Hey guys... I have a bit of a question.

Shamefully, and as a true misrepresentation of the Land Rover trademark... like a newB, I got my "new" '04 HSE stuck tonight while showing my father in law and my wife's sister's boyfriend what the Disco could do.

Okay, hold on: It wasn't that bad. It was a pretty big "snow plow mound" that was hard as a rock, and under the snow was VERY slippery ice- I was surprised I made it in as far as I did.

My question is this- after I got it stuck, I tried the different 4x4 settings.

I tried both the "DIFF" and "LOCK" settings, and neither one resulted in what I would normally consider to be "locked differentials".

As I applied steady pressure to the wheels and gently maneuvered the steering wheel (the way I usually get unstuck), I had my sister-in-law's boyfriend watch my wheels...

..and, unfortunately, he noticed that though both rear wheels were spinning like crazy, the front wheels would occasionally spin 1/4 of a turn or so, but otherwise didn't spin much. When I reach traction during my turning maneuver, a front wheel would catch and shoot snow pretty far... but they certainly weren't "locked".


Can anyone tell me what I was doing wrong? I was under the impression that traction control would be disabled and in "LOCK", the front and rear wheels would all turn at the same rate.

Is this not so? THANKS!


And... I'm very sorry if I have caused the community any embarrassment. Seeing the '97 3/4 ton pickup pull me out really made it hard to look at myself in my luxurious, heated mirrors...

 

when you yank the tcase lever to the bottom left you should be in locked high

if you are in the upper left you are in locked low range.

 

The diff lock locks the transfercase not the differentials in the axles. The traction control take the place of axle differental locks. What kind of tires do you have? The right tires in snow make a huge difference. Do you have any lights on your dash while normal driving?

Willie

 

Tires have a lot to do with it. Last snow I was pulling Ford Expeditions and Chevy Avalanches up the same hill that another Disco II like mine could not make it. And as said before the Diff lock only locks the transfer case to give a 50/50 split in power between the front and back. You can make your 2000 Disco do the same with some linkage or just going under and locking it.

And know embarrassment, now you know more. We all learn from out experiences.

Enjoy your Rover.

Fred

 

Thanks friends!

I don't have any lights on the dash or anything, but the power split makes sense.... I think you guys are right with the tires though. It's got brand new tires on it, and the tread pattern "looks" cool, but they aren't nearly as effective in the snow as even our 2000 Disco, whose tires are only about halfway there.

Thanks for the advice, guys!

Maybe I'll get a set of 16" wheels with some snow tires, and keep the 18s for summer.

 

If you plan on wheeling with this truck, do yourself a favor and sell the 18" tires/wheels. Buy a set of 16" factory wheels with some good functional tires you can use year around.
As for your being stuck, you need to spend a lot of time learning how to drive your truck to take advantage of your CDL and ETC.
Just out of curiosity, are your 3 amigos on?

 

Hehehehe, absolutely no three amigos [yet]... I just bought it a week ago.

It's a difficult decision about keeping / swapping the 18"s... I don't plan on doing any major off roading, at least in the way most of you do. I have to push some serious snow around here, but that's about it- no rock crawling or mud bogging.

So, these 18s ride REALLY well, and the "street" tires that the previous owner installed are silent and smooth at 80mph and grip the road well. Plus, the wheel+tire combo looks fabulous.

BUT- I'm not willing to sacrifice a whole lot of off-road capability for performance...

Mike, like you said, I think most of my problem is that I'm used to a MUCH lighter Cherokee with much narrower and knobbier snow tires. I think I just have some major schooling to do when it comes to driving the '04.

Tonight, we got some major snow drifting action in our 1/4 mile driveway, and by about 11pm, the wind had died down enough to allow the snow to get hard and packed, which provided a good learning opportunity. I drove into a drift deep to the point where I was pushing snow and stopped, and ground my tires. I sunk down about a few inches, and I got some excellent"un-stuck" practice in.

I eventually figured out that by going forward and reverse softly to the point of resistance (without churning up the snow) allowed me to keep packing down the snow beneath the wheels, and eventually I was back on top with about an 18 inch path to gain momentum. From here it was easy enough to just use momentum and constant pressure and speed to drive through the rest of the drifts.

I'd REALLY like more training on this though, especially the benefits that the '04 has over our '00, and how to use them.

Eventually I'd love to go to a driving school, but for now, the property and access road are going to have to do

Well, it's dang late, but I think adventure is getting the better of me. I'm going to go get the '04 back out and see if I can't bury the sucker.

Wish me luck guys.