Hi all,
Had heaps of fun on Saturday at Avoca.
We had 4 vehicles - WG Jeep Cherokee V8 Laredo, Prado (Maybe 6 years old??), a 60 series and my 100 Series.
Weather was cold but mostly dry - track conditions were damp.
This was the first time out real 4bying in the LC100 so the first part of the day was just checking how it handled.
A couple of highlights.
The first big grin of the day was when I was travelling up
hill (I never go like a bull at a
gate unless its the only option left so I was going pretty easy) when I started losing traction - stopped. The usual trick here would be to back down a bit and try again with a bit more momentum but this time I just flicked on the lockers and up she went - This is my 3rd 4b but the first with lockers so it was a very sweet thing.
The second bigger grin was an