ESP vs. non-ESP

AZScout · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 5:37 pm

Can someone tell me the difference in wheeling with an ESP vehicle and a non-ESP vehicle? I am thinking about getting a 2005 Diesel but the pickings are meager for a nice limited and wanted to expand my search. Is the ESP a pain? Can it be disabled? Thanks!

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:45 pm

Only way to disable ESP on a KJ is to pull the ABS fuse,lots of legal issues if your wreck.ESP will control the throttle for you if it kicks in,does not matter what your doing with the go pedal.More common ESP issues when lifting a KJ as the higher center of gravity makes the ESP gyro sensors freak out.

ABQKJ · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:27 pm

There is a switch on the steering column to turn off ESP. It doesn't turn off brake lock traction control. I am lifted and have had no issues. Some of the KK owners are reporting ESP troubles when lifted.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:05 pm

Yep my kk's esp goes off sometimes on slower sharp turns. It happened after the larger tires went on.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:54 pm

ABQKJ wrote:

There is a switch on the steering column to turn off ESP. It doesn't turn off brake lock traction control. I am lifted and have had no issues. Some of the KK owners are reporting ESP troubles when lifted.

That switch does not fully turn ESP off,only lowers the engagement threshold.

At The Helm · **Posted:** Sun Aug 19, 2012 12:05 am

tjkj2002 wrote:

ABQKJ wrote:

There is a switch on the steering column to turn off ESP. It doesn't turn off brake lock traction control. I am lifted and have had no issues. Some of the KK owners are reporting ESP troubles when lifted.

That switch does not fully turn ESP off,only lowers the engagement threshold.

And just barely too.
Also 4low the esp becomes disabled, but the traction control stays on. Imo there are pros and cons to it when wheeling. It does help a little with open diffs and i feel like its protecting the front d30m somewhat. But it is annoying when i want to keep some momentum going and everything bogs down. Its also annoying in the snow.

If i had the choice to have it (abs too) or not have i would rather not.

ABQKJ · **Posted:** Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:55 am

Here is a good write up from Chrysler engineering on what it does and doesn't do:

http://blog.chryslerllc.com/blog.do?p=entry&id=270

Personally, I like it. It makes getting through cross axle terrain much easier.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:30 pm

ABQKJ wrote:

Here is a good write up from Chrysler engineering on what it does and doesn't do:

http://blog.chryslerllc.com/blog.do?p=entry&id=270

Personally, I like it. It makes getting through cross axle terrain much easier.

That's what front and rear lockers are for and won't smoke your brakes like ESP/traction control does.

ABQKJ · **Posted:** Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:50 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

That's what front and rear lockers are for and won't smoke your brakes like ESP/traction control does.

Traction control won't smoke your brakes. Lockers are preferable, but traction control is free.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:46 pm

ABQKJ wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

That's what front and rear lockers are for and won't smoke your brakes like ESP/traction control does.

Traction control won't smoke your brakes. Lockers are preferable, but traction control is free.

What do you think is used in traction control and that brake lock junk on a KJ? Your brakes which equals higher heat build up offroad while going slow so less air moving over the rotors to cool.Not to mention eating brake pads fast,most JK and WK guy's are seeing maybe 20k-30k if there lucky on rear pad life.

AZScout · **Posted:** Mon Aug 20, 2012 2:00 am

Ok, thanks guys. I guess that answers it...a lot of cons and not too may pros. This board is the best!

ABQKJ · **Posted:** Mon Aug 20, 2012 7:44 am

tjkj2002 wrote:

What do you think is used in traction control and that brake lock junk on a KJ?

I know how traction control works. Brake temperature is discussed in the Jeep article I referenced. I changed my back pads at 80K only because I had already bought new ones. They still had life left in them.

surfRenegade · **Posted:** Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:00 am

tjkj2002 wrote:

ABQKJ wrote:

There is a switch on the steering column to turn off ESP. It doesn't turn off brake lock traction control. I am lifted and have had no issues. Some of the KK owners are reporting ESP troubles when lifted.

That switch does not fully turn ESP off,only lowers the engagement threshold.

What exactly do you mean by this? I saw this earlier so I did a little test. My tires are getting low on tread so I round some wet pavement, turned off traction control from the steering column, hit the gas and spun tires for a long time. Traction control never kicked in. Got the back end to spin out pretty far before I finally let off the gas. If I'm understanding you correctly, then even though it was turned off from the button, it should have over ridden that and kicked in at a certain point?

rockymountain · **Posted:** Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:28 pm

I know it comes down to driver error, but I have been left in the dust by a KJ with traction control while wheeling in 4-LO. The issue comes about when you get a rear and front wheel off the ground and they spin freely. Traction control, will apply brake to the free wheels allowing the wheels still on the ground to propel you forward. This happens when you are turning a corner over off camber moguls or something like that. This particular occurrence made it really easy for him and complete failure for me.

Now on the daily driver front, I'd take my free axle no abs or esp having KJ any day.

ESP vs. non-ESP

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