[alien]

This is the reason i prefer using unlocked rear wheel drive on gravel roads rather than 4WD... The RWD is very predictable at speed and (especially in a sierra) you can feel the front wheels much easier than when the front is also trying to both drive AND steer. I find that when in 4WD on a certain stretch of winding gravel road, my top speed is 70-80km/hr. In RWD i have no problems doing 90-100km/hr - I could probably go faster still if the track wasn't always heavily corrugated.

[buzbox]

But in 4wd you have that false sense of security of better grip

I prefer 4H on gravel roads, the back end doesn't want to overtake the front as often. At the time sure I had the incorrect tyre pressure for that stretch of road but when the back end did flick around, I burried the loud pedal and tokyo drifted that sucker. After my arse cheeks stopped clenching and the missus stopped slapping me, I knocked it into 4H.

[alien]

LOL

Yeah - i leave my tyres deflated - usually at about 8psi or so but heat up to 10psi after a stint on the gravel. That's more to soak up the corrugations but certainly helps with the handling as the tyre isn't skipping around as much on the bumps.

I also notice the rear swings out, but ONLY if i back off the accelerator during the corner and come back on it, or if i brake too late before the corner and there's a decent weight transfer to the front... either way, that's driving style and easily avoided (or encouraged depending on my mood lol).

I'd still rather oversteer to understeer any day though, and ANY 4wd with 50/50 split front to rear is going to tend to understeer when pushed into a corner.

[buzbox]

Oversteer can be fun, but when you don't know who or what is on the exit of the corner, it can get a bit sketchy. In 4H, and at speed I turn into the inside washout rut for it to steer itself through the cover and it also prevents head ons with potential idiots coming the opposite direction usually on your side of the road.

[Marko_SJ]

buzbox wrote:

Oversteer can be fun, but when you don't know who or what is on the exit of the corner, it can get a bit sketchy. In 4H, and at speed I turn into the inside washout rut for it to steer itself through the cover and it also prevents head ons with potential idiots coming the opposite direction usually on your side of the road.

Lets not derail a thread about driving your sierra like its a Rally Eskie with stuff like safety and responsibilty to other road users.

[atari4x4]

Marko_SJ wrote:

buzbox wrote:

Oversteer can be fun, but when you don't know who or what is on the exit of the corner, it can get a bit sketchy. In 4H, and at speed I turn into the inside washout rut for it to steer itself through the cover and it also prevents head ons with potential idiots coming the opposite direction usually on your side of the road.

Lets not derail a thread about driving your sierra like its a Rally Eskie with stuff like safety and responsibilty to other road users.

you mean there is another line, other than the racing line... i've spent my whole life clipping apexes?

[Marko_SJ]

atari4x4 wrote:

Marko_SJ wrote:

buzbox wrote:

Oversteer can be fun, but when you don't know who or what is on the exit of the corner, it can get a bit sketchy. In 4H, and at speed I turn into the inside washout rut for it to steer itself through the cover and it also prevents head ons with potential idiots coming the opposite direction usually on your side of the road.

Lets not derail a thread about driving your sierra like its a Rally Eskie with stuff like safety and responsibilty to other road users.

you mean there is another line, other than the racing line... i've spent my whole life clipping apexes?

No you're right.

I'm just hating because I don't understand.

The awesomest line is the smoothest through the turn, railing a rut, carry corner speed and then pinning it into the whoops section...

But I wouldn't understand.

[buzbox]

2 Birds 1 boulder..

You can have your fun thinking your a rally driver, and be safe to others... So whats the issue?

[Marko_SJ]

buzbox wrote:

2 Birds 1 boulder..

You can have your fun thinking your a rally driver, and be safe to others... So whats the issue?

Nothing.

Same way there's no issues with commo bogans doing burnouts on public roads.

[atari4x4]

Marko_SJ wrote:

atari4x4 wrote:

Marko_SJ wrote:

buzbox wrote:

Oversteer can be fun, but when you don't know who or what is on the exit of the corner, it can get a bit sketchy. In 4H, and at speed I turn into the inside washout rut for it to steer itself through the cover and it also prevents head ons with potential idiots coming the opposite direction usually on your side of the road.

Lets not derail a thread about driving your sierra like its a Rally Eskie with stuff like safety and responsibilty to other road users.

you mean there is another line, other than the racing line... i've spent my whole life clipping apexes?

No you're right.

I'm just hating because I don't understand.

The awesomest line is the smoothest through the turn, railing a rut, carry corner speed and then pinning it into the whoops section...

But I wouldn't understand.

if you do not hit the clipping points in the supermarket with the shopping trolley you really need to hand in the man card.

[Marko_SJ]

atari4x4 wrote:

Marko_SJ wrote:

atari4x4 wrote:

Marko_SJ wrote:

buzbox wrote:

Oversteer can be fun, but when you don't know who or what is on the exit of the corner, it can get a bit sketchy. In 4H, and at speed I turn into the inside washout rut for it to steer itself through the cover and it also prevents head ons with potential idiots coming the opposite direction usually on your side of the road.

Lets not derail a thread about driving your sierra like its a Rally Eskie with stuff like safety and responsibilty to other road users.

you mean there is another line, other than the racing line... i've spent my whole life clipping apexes?

No you're right.

I'm just hating because I don't understand.

