I had about 10 inches of snow in my driveway. A very steep driveway. Anyway, I went to back the H2 out onto the street and it was slipping and sliding all over the place. I put it into 4HI lock, same thing. Then I put it into 4LO lock and it did creep out of the driveway with some difficulty. In 3 plus years, this is the first time I had difficulty. My neighbor came over to push and it did seem like it helped somewhat. But I was embarrassed. At first I told him to hold off and he did. No avail. He told me that the driver side front wheel was spinning and the passenger side rear wheel was spinning. I really wasn't going anywhere. The other two wheels just sat there. I couldn't believe it. I even went back down the driveway and purposely got stuck again thinking maybe I did something wrong the first time. Same result.

It seems to me, I shouldn't have had to lock any differential to get up the driveway. I thought that with traction control when one wheel spins braking is applied to the spinning wheel and torque distributed to the other wheels. My last vehicle diagnostics report didn't show any problems with the vehicle nor did I get any readings on the D-I-C. Should all 4 wheels been getting traction even if (worst case scenario) all 4 where spinning?

Thanks for your input.

john

 

although i havent had to use them yet, i've heard that locking the diffs in snow does help, at least it gets all the wheels spinning. but it wont get the truck out of every jam.... did you try locking them since and did that help?

 

As mentioned earlier, I did put it in 4LO to slowly creep up the driveway. BUT, where is traction control during this situation? Shouldn't all 4 wheels be helping to get moving? I don't know if the dealership can test for the proper utilization of traction control, but they'll be my next stop.

Thanks for your reply.

john

 

Once you pack all 4 tires with snow they become slicks. Unless you were spinning the hell out of them to clear the now packed ice, they had become useless. Add to that that you were also packing down the snow in your driveway trying to figure it out, and you had two very slick surfaces (driveway against tires).
While it's embarrassing, it's a fact of life and unless you're running mud tires that can self clean better, the BFG's will limit you. No reason to be embarrassed. Well, unless like me, your neighbor happens to drive a big lifted Jeep and is standing there making fun of you. Trust me. I've been there. Too many times.....

 

You think that maybe I should have slowed it down and applied light pressure to the accelerator? You could be right on that one. Normally I do accelerate slowly. I find it works best. BUT when I found myself stuck, I panicked and increased speed in addition to turning the front wheels side-to-side. That still doesn't account for the two wheels just sitting there dead in the water.

I called the dealership and the service manager agreed with me that, worst case scenario, all four wheels should have been slipping. He asked if any warnings showed up on the dash. I told him no. I'll be taking it in after the new years and they'll check it. He said it'll be a time consuming process. That's OK with me since I want the darn thing to work right. I don't want another surprise sometime when I'm on a public thoroughfare.

As far as the stock tires, although some think they're great, my experience has shown the opposite. I can't tell you the number of times it's sliding through stop signs. They're really not that good on slick surfaces. I deal with them because we don't get much snow or ice where I live. If, however, I lived where snow and ice was a problem, I'd be looking for new tires with better ice/snow traction (if one exists). The BFG's are great for wear but terrible in icy conditions. According to TIRE RACK, I don't think they're even rated for deep snow. But I digress. Traction Control is my biggest mystery now.

john

 

nice of you guys to chime in!. last year i drove into 8 inches of wet stuff on level lawn, stopped,sunk a little and all 4 just rotated in their nice little icy pockets!! ON LEVEL GROUND!! in every mode i had including locked frt and rear. so they said i just didnt know how to drive.

lucky if you're on your own property and can walk home, dig out later!!

2010 adv with stock 285, no good in snow. big fat tires look cool but are snowboards!!

 

Well doctor, you at least had four wheels trying to get you unstuck. That's two more than I had. I agree, though, that if you're on ice, nothing is gonna help you other than studs or chains. Plus some believe that narrower tires are better at cutting through snow. I would think that the weight of the H2 would be beneficial.

 

Did you put the transmission in neutral, push the diff lock button with your selector switch in 4L?

It doesnt sound like you locked the differential.

 

I don't think you should have to lock the differentials to get traction control working. Traction control should be braking spinning wheels and sending torque to wheels with traction without the necessity of locking differentials. That's the beauty of AWD. If working correctly, traction control should have all four wheels spinning to get you traction on slick surfaces.