Been having fun in a local area after our snowmelt, as the normal hard pack topsoil has turned into a relatively thick later of mud. Normally very easy road trails are somewhat sketchy/slippery/nerve wracking. Now I'm NOT talking full-on mud pits, I'm talking widespread, thick mud everywhere with few puddles.

I think this is the first situation when I've been close to being stuck that I think 4-wheel HIGH is better than LOW (CDL locked in both cases, of course). That's because I see the Goal #1 as keeping the mud from packing my tires as I drift the mud playland. In order to spin them free of mud, I need to hit a decent RPM. But with 4-wheel LOW a high RPM doesn't get me all that much spin. So I say next time I'm out there I'll stay in 4-wheel HIGH so that if I'm hitting 3-4k RPMs, the tires will be spinning much faster.

Make sense to you?

(I have pretty aggressive A/Ts, so I should be able to keep them getting too mud-packed with decent driving skills)

 

momentum is your friend... and if you are free of obstacles that you might run into... stay in high and tear it up. Obviously if your stuck don't spin the hell out of it till your in up to your diffs though.

 

http://www.treadlightly.org/?gclid=C...FYa7KgodtnQVHw

Is this private property?
Do you have permission to tear it up?
Dont ruin it for the rest of us.
In the UK offroading is all but outlawed except for "pay per use" offroading area's because of people not being respectful and tearing up land.

 

Trust me, they're doing far more damage out there with bulldozers, dump trucks and dynamite.

My little Rover just makes tiny tracks, like a bird or something.

 

now thats funny!!!

 

Use 4WD Low to travel at lower speeds while traveling on rough terrain (you need the lower gear ratios etc). AKA "crawler" gear.

Far as mud. I usually hit it hard and fast. I hate deep mud though and now a days I avoid it. Living in North Carolina, we have "carolina clay", and it sticks to EVERYTHING. You need a friggn power washer to get it off. It can do a LOT of damage if not cleaned. Especially to braking systems. It's like a good drinking party....the night of the party is awesome, but the hangover is a BITCH! lol

I lost a clutch, cell phone, radio, starter and brake calipers to a Jeep YJ I drove due to 4 feet of mud and water....never again....lesson learned lol

 

Spike - So is this picture, from your signature, of you "treading lightly"?????

Just playing, couldn't resist But you're absolutely right, there's enough dumba$$es out there literally "tearing it up" that are eventually going to ruin it for the rest of us

Oyster, next time you're out, air down your tires a little, the goal being a wider track, making it easier for you to "float" over the mud. But keeping it in 4-HI with the TC locked makes sense to me.

 

Spike, great post on the tread lightly. A good reminder for us all. There are already plenty of idiots out there, we might as well try to be one less idiot.

 

That was on a designated trail that is used for ORV's of all sizes and snowmobiles in the winter.

There are plenty of open fields just off the beaten path and they would be tons of fun to go and tear them up.
But it is not only wrong, it is inconsiderate of others and it destroys the habitat that is needed to sustain wildlife.
Deer feed on the grass, birds nest in the low spots, frogs travel from one swamp to another, turtles sun themselves in these open area's.
If there are ruts that they cannot get over then they die when their swap dries up for the summer and they cannot get to the other swamp.
If there is no grass for the deer to feed then they try and cross the road and get hit by a car, now there is a drain on the economy because the insurance company has to pay out and a deer is dead for no reason and its meat goes to waste.
Bulldozers and dump trucks are not out in the woods doing damage, unless they are logging but then they smooth it back out and plant seedlings for future harvest.
And most importantly...my wife and I LOVE to take the kids on picnics out in the woods and when we find a nice open area in the middle of nowhere we pull over and eat, relax and explore this great planet that God gave us and if that open area is all torn up where will we go?
I'm all about having fun, but lets all be responsible about it.