The awesomest line is the smoothest through the turn, railing a rut, carry corner speed and then pinning it into the whoops section...

But I wouldn't understand.

if you do not hit the clipping points in the supermarket with the shopping trolley you really need to hand in the man card.

Fuck yeah.

What really gives me trolley rage is when some prick is also doing it the other way. Got milk and home brand tins of beans everywhere....

I made sure to punch his granny after I swore at him too.

Edit: this thread still makes me laugh, as the G-Man was talking about full time 4wd and its centre differential being unpredictable

Then we got a tangent about part time 4wd, which will pretty much predictably understeer...

[Wolf]

Just my 2 cents on this question, theres a part of road thats uphill, which is bitumen, its a bad corner, its corrigated over time, you can be doin 20 up it and you will lose traction, i am aware of diff winding, and have been told of u let the rear or front spin afterword u can un wind it, im no expert but i use it on wet roads that i know are bad in the wet, i slow down and all that, but having somthing that is nearly taller then wide is a factor to imo cheers wolf

[fordem]

Wolf wrote:

i am aware of diff winding, and have been told of u let the rear or front spin afterword u can un wind it,

and one day, you'll wind it "too far" and then it'll unwind itself with a bang - see the first reply in the thread ...

[alien]

There's a 2 lane roundabout near my place that i CAN NOT drive in any other gear that 1st in winter in the sierra... i've tried different angles going in, different steering inputs, 4wd, RWD, locked and unlocked - no matter what, if i go over about 20km/hr i WILL spin out. Its just a shitty designed roundabout that's off-camber and very greasy for whatever reason... But because i know its like this i drive it accordingly when its wet.. I leave the rear unlocked and in RWD (at least its predictable).

So Wolf - when you know its a bad corner, drive it appropriately in unlocked rear wheel drive =)

[shakes]

4wd doesnt make up for lack of handling, but like locker will get you much further around before things start to go pear shaped.

Also just like a locker - when things go pear shaped they are often much worse.

I'm also going to get flamed for this, I typically enjoy driving a locked rear end the most.. I know how its going to react in every situation as opposed to an open diff that will slide happily one way but not so much the other, then the weight transfers and a wheel spins up.

[disco]

so can i ask what situations exactly you would use 4H for?

in my NGV i only seem to use normal (which is 4h unlocked i believe) and 4L

never seem to use 4H locked

[henno]

I also never use 4H and can't think of a time I would need it. (Unless I got stupidly low gearing in 4L, then it might be useful on sand if 4L ended up topping out at 15-20kph.)

[alien]

When i had stock size tyres 4H was great on sand dunes and the like, but as soon as the sand got soft it was 4L all the way. A lot of the time though, when 4H was being used you'd get away with RWD anyway. 4H just made taking off from a standstill much easier.

[Marko_SJ]

disco wrote:

so can i ask what situations exactly you would use 4H for?

in my NGV i only seem to use normal (which is 4h unlocked i believe) and 4L

never seem to use 4H locked

1st hi 4wd for mud holes

Hi range for wet dirt roads to avoid ruining them

soft sand

Hard greasy clay.

Edit: I also went for a trip around Grove Hill with Shep and used 4 high on the dirt roads because they were heavily corrugated and the car was all over the place.

[Gwagensteve]

Only time I use 4H is to generate wheel speed in reverse to get out of a hole.

Steve.

[ajsr]

^^^ this plus 4h is next to useless power wise in my rig

[jimnyz]

Ok, so I registered with this awesome site just to get this out there.
I've had a lj50, 413, a M13A Jimmy and a M13A VVT Jimmy. All have been driven in 4H on wet roads. No problem. Never take a sharp bend in 4H. Drop it back to 2H for roundabouts.
That's my advice anyway... haven't broken a driveshaft, transfer case or anything so far. The test is to drop it into 4H, drive for a bit and then go back to 2H. If there's no clunk, then it means you haven't wound up the transmission.
Wet roads are so slippery, there is no risk in my opinion.

[Seth2013]

curiously - what would break first if it did wind up. diff, axle, transfer case?

My gut says axle followed by diff (just from knowing how strong jimny axles . . aren't)

[shep]

4h is awesome on fast dirt roads. I always use 4h on dirt.

[dp87]

I assume that if the road is greasy, it won't wind up the driveline as the tyres should slip slightly first.

[alien]

For about 6 months i ran two different brands of 215/75r15 on my sierra. The ones on the front measured a bit smaller than the ones on the rear. Offroad, on gravel, you could hear the front end spinning faster and flicking up stones. Oddly it actually improved traction on gravelly climbs (no idea why) but the were some great clunks and thunks on clutching now and then, or changing back to high range. Nothing ever failed in the driveline, but I can tell you it felt horrible. If i were to guess what would fail first i reckon tcase mounts, then maybe unis... Point being no matter whether the wheels will eventually slip or not, they will need to take up all the "slack" in other components before either breaking those parts or allowing the wheels to slip. Not really something to be encouraged!

[striker99]

Only point I tend to use 4wd on bitchmen is to reverse up my very steep driveway...it's about 30% at one point and using low range makes it much easier to be able to keep is controlled when reversing a trailer up.....admittedly... having manual locking hubs would be an advantage in this case (2wd low range)

[dp87]

I also use low range to reverse a trailer up my steep driveway