Grind while in 4lo

Piker · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:29 am

So I was out 4 wheeling over the long weekend up here and got myself stuck in some mud. I found out real quick that for mud the stock tires on this unit sucks monkey balls. Anyhow while trying to get myself outa the mess I was in(forward/reverse) I remembered reading on here that if you apply a little brake it will help the 4 wheel drive system limit wheel spin and apply torque to the wheel that has traction. Well I did that and I think I might have been a little too ethusiastic about it and started hearing a bit of a grind outa the front drivers side wheel well. Not loud but I could feel a bit of it through the pedal. Once I heard it I stopped applying the brakes.(New Jeep so I tried to keep the RPM's low). During the next couple of minutes while I was extracting myself out of the mud the noise came and went a couple of times. Once I was out of the mud I shifted out of 4 lo. A couple of minutes later I shifted back into 4 lo and the noise did not reappear.
Did I damage anything with my braking technique :?:

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:51 pm

Shouldnt of damaged a thing. It was probably just mud in the brakes which made which made a noise when you applied pressure.

Spray out the front suspension and inspect. Its a good idea to check the CV joint boots after being mud like that too. Something can fly up and cut a boot.

How did you end up getting out?

Its usually best to shift into the desired 4wd mode before entering the obstacle. Im not sure which tcase you have, but the 242 can be finicky and stubborn. Its usually best to drive a few feet after putting it into 4low to make sure its properly engaged. Ive put mine in 4low then spun the rear tires only to find out its still in 2wd, this makes a very bad sounding griding noise so I wouldnt try it.

If you have the 231 tcase it should go right into the desired 4wd when you pull the lever.

Piker · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:35 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

Shouldnt of damaged a thing. It was probably just mud in the brakes which made which made a noise when you applied pressure.

Likely is just debris caught in the brakes. What worried me is reading posts about how the front pumpkin on the KJ aint' that strong and how a spinning tire that suddenly finds some grip can cause issues.

Spray out the front suspension and inspect. Its a good idea to check the CV joint boots after being mud like that too. Something can fly up and cut a boot.

Will check tonight. Mud wasn't too deep. Just incredibly slippery. Was trying to go uphill.

How did you end up getting out?

Very slowly. What likely made the situation worse was the wife beside me b!tching the whole time and I'm slowly sliding sideways towards a very deep rut. I'm not going wheeling again without another vehicle or with the wife. Even something that was easily driven through dry can be really difficult when raining.

Its usually best to shift into the desired 4wd mode before entering the obstacle. Im not sure which tcase you have, but the 242 can be finicky and stubborn. Its usually best to drive a few feet after putting it into 4low to make sure its properly engaged. Ive put mine in 4low then spun the rear tires only to find out its still in 2wd, this makes a very bad sounding griding noise so I wouldnt try it.

If you have the 231 tcase it should go right into the desired 4wd when you pull the lever.

I have command-trac(231) Shifting is quite easy.

riptricket · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:37 pm

when i was a newbie and did not know about this site... i did something stimilar to that with my 4-wheel drive. still going strong with 41k

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:00 pm

Since you have the 231, the noise had nothing to do with what I was talking about. :lol:

It was probably just the brakes. I would still check it all out just to make sure though.

How many miles are on the set of pads anyway?

Piker · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 3:29 pm

500 km's on the odometer.

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 4:17 pm

I haven't driven an 05+ KJ off road, but could that grinding noise have been the traction control solenoids kickin in and trying to give him a little grip? I know my AWD 5.0 Exploder did that when I stood on the throttle and lost traction at one of the inside tires during a hard corner, and my dad's 96 Exploder (with the switch for the 4wd) pulsed the ABS to help with traction in 4wd.

Could be something 100% normal

kj in a tight spot · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:07 pm

One piece of advice...4lo aint meant to be used in mud...mud is all bout momentum and speed not finesse, your just gonna rev too high tryin to keep the tires spinnin while in the mud. It is actually beneficial to spin the tires in mud btw also helps to clean the lugs. But since your runnin stock rubber it aint prolly gonna do you any good :lol:

Good luck and next time no 4lo :wink:

Rush345 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:22 pm

I have not been off roading yet still pretty much stock but didn't know about the 4lo NO-NO that advise will be remembered I'ld have done the same thing :oops:

kj in a tight spot · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:26 pm

Rush345 wrote:

I have not been off roading yet still pretty much stock but didn't know about the 4lo NO-NO that advise will be remembered I'ld have done the same thing :oops:

Its not like you cant do it, its just that when muddin thru the bogs and fields the key is to keep the tires spinnin and that cant be done in 4LO. It just produces too low a range with the gearin, thats more designed for rocks and steep hills :wink:

Growin up country, I also found that a jeep aint the best vehicle for muddin :lol:

