Traction
No matter what you have heard or learnt in the past, this is the most important thing for successful four wheel driving. Without TRACTION, your 4x4 will get nowhere.
There are five key elements to traction….
1. Track condition.
2. Tyres.
3. Suspension travel.
4. Engine revs.
5. The number of driven wheels.
Just one of these in poor condition or of the wrong type and your forward motion can be seriously limited.
Track Condition
There are all sorts of track conditions that you will encounter when 4WDriving. Unfortunately there is very little you can do about this, except to perhaps fill in some rutted sections to make them a little easier.
So, to overcome track conditions it is up to the other four elements above.
Tyres
There are all sorts of track conditions that you will encounter, so you need a tyre that is capable of handling all conditions.
If you plan on using your 4WD to actually do proper 4WDriving, my advice is to purchase a quality set of mud terrain tyres. You will have to put up with a bit extra road noise on bitumen, but the knowledge that you have the best tyre for the worst circumstance is most reassuring.
We consistently get 80,000Kms from our mud tyres, but we have them balanced and rotated every 8,000Kms, so with fantastic wear like this, it doesn’t make sense to limit our 4WD capability by fitting all-terrain.
Suspension Travel
It doesn’t matter how good a tyre you have, if they can’t contact the ground then you lose forward motion.
An upgraded long travel suspension helps your vehicle maintain tyre contact in extreme situations. Another benefit is that in a lot of cases, the ride is more controlled and comfortable, although today, manufacturers have softened up the most hardy vehicles in their range to a point that for serious 4WD a new heavier suspension must be fitted to cope with the terrain and loads.
Engine Revs
Too many revs in tricky situations will have your wheels spinning. Spinning wheels have no grip, so as soon as you feel the wheels spin, lower your revs a little so the tyres can regain grip.
The number of driven wheels
You may not know this, but the average 4WD is really only two wheel drive. Jack one rear wheel and one front wheel off the ground, and you will note that the wheels in the air are the ones to spin, not the ones on the ground.
Even if your vehicle has a rear limited slip differential, the same scenario applies.
So, what can be done to help in this situation? Well, this is the reason a lot of four wheel drivers fit diff locks. A diff lock fitted to just the rear diff, means that if you have three wheels in the air, the one rear wheel on the ground is enough to continue forward motion. The wheel in the air will spin at exactly the same rate as the one on the ground.
Diff Locks
There are two types of diff locks- manual and full time.
Manual Diff Lock
A number of different manufacturers make this type of lock which is actuated manually by switch whenever extra traction is required. The beauty of the manual system is that it can be switched off when slippery side slopes want to send the back of the 4x4 sliding off the track.
Full Time Diff Lock
Again a number of manufacturers make full time difflocks. With these there is absolutely no driver intervention required to lock them, as these units are engaged and working all the time. However, to unlock a full time unit to turn corners a slight change in driving technique is required. Simply back off the accelerator when first entering a corner and the locker will start to ratchet and allow differential action around the corner. As the vehicle straightens up the locker once again resumes its locked position. One problem with the full time unit is when a vehicle is on a slippery side slope. It cannot be unlocked and could force the rear of the vehicle to slide off the track because both wheels are driving.
