love the photos -- both Count Laszlo's and the bus (very cool) -- and the conversation !

A couple of thoughts:

1) I am not sure why folks and manufacturers try to communicate a limit and show a gauge. Just fun, I suppose. I say this because dynamic angle (with the vehicle rolling, yawing and rotating around the longitudinal axis (say from two wheels rotating to the opposite two) is what flips vehicles.

2) The static angle gauge in the Defender does not to my eyes do a good job of dynamic angle. I have also found that the static angle is not always displayed as an external picture of the vehicle would suggest. Maybe this has something to do with where the sensor is in the vehicle .. or how it calculates the angle ... or not? I do not know.

3) In reality, the vehicle is going to have slid to the bottom of the slope long before 45 degrees is reached. Particularly if the Defender can find any traction parallel to the slope -- it is going to slide substantially down the slope with every rotation of each tire -- and as each rotates differently, with different traction, the vehicle will yaw, as well.

4) My method, before I tackle any slide slope at all (if the ground is slippery at all), is to identfy where at the bottom of the hill the vehicle will stop sliding (and how much damage will occur and what is the risk of yawing on how it contacts the bottom of the hill) -- then picture how to self-rescue (look for points for the winch to connect to something solid) BEFORE one begins across the slide slope.

5) I try to fight the very human urge to try to recover from a slide by steering the vehicle (certainly never up the hill -- which can tuck under the downslope front tire and cause a roll -- over). A lesson learned by pushing tractors beyond their capacity.

6) I believe backing up with out turning is the only valid, safe option -- once the vehicle has told me it is not satisfied with the situation. I try to always go as slow as possible and as soon as the vehicle begins to go in an untorward direction, STOP and back out -- or STOP and self-rescue with the winch.

Just give up. Or I will be along for the ride and all depends on the quality of the thought of step 4, above.

7) Last thought is never go into water without understanding the nature of the bottom -- not just the depth, but the bottom: sharp rocks? Rocks to flip you over? Quick sand mud? The only realistic approach is to get wet --- so, I carry a second pair of shoes. Learned this one the hard way, more than once.

Enjoy !!

 

Very similar to what happens when two wheels leave the road into grass or dirt while at a high rate of speed.

That painfully wrong instinct to hammer the brakes and pull the steering wheel to try to swerve back onto the pavement... doesn't end well.