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Had an experience in the jeep today

2K views 29 replies 21 participants last post by  jkaufman_95 
#1 ·
A few minutes ago I was taking my friend home for the first time in my jeep, little did I know it would be such an adventure. He lives on a loose gravel road that I've gone down quite a bit with no issues and even had a little fun. Today was a little different. As I was going around a fairly wide left curve at about 30mph in 4hi talking to my friend about how awesome my jeep was I felt the back end start to slip out. I tried to hold it as steady as I could and let off the gas. The tail end just went and slid off to the right. Not wanting to over correct I turned into it and hit the brakes and came to a complete stop at a 90 degree angle to the road. O nearly crapped my pants but I look at him and he didn't even touch the grab bar. He said that because we were in a jeep he didn't feel like he was going to roll over or anything lol.

Turns out that that road was grated about 2 days ago so all of the gravel is loose and there aren't any ruts. That plus the jeep's short wheel base = no bueno lol. Atleast I made his first jeep ride rememberable haha.

TL;DR: did close to a 180 on a gravel road and scared the crap out of myself.
 
#7 ·
Why were you in 4wd? In 2wd you'd just give it more throttle, hang the tail out and push yourself around the curve (use the oversteer,) dirt track style.

In 4wd the front breaks loose about the tame time as the rear, and you slide out (understeer).
 
#8 ·
I assume you have been driving awhile, but this kind of situation is exactly what comes to my mind when people ask if they should buy a Jeep for a teenager.
You got into a situation just driving along minding your own business. What would have happened to an inexperienced driver pushing it a little faster?
Jeeps are a lot of fun and I have loved them for a long time, but they don't forgive many mistakes.
 
#10 ·
I was in 4wd thinking it would give me a little more traction on the slippery road...I guess not lol. Definitely going to heed this warning. I'm actually not too experienced by adult standards as I've had my license for all of 8 months however I'd like to think I'm mature for being 16. I think what helped me though is I'm very curious and like to see how things work and the forces behind it so I instantly knew not to try to correct it because when I did get traction it would probably send me into a tree and I also knew that it takes longer to stop skidding than a controlled decelleration. I've always wondered if it was possible to drift in a jeep. I didn't think it was powerful enough to break torque even on a dirt road. Now that I think of it I wish I have a video of it. It was just a nice gentle arc, no bucking or anything. I will say I'm glad that most of my classmates don't drive Jeeps. I'm sure 90% of them would A. Hit the gas, over correct and send it into a tree, or B. Scream and slam the non ABS brakes and send it into the sane tree. Both of which would send my already high insurance rates even higher.
 
#11 ·
coolbreeze said:
I assume you have been driving awhile, but this kind of situation is exactly what comes to my mind when people ask if they should buy a Jeep for a teenager.
You got into a situation just driving along minding your own business. What would have happened to an inexperienced driver pushing it a little faster?
Jeeps are a lot of fun and I have loved them for a long time, but they don't forgive many mistakes.
I'd have to agree with you on this one. I'm really happy I don't speed otherwise there would have been a far different outcome. I was actually even going 5 under because I don't know the road too well.
 
#17 ·
I love drifting in my jeep! Just not on gravel too loose on wet days it best for me but I don't do it on roads, my tires actually suck when rains they are like slicks but good in mud... They are also very wide so I don't recommend this at all but I'm 16, same way, but I've been driving (not on street roads) since I was 10 it's taught me how not to act stupid haha
 
#18 ·
Those old CJ's were a different breed. If you've ever been in a CJ-5 you know what I mean. My friend was out partying on night and on the way home he drifted off the road and when trying to recover he over corrected. The Jeep snapped back onto the hard surface and when it did it threw him out on the pavement. The jeep continued down the road for another mile before it hit a pole in a field and stopped. He was okay but had a long sore walk to his jeep. I had an old CJ-5 at the same time and never wore a seat belt until I heard his story...never went without one after that.
 
