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Lo Gear - Off road 3 - jumping

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  MrWow 
#1 ·
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone else experienced this and if you have is it normal? I'm assuming it is. I have a 2012 Overland Summit with Quadra Drive 2 and ELSD in the rear. I set the Jeep in Lo gear on a street with tiny little rocks in it (I was just testing the truck) and rotated the knob to Rocks and put the height of the suspension to Off road 3. I was making a sharp left turn and the rear of the truck would keep hopping. Not drastically, but it sounded like the traction control kept trying to kick in. I wasn't going more than 2 mph and I had to keep hitting the brakes to stop each time it jumped.

This was kind of scary since I didn't know what was going on. Once I straightened the truck and went straight everything was fine. It was just that turn that the truck didn't like.

Have any of you experienced that? I guess it might be what people describe as "crow hopping?"

Thanks for any insight.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Are you sure it was the back end? It happened on my Rubicon when I locked into 4 wheel. What's happening during a turn when in a true 4 wheel drive mode is that both the inner tire and outter tire are going the same speed except the inner tire is covering a much shorter distance. Its the tire catching up or waiting that causes the lurching feeling. The reason it doesn't happen outside of 4Lo is because the 4 wheel drive is electronically monitored and it's adjusted for. Just my 2 cents from my experience with the Rubicon. I'll try out the sharp turns on my GC when I get off work and let you know if it's the same deal.
 
#4 ·
It is normal, when you put the jeep in 4lo you are locking the center differential sending equal amount of power the front and rear of the jeep, when you turn the inside wheels turn one speed and the outside wheels need to spin at a different speed, when you have traction it causes the hopping you are talking about. In extreme off road conditions it spin doesn't matter because there is limited traction and you can't feel it. I would not suggest doing it on surfaces with traction as it can cause damage to the 4wd system. For more info on your 4wd system check out this jeep site.
 
#6 ·
Thank you to all of you. Now I have an idea of what was going on and it makes perfect sense.

I had a feeling that it might not have been a good idea to continue doing the test while turning or on dry pavement. I really want to try the Jeep on some off road, slippery, snowy or sandy area, but since I don't have front tow hooks yet it might be such a good idea if I get over my head. I'm a novice with 4x4ing.

MrWow, it was definitely the back wheels. I'm guessing, but since I only have rear ELSD wouldn't that make sense it was only in the back?
 
#9 ·
Good way to destroy your drive train. Pavement+Locked center diff=broken axle shafts
 
#10 · (Edited)
Not sure how the GC works with the LSD, but it definitely sounds like the rear diff is locked and the hoping is it trying to keep both wheels rotating at same speed. Drive any car with a locked/welded rear diff and you will get the same issue.

Edit - Solution.. dont use 4wd Lo on paved roads :) keep it until you need it
 
#11 ·
Yea thats the big thing here, I rarely needed it in my JK and when I did it was when i was crawing or doing a big incline... because I had a manual. If it was an automatic I would've used it less. Go as far as you can w/o it and when you think your f'd or stuck pop er into 4 lo and its a whole new ball game. Make sure its on loose terrain as most everyones said, I snapped my JK drive shaft like a tooth pick because the terrain wasn't as loose as I thought and I've seen others do it popping wheelies in older wranglers...
 
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