It wasn't heat. It was good traction and a steep hill. I didn't think of neutral. I'm driving and automatic and neutral thoughts had not crossed my mind.
Jeep rolled off of Black Bear
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It wasn't heat. It was good traction and a steep hill. I didn't think of neutral. I'm driving and automatic and neutral thoughts had not crossed my mind.
It wasn't heat. It was good traction and a steep hill. I didn't think of neutral. I'm driving and automatic and neutral thoughts had not crossed my mind.
There was this one time when I was on Corkscrew in a switchback when I put the trans in neutral instead of reverse. I only rolled forward a couple of inches before I realized my mistake. My wife coached me a little at the scene.
my understanding is also that the trans popped out of gear. Pretty scary because I've definitely gotten out with my Jeep in gear on slopes with similar consequences, and my parking brake seems well enough adjusted but I've never tested it by itself on something as steep as black bear.
I rented a JLU a few weeks ago and the parking brake was definitely a lever like I'm used to (the electronic parking brakes I've seen were like a paddle that you pulled up) but I suppose it's possible they could have dressed up an electronic switch to look and feel like a lever to appease the traditionalists.
Most of the "badge of honor" trails in Ouray and San Miguel County are nothing more than a groomed trail. But as mentioned, you need to pay attention and not gawk at the surroundings because you will drive up the high side and flop, or you drive off the edge and die. Riding the brakes down is a bad idea. Throw it 4low, 1st gear, and creep down.
Yep. Don't drive like a flatlander. Brakes are NOT a speed maintenance device!
It's a common phrase and very true. Almost any stock suv can safely run Black Bear. All one needs to do is stay on the road and you'll be fine.
Something like Poughkeepsie Gulch, a few miles away is not an easy trail like Black Bear is, but it isn't likely to kill you if you screw up.
I rode Poughkeepsie uphill. The big difference was I need to use my lockers. I'm thinking I wouldn't need lockers downhill.
Rating a trail is an interesting discussion. It is hard to do unless you consider driver experience and their equipment. The magic words, written earlier, "can be completed by almost any stock SUV" is a fair measure. I immediately thought of the Mercedes SUV that was parked near Ingram Falls on Black Bear, beat up and broken down, for a couple of weeks in August. In an athletic contest, the experts are the ones who jump, run, hit, throw, etc the best. It's measurable. Measurables for trails might be ground clearance, lockers required, time required, or fear factor.
Thats what I tell my kids every time I see someone tapping the brakes ahead of us so they dont follow too closely. Its amazing that sometimes I see people hit the brakes 10-12 times per mile when just driving in a little traffic.
Yea - and that's on flat ground or even going uphill! People are flabberghasted that I get close to 100K miles out of a set of brakes...
"Blinkies" drive me NUTS!! Their brakelites become meaningless, so I either get around them or hang way back.
I actually laughed out loud when my badges came in with a letter congratulating me for completing one of the "hardest" or "most difficult" trails, can't remember the exact terminology. The badges were for Engineer, Ophir, Imogene and Poughkeepsie.
I think some people really don’t realize your vehicle will slow down if you simply let off the accelerator. I think they believe only the brake makes their car slow down.
I actually laughed out loud when my badges came in with a letter congratulating me for completing one of the "hardest" or "most difficult" trails, can't remember the exact terminology. The badges were for Engineer, Ophir, Imogene and Poughkeepsie.
I only rode up one hill in Colorado where I felt like I needed to "gas it" to get up the hill. That was on Rat Creek Rd near Creede. In fact, except for that one spot, I can't remember a place where I couldn't stop and restart on a hill. Maybe these are hard roads instead of hard trails.
Yeah, the wheeling is pretty easy here for the most part. I'd say you can do 90% of the trails here on 31s, 95% on 33s and 99% on 35's. But lots of people put on 40's with minimal mods to make the rig worthy of them, and then just roll over everything and feel like a badass.
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Please never do this. You can explode a clutch by using it in this manner. I speak from experience. Granted conditions have to be right (hot day, hot motor, hot clutch) but, it’s happened to plenty of others.
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
It wasn't heat. It was good traction and a steep hill. I didn't think of neutral. I'm driving and automatic and neutral thoughts had not crossed my mind.
To be clear, I don't suggest neutral at anything faster than a walking pace. My Jeep with 5.38s, 4:1 low range, 2.84 first gear, 61:1 overall, and 35s on a steep descent takes a lot of brakes to stop. With that much multiplication the engine is pushing hard and throw in steep terrain I use neutral. Usually it would be coming off a ledge or steep enough you would have trouble walking down. All other times it is in low. I never noticed it with 4.10 gears.
Brianj5600
TJ Expert
I have an automatic transmission. Every time I go wheelin I use neutral multiple times. It is much easier with out the engine pushing when it is steep. With a manual you might have the clutch is at that speed
If that’s the case, it’s a good reminder to pay attention to where you’re steered when parked to mitigate these types of runaways.
I do the same thing. I bought one of the first TJ Rubicons back in late 2002 and remember lots of discussions about how the brakes wouldn’t stop the Jeep in low range. I never ever had that problem and always wondered why people had issues. It was quite a while later when I realized that I almost always shifted to neutral when coming to a stop. I do it so much it’s just second nature to me and seldom realize I’m even doing it.
I test drove an auto LJR last year and was surprised that I really had to stand on the brakes to get it to stop in LO.
"Doggone-it, Roy Gene! How many times do I have to 'splain it to you? When I tell you to put a rock under the wheel, I mean rock! Now look at that, what you have there is no bigger'n a grapefruit."
interesting. I can easily kill the engine with the brakes in 4-lo. I guess the threshold for what the stock brakes can hold must be somewhere between 2.72 and 4.