Is this bad for a diffy?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
webby

webby

New Member
Posts
109
If you have two wheels that have lost traction on the mud with the central diff locked, is it bad to apply the brakes lightly at the same time as the wheels are spinning? It adds friction to the spinning wheel and the wheels with traction turn slowly. It works quite well:) , but what effects will it have on the car? :confused:
 
Dunno matey, but I tried it today, went down a BOAT wich looked OK at the beginning but a mile or so down it got a bit soft, I ended up with the n/s front wheel up to the axle and well and truly stuck. Tried your trick with no luck at all.

Fortunately a local farmer had seen me, mistook me for a poacher and rang the police. Coppers turned up, farmer turned up and farmers lad turned up with ruddy great tractor and towed me out.

I felt like a right ****, yes OK I was a right ****.

Can't remember haw many times I've been told NEVER go of roading by yourself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
o, right, its worked for me a few times, but i had one wheel in the air last time(over a big ditch) so it was just free spinning and one wheel slipping on mud. did it have any effect at all?
 
Having a more basic III, it don't do anything for my beasty. Rev, rev, oops, farked!

However Webby, all the DVDs I've seen that cover off road driving (yep, got a few for Xmas.....who didn't?) in all them later offerings from Solihulls finest they seem to use this same technique for getting out of a hole/tricky spot off road. Therefore I can't see it can do all that much harm to fool your difflock into producing the desired result. It does seem to be a recognised "get yerself out of schtuck" techinique.

I'd say, go for it chap & if it works, told you so, if something goes twang.........the big boys made me say it!

Cheers,
Marcus.
 
i didnt get any off road dvd's! :( shame. i live near solihull, its full of kevs! :mad: it comes from the hummer ppl me thinks, could me wrong
 
Kev is the same thing as chavs, well if you’re being really picky, you can only get chavs in Cheltenham, as it means “Cheltenham averages”. Either way there are pretty dim low life.
 
GRUNT said:
No none at all. Both l/h wheels were trying to drive while both r/h wheels were spinning. I tried digging the mud from in front of the l/h front wheel but r/h ones just kept spinning.
Click to expand...

i may be teaching you how to suck eggs here but tough!! did you try just running it back and forwards? you know like rev till it spins then forward till it spins repeat till you are free.
i use this when me van got stuck in the mud in the aussie desert and that was damm near grounded,it also worked in a series 11 on salisbury plain when it was up to its axles. it take a while but you don't get covered in ****.
 
You can teach me to suck eggs as long as you like but yes I did.

Think I've strained a muscle in my left hand with all the forward to reverse gear changing.

The ground was so soft the hole was almost the same shape as the wheel and therefore too steep for the wheel to climb out of. If I'd had a spade I could have dug the hole out a bit and I reckon that would have done it.

Don't know if it's my imagination, but with all the gear changing both gearbox and the high/low & diff lock, when I took it out for a drive today the gears seemed much easier to find.
 
If you have two wheels that have lost traction on the mud with the central diff locked, is it bad to apply the brakes lightly at the same time as the wheels are spinning?
Click to expand...

Mechanically, I cant think of a reason this'd damage anything but if both wheels on the same side are spinning, the brakes will add equal drag to both wheels of each axle which is unlikely to redistibute the power across the diffs ... so you stay stuck. If diagonally opposite wheels are spinning then brakes might make a difference...

I will admit I did the same thing as grunt about a year ago when a narrow bit of track included a drainage ditch cleverly disguised as track after having filled with v.soft mud... backwards & forwards stuff didn't work neither but was lucky that the farmer was friendly and helpful with his tractor otherwise god knows how we'd have got out as I was stupid enough to be alone without the self recovery bits on board. Wont be doing that again!

.. another solution would be to spend loadsa cash on difflockers of course...
 
Yep... actually the winch & ground anchor would be a better priority than difflockers... or even a tree strop & hilift. Didnt even have that in my stupid little adventure. Very silly. Wife and kids were not impressed... :eek:

The geabox gate on an R380 (as fitted to the def & disco) is inside the selector housing on top of the box so you're in trouble if u got mud in that bit. The txfer shifter is a lever on top of the txfer box with a external linkage though so it could get full of crap - but you've got to be VERY deep in mud to get loads up there.
 
That's the same principle that the P38 traction control uses - it uses the brakes to stop spinning wheel and therefore transfer power to the wheel with traction. I don't see that doing it is going to cause any harm to the diff.

Matt.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Diso1 Diff lock how it works
2
Replies
21
Views
640
marjon
marjon
S
Spinning Wheel
Replies
15
Views
755
sierrafery
sierrafery
NiallRussell
need help, can you diagnose this...
Replies
4
Views
448
NiallRussell
NiallRussell
D
juddering when coming to a halt
2
Replies
20
Views
3K
lynall
L
lupus
Defender 110 running gear refurb.
2
Replies
36
Views
1K
lupus
lupus
Back
Top