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Offroad questions

4K views 34 replies 19 participants last post by  bergovoy 
#1 ·
Should I always let air out of my tires when off-roading through trails? I'm only familiar with driving on the beach. Also, will a stock track bar snap easily?
 
#4 ·
Yes air down every time that you can. Makes such a huge difference on my body let alone my jeeps.
 
#6 ·
Drive a trail aired up and then air down to 15 to 18 and try the same trail. Night and day for the ride. Aired up hard beats you and the rig to death. I air down as soon as I am about to leave the paved road. I use a Curry deflator to air them down fast and easy. If you have a small compressor and big ties airing them back up can take some time. Get a better bump cuts the time in half. Smitty built makes some nice ones. If the filling station is close within 5 or 10 miles I sometime just limp there and fill back up. A high pressure co2 tank is the real ticket for airing up fast.
 
#10 ·
Switch from 4L to 4H and vice versa should be done when rolling at 5 mph or less.

If the trail you are riding allows you to exceed 20-30 mph easily, you want to be in 4L. When the terrain is nasty enough that makes you slow down below that the you might want to consider 4L. If there are lots of big rocks , off camber spots consider engaging 4L. It's hard to engage it when you need it and are stuck on a rock or a hill or something.

Excess use of 4L will heat up the transfer case, especially when the speed is higher, say > 15 mph. You may want to take breaks or dunk in water / mud so it cools down a bit...I think Rubicons come with a temp gauge for that, my Sport did not have one.
 
#12 ·
When I went offroading yesterday when I had it in 4L when I had to switch to 2nd it grinded twice. Any reason why? My jeep never grinded before. I'm pretty sure I had the clutch in. Also when I get it to 2nd gear the jeep would shot forward. I don't remember pushing the gas for it to do that.
 
#14 ·
Here is my very limited experience:

If you're going to be in the hills, or moving over rocks, staying below 15 mph, you want to be in 4 low for the gear ratio. Go ahead and disconnect your sway bar if you can. If you are driving an auto, learn to use 1st and 2nd. It's amazing how steep of a hill you crawl down with no brakes in 4 low 1st. Just be careful about letting your foot hover on top of the gas. It feels like you are riding the brake and you might smash the skinny pedal in a panic trying to hit the brakes because it feels like you are riding the brake. Also, going from 2nd to neutral feels a lot like going from drive to reverse which can confuse you for a few seconds.

I find it easiest to simply put the transmission in neutral, no foot on the brake, and shift into 4 low. Then put it into gear and give a tiny amount of gas. The same works for me to get back into 2 high with no grinding at all.

As far as the lockers, the rear locker can definitely help get you through most situations you will encounter through mid level trails. In the mud, I run the rear most of the time since it is simply easier. I only kick in the front when I really need it because of the difficulty steering. When it's dry and I'm not going through very difficult terrain, I don't bother with either locker.

Lowering the air pressure in your tires will definitely help with traction and to allow your tires to wrap around the rocks. Just don't get too crazy if you don't have bead locks.
 
#17 ·
Should be able to disco the sway bar on a sport.. may need hand tools to do that.. and less some special order only the rubi come with f/r lockers.. look for button on the center console.. You can install lockers after market of course.
 
#18 ·
they sell tire deflators... that will reduce your air pressure to a set amount so that all tires are the same, and you can screw the deflator in, walk away, and it will deflate then stop by itself.. no stooping over and measuring and letting air out and measuring, repeat a dozen times.


btw, I don't have them, yet. but they are on my xmas list.
 
#21 ·
I go wheelin fairly often in my 2012 Sahara and have never aired down. All the guys I go with air down all every time and I always keep up or run circles around them. Now for muddy, sandy, or rock crawling where you need extra traction I would recommend it, but not your average wheelin. I do disconnect my front sway bar, so I can get more flex on those off camber spots so I don't feel like I'm going to tip over as much. I do use 4L 2nd gear on most obstacles because at low RPMs in 4H it seems like my jeep starves for fuel, and you don't want to be hitting the gas hard and dumping the clutch on an obstacle. Also 4L is good for steep downhills...especially wet grass...never use brakes on wet grass, they will lock and you'll go faster with no control.
 
#22 ·
When we go to Rausch Creek, I put it in 4L the moment I enter the parking lot. We air down - only time I didn't was once when we were doing trail maintenance on a green trail. And we disconnect the front sway bar - I have quick disconnects; we will get out some wrenches and pull a bolt on each side for those JKs that don't have the discos. I will stay in 4L all day - never know when there will be a mud hole or rock trail we want to try, and the point when we go wheeling is not to see who can get through the trails the fastest. I guess airing down is a personal preference, but we all do it in my club - I can't imagine doing a blue or black trail at 30+ psi. IMO disconnecting the front sway bar is much more important than airing down.
 
#23 ·
General rules of thumb
- Tread Lightly - When going off-road always shift into 4 Lo and stay there. You will do less damage to the property/road/trails you transverse.

- Air down to about 20 - 18 psi with stock tires and in 4 Lo it will give you a better footprint on rocks for crawling and sand/mud encounters.

- Speed is not your friend on obstacles for the most part.

- Place your tires on the highest places of the trail, like rocks and learn how to steer into the high spots
 
#26 ·
I'm a noob and just got back from the trails today. I didn't air down, nor disconnect my sway bars. Now question... (Hope it's not stupid) do I disconnect the front sway bar or both the front and rear? I've already learned a lot from this thread. Also I putted around in 4 hi the whole time and now I wish I can go back to try and do what all of you were preaching! Thanks for the tips!
 
#28 ·
depending on the trail and location, and all that, you may or may not want to disconnect, or rather, it may not matter if it is or isn't connected.

the big reason is to allow greater wheel travel, then after that, it may make a difference on how the jeep rides/handles...

Im guessing if you were in 4hi all day, you prolly wouldnt have seen a big improvement..

and again, depending on the trail and driving need, you can disconnect, front, rear, either, or, both...
 
#29 ·
I know in one spot today that I was at a steep decline and I could tell that if I knew what I was doing it would have been better. So then after reading this I knew it would have felt more comfortable going down that decline if i had the tires aired down and the front sway bars disconnected. I'm eager to go back. I just bough my 33" GY Duratracs but I'm already trying to talk the wife into letting me get discos's, skid plates, and rocker guards because i felt I NEEDED those out there.

I always thought I was going to my lift next but realized today I didn't NEED a lift rather I NEEDED skid plates and rocker guards and the ability to air down.

So my next upgrades are going to be on-board air and rocker guards then skid plates.
 
#33 ·
18mm is what to use on sway bar links also i use zipties to hold them up i had them disconnected for 2 months never had any trouble. get some type of penetrating oil and spray the bolts atf and acetone works well. i recomend disconnecting them in the driveway just to get the hang of it but connect them back up before u leave haha. u dont want to go out on a ride and disconnect them without ever disconnecting before. all yea disconnect them before u get muddy
 
#34 ·
That's good advice guys! Thanks! And I saw that TF has disco's for 0-3" of lift. Those are probably what I'll get when I do decide to get the disco's.

So about airing down I've seen the portable compressors but I've also heard about the on board air and I don't know much about them. Are they belt driven like from the serpentine belt or what?
 
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