I am curious, is there anything that could happen that could cause the front wheels to have little/no power to them AND there be no indication given that something is wrong aside from drivibility? Say if the plastic shift fork breaks but the mechnism still moves so the vehicle believes everything is fine.

I have mentioned this before and have chalked it up to tires but I am just really not sure. When traveling at LOW speeds, in slippery/slushy conditions, it is behaving much like a 2-wheel drive vehicle. Example: We had about 5" of snow last week that was pretty slick. From a dead stop, making a left turn, once i cross the crown of the road, the vehicle will push straight toward the ditch before it will "catch" and actually turn. I am refering to speeds somewhere in the 5-10 mph range. Our driveway has about a 60 degree curve and it will occur there as well at about 5-10 mph, often times not "catching" until I hit the grass. Obviously, this has shaken my confidence a bit at speed.

I felt it was time to ask because I have not noticed anyone else desrcibe this type of situation. Given the large cross-section of owners that are on this forum and others, if this was a common occurance, I expected someone would have brought this up by now.

There is the possibility that this is drivers error as well. While I have been quite confident in my winter driving skills up to this point, this is the first 4x4 I have owned that has both TCS and stability control. Am I somehow fighting the systems in place and not letting them do their job?

I have watched a few youtubes of H3's in the snow and it looks like the same thing I am describing occurs but the vids are usually taken in offroad type situations, so its not apples to apples.

Thanks for the thoughts

 

Readin NJTEX response on the "4WD" thread makes me think I need to mash the gas hmm

 

I know quite a few of you drive in snow, what are your experiences? Have you had situations where your H3 behaved similar?

Those that are familiar with Hunner's fix to his steering rack, could that situation have an effect that I am describing?

I really don't think I have a mechanical issue but I simply want to rule all possibilities out. Maybe I'll have to take a vid the next time it snows.

As I was typing this it dawned on me that both Doc and Tainter have BA bumpers > more weight on the front wheels. How many other winter H3's have extra weight out front?

 

Tires do make quite a bit of difference in the slippery snowy conditions.

You cna rule out the shift fork issue by clicking the 4HI Lock button and seeing if your H3 goes into that t-case mode.

There are some times when I feel the front end not grabbing (slush/ice/heavy snow) but that is normal in any vehicle. It will eventually grab (I give it a little skinny pedal bump). All the electronic "nannys" in the world can not overcome some of the best mother nature has to throw at us. I feel you just have to learn the particualr vehicle you are driving and it's reactions to different driver input based on the weather and driving conditions.