poor 4x4 performance

[woody paul]

Trailer wheel size makes a big differents as well.

[Robert_S]

get a mog

[Daniel Jiggins]

Worst vehicle we have for pulling trailers is our td5 commercial discovery. They stopped putting centre diff locks after the 300 tdi. For pulling trailers through mud you need a bit of momentum. as soon as a wheel slips the brakes go on and your left for dead. Four wheel drives are not invincible thats why they have tractors with tracks.

 

The transfer box has centre diff lock facility you just buy a kit costs about£200.

[Daniel Jiggins]

Google Ashcroft they sell it for £245.00

[difflock]

Cough cough

I believe it was a Mog in the photo somewhere above.

That required 2 expensive tractors to extract.

Essentially a lot of the "non sticking" tyre comes down to tyre circumfrence, to put a larger footprint in contact with the ground.

Also allows the tyre to better/easier "climb" out of the rut.

Part of the problem with the average trailer tyre is the smooth profile.

Which allows the towed wheel to stop rotating and therefore stop "climbing"

And rather start bulldozing the mud in front of itself, thereby causing excessive drag.

For this reason it actually makes sense for a non powered wheel to have tread technology that allows it to "grip"

Look at slurry tanker wheels/tyres for an example.

Quite often not dissimilar to the rear tyres on the tractor.

Strange but true.

Also the higher axle keeps the undercarriage clear from snagging.

Edited January 8, 2014 by difflock

[aspenarb]

Cough cough

I believe it was a Mog in the photo somewhere above.

That required 2 expensive tractors to extract.

Essentially a lot of the "non sticking" tyre comes down to tyre circumfrence, to put a larger footprint in contact with the ground.

Also allows the tyre to better/easier "climb" out of the rut.

Part of the problem with the average trailer tyre is the smooth profile.

Which allows the towed wheel to stop rotating and therefore stop "climbing"

And rather start bulldozing the mud in front of itself, thereby causing excessive drag.

For this reason it actually makes sense for a non powered wheel to have tread technology that allows it to "grip"

Look at slurry tanker wheels/tyres for an example.

Quite often not dissimilar to the rear tyres on the tractor.

Strange but true.

Also the higher axle keeps the undercarriage clear from snagging.

 

EGGZACKERY that.

 

Bob

[njc110381]

I've fitted Kumho mud tyres to my last three vehicles. They're not bad on the road and fantastic off of it. You just can't expect any vehicle to cope with mud when fitted with road tyres. Put in simple terms, that's why football and rugby players have studs in their boots! Power is nothing without traction!

 

Another thing that is worth considering if you can save a lot of time by towing is to lower your tyre pressures on site. I have a large compressor that allows me to get them back up in under 15 minutes, so if you save more than that it's worth a go. I remember going to a job to recover one of the company Land Rover's when I worked for the wildlife trust. Landy was stuck solid in thick mud but the boss dropped about half the pressure from the tyres and it drove straight out. It's that good a method that some of the newer Unimogs are able to adjust their tyre pressure from inside the cab - it's a well proven tactic.

 

A good video to show it in use. Skip to 1.20 if you're in a hurry...

[difflock]

I recovered a "bogged" 7.5tonne Iveco tipper, by myself with recourse to tools.

Vehicle was reported "bogged" to me, I went and inspect vehicle and site.

vehicle was stuck facing uphill on a sideslope with a cut on the front wheels.

Fortunately the ground was sufficiently hard but greasy that the rear wheels had mostly simply spun.

I simply , with a little driver dexterity, reversed the lorry back a bit, realigned the front wheels, drove off downhill, gathered momentum and swung back uphill, safely and without incident reaching the hard.

DOH!

Ditto the VW 4*4 with the 14' IW trailer parked facing uphill on damp grass.

It got stuck when they tried to pull away.

If it had, and it could easily have been, been parked facing dowhill, it would not have got stuck.

At all.

Read the ground/slope/terrain.

Edited January 8, 2014 by difflock

[Notmegov]

Lower tyre pressure has got me out of many a hole, and by lower I mean dangerously lower.

[Matthew Storrs]

As said, as soon as you add a trailer to any 4x4 it becomes next to useless on any wet mub especially if there is a slope involved.

Nearly all my work involves going off road across field/moorland etc and my landrover110 nearly always got stuck if I tried towing my mini digger across- after a few years of it I don't even try anymore, just unload the digger and track it to site and follow with the landrover, possibly using the digger to assist it!

Getting stuck is such a massive waste of time on a job, obvious being stated there!