It has too little HP which is a key ingredient for a good mud rig. Dont get me wrong, my TJ keeps up pretty good with the big dawgs (trucks) but the jeep is more of a trail machine and rock crawler, thats where I kick their stupid :twisted:

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:18 pm

Hey guy, I had a problem like that a few weeks ago. Well back in JULY of this year. I was in 4HI and getting stuck in mud holes and stuff. at one point I had took it out of 4HI to do some spin outs on the trail then put it back into 4hi and I began to hear a grinding noise. So I took it back out and it was fine. put it back into 4HI, and no noise. I am now thinking everything is ok and it might have been dirt or something in my disk breaks. Well it ended up being my drivers front wheel. Later that day It got so bad that I could not drive it too much longer. It eneded up being the front wheel bearing, drive shaft and a few other small parts.

if it's new I would bring it in and get it checked out.

BeepBeepJeepJeep · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:39 pm

kj in a tight spot wrote:

Rush345 wrote:

I have not been off roading yet still pretty much stock but didn't know about the 4lo NO-NO that advise will be remembered I'ld have done the same thing :oops:

Its not like you cant do it, its just that when muddin thru the bogs and fields the key is to keep the tires spinnin and that cant be done in 4LO. It just produces too low a range with the gearin, thats more designed for rocks and steep hills :wink:

Growin up country, I also found that a jeep aint the best vehicle for muddin :lol:

It has too little HP which is a key ingredient for a good mud rig. Dont get me wrong, my TJ keeps up pretty good with the big dawgs (trucks) but the jeep is more of a trail machine and rock crawler, thats where I kick their stupid :twisted:

I'm confused... Why can't you keep your tires spinning in 4lo? In my liberty I have trouble KEEPING the tires spinning in 3rd gear-lo, let alone any high gear. Depending on the type of mud I ALWAYS mud in 2nd or 3rd gear lo...

kj in a tight spot · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 8:44 pm

BeepBeepJeepJeep wrote:

kj in a tight spot wrote:

Rush345 wrote:

I have not been off roading yet still pretty much stock but didn't know about the 4lo NO-NO that advise will be remembered I'ld have done the same thing :oops:

Its not like you cant do it, its just that when muddin thru the bogs and fields the key is to keep the tires spinnin and that cant be done in 4LO. It just produces too low a range with the gearin, thats more designed for rocks and steep hills :wink:

Growin up country, I also found that a jeep aint the best vehicle for muddin :lol:

It has too little HP which is a key ingredient for a good mud rig. Dont get me wrong, my TJ keeps up pretty good with the big dawgs (trucks) but the jeep is more of a trail machine and rock crawler, thats where I kick their stupid :twisted:

I'm confused... Why can't you keep your tires spinning in 4lo? In my liberty I have trouble KEEPING the tires spinning in 3rd gear-lo, let alone any high gear. Depending on the type of mud I ALWAYS mud in 2nd or 3rd gear lo...

K well Im just going by my experience growin up with jeeps and trucks thats all. Do what you want, wheel how you want, 4lo is for slow speed crawlin/climbin situations...the HP rules the mud pit, KJ aint got it and neither do many other jeeps with stock engines/drivetrain...the tires dont spin as easily as they would in 4HI or 2wd cause the gearin in that settin is so granny low and designed for control and climbin...my opinion dont have to be yours but ask any other redneck out there bout muddin and see what they say...

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:00 pm

i'm with KJIATS. Keep it in 4 high and stand on the throttle. Wheelspin helps clean out the tread (especially if you're not running a serious tire) and keeps your forward momentum going.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:24 pm

You can spin the tires faster in 4hi than 4low, thats one reason to keep it in 4hi.

BeepBeepJeepJeep · **Posted:** Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:27 pm

Jeepjeepster wrote:

You can spin the tires faster in 4hi than 4low, thats one reason to keep it in 4hi.

We must be talking about different kinds of mud

I don't know if you all have super libertys but whenever I try to off-road in anything that's soft in 4-hi I'd be better off getting out and pushing...

Piker · **Posted:** Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:04 am

Jeep Dawg wrote:

if it's new I would bring it in and get it checked out.

Well thank god a friend of mine works in the service dept. If I hear any more noise I'll get it checked out. I was also considering that I may have been fighting the ESP with my braking.
I'm going with -kj in a tight spot- for this one as the Ranger that was behind me just blasted through the mud with tires spinning. Granted, it looked like he had bigger tires but he was also blasting through deeper mud.
Higher RPM's did in fact get me outa of the mud.
Thanks for the replies :!:

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:28 am

If you have ever been to a real mud bog then the lightweight high rev ones get through, you need that wheel speed to keep going through the mud, low range will only dig you deeper and deeper. High range and lots of rpms equals fun! Well until the next day when you have to clean it all up! :lol:

Tom

Grind while in 4lo

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