Had my first good chance to use the full terrain response and low range arsenal this past weekend at Muddy Chef (pictures and videos to follow) but I have a few questions about normal off road behavior.

1. When in rock crawl or mud and ruts, I did notice the truck seemed to lurch forward after coming to a stop. I had to be firm on the brakes for it to not do it. Is this normal?

2. I also noticed a bit of throttle hunting or surging. Giving it consistent gas pedal, the revs would go up and down on a regular cycle. Never does this in regular daily driving. At one point I was going slowly uphill with consistent gas pedal and slowed to a stop behind the vehicle in front just using gravity (no brakes) and the revs went from 700 to 1500 and back. Is this part of the terrain response? I think I was in grass, gravel, snow at the time.

3. Finally, in low range, there was a noticeable whine on the smoother, faster (~10-15mph) parts of the trail. Is this normal or something to worry about?

Biggest challenge was just unlearning the "normal" throttle mapping/transmission behavior and learning the new in the different modes.

 

I'd say #2 is not normal. #1 could just be from the TONS more torque you have at your disposal. I think #3 seems normal as well.

 

I'd roughly agree with houm_wa.

#1, particularly in Rock Crawl, seem more or less normal. The truck has a very different feel with the change in gearing and throttle mapping.

#2 I'm not sure about. I've never really had a throttle issue. Generically I'd suggest cleaning the throttle body and MAF as they are easy and basically free and known to cause some throttle response problems with these trucks.

#3 is common; it's the gears in the transfer case. It shouldn't be crazy loud or I'd be worried about low oil or other potential damage, but you can typically hear some gear whine in low as you drive faster.

BTW, I find 'grass/gravel/snow' nearly useless. About the only time I'll use it is on hard packed slick surfaces like a snowy paved road with only a small amount of snow or ice. It's of no use in deep snow at all. And on gravel or normal grass I just use normal mode. I suppose if I were on wet grass it might be useful. I typically use mud and ruts or rock crawl for my type of off-road driving.

 

Agree with Don on the GGS Mode. I DO however use it on gravel (forest service) roads so that the DSC might be more aggressive. Sometimes going around a curve on a washboard road you can lose control without the help of stability control.

 

Come on - where's your inner WRC driver?

 

Ha! I lost that when I had a '84 Bronco II and nearly went off the side of a forest service road.