#19 ·
If you are not getting stuck in 2 wd than you dont need to be in 4wd. It is not for traction control it is for keeping you from getting stuck or getting you places that you otherwise could not gain access to. You were driving on a road, not a creek bottom. Slow it down on gravel and you should be ok.
 
#20 ·
InvertChaos said:
I was in 4wd thinking it would give me a little more traction on the slippery road...I guess not lol. Definitely going to heed this warning. I'm actually not too experienced by adult standards as I've had my license for all of 8 months however I'd like to think I'm mature for being 16. I think what helped me though is I'm very curious and like to see how things work and the forces behind it so I instantly knew not to try to correct it because when I did get traction it would probably send me into a tree and I also knew that it takes longer to stop skidding than a controlled decelleration. I've always wondered if it was possible to drift in a jeep. I didn't think it was powerful enough to break torque even on a dirt road. Now that I think of it I wish I have a video of it. It was just a nice gentle arc, no bucking or anything. I will say I'm glad that most of my classmates don't drive Jeeps. I'm sure 90% of them would A. Hit the gas, over correct and send it into a tree, or B. Scream and slam the non ABS brakes and send it into the sane tree. Both of which would send my already high insurance rates even higher.
I'm 16 and THINK I'm a fairly good driver. But why do you have insurance? Mines $110 full coverage...
 
#22 ·
With a short wheelbase, there's not much to play with when that back end decides to let go. Mine hit black ice last Saturday when passing another vehicle on a secondary paved road. Totally unexpected as the roads, although wet, appeared to be salted. They must have missed a few spots with the salt. With some fancy steering, I managed to get it stopped without hitting a ditch or anything.
Further along, the salting was noticeably better. Temperature was at freezing.
So beware when driving at near freezing temperatures, especially on a windy day.
 
#23 ·
It doesn't hurt to find a stretch of road, or a clear area and "play" with it.
Experiment with having it slide, skid, spin etc and getting it under control again. Do it intentionally but do it safe. Careful that there aren't "ruts, or bumps" that can trip the vehicle while sliding.

Get to where you are comfortable "losing it" then "recovering" and do it second nature.

Jeeps are easier to "lose it" than most vehicles. But what you'll learn will apply for anything else you drive.

It could save your life someday.
 
#27 ·
+1.

AutoCross is a great place to learn how to drive well...not with a jeep obviously...but you could I suppose do it in a jeep.

I recommend AutoX to anyone who wants to learn car control.

I do not recommend trying to find the flip over limit of your jeep. it has 4 wheels for a reason, keep them all on the ground as much as possible.
 
#25 ·
Go somewhere and play, slide, spinout and learn how to do a J turn. Learn ow your jeep transfers weigh from wheel to wheel and learn how to drive with the throttle as mentioned above, it could save your life someday.

When in doubt hit the skinny pedal and always look where you want to go. If you are heading for the ditch or the bluff, keep looking where you want the jeep to go and drive for that point.
 
#26 ·
I'm 17 and ive had my jeep on 2 wheels a few times, if you've been there you can feel the weight of the jeep and know if your about to lose it. As for gravel i have drifted slamming on brakes wont help you much I've found downshifting to be much more useful best thing to do is turn with the slide and give a little gas so you dont all of a sudden get traction again and roll (aka overcompensate). My buddy rolled his 1994 ford F250 turbodiesel on gravel 8 times from overcompensating on a hill he is lucky to be alive.
 
#29 ·
jkaufman_95 said:
sorry i meant why do you have such high insurance, 2 am on my phone lol
Oh okay mines actually not that high I think its $110 for full coverage too. But that's with my good student discount, safe driver discount, and my family hasn't been in an accident in atleast 6+ years. So if one of us get in an accident, everyone's goes up.

Is really like to get to know how my jeep handles but there are no open roads or fields I can use here in NoVa. All the roads are lined with trees and barely have enough room for two vehicles to pass each other. If it ever snows then maybe ill take it out to a parking lot or something.
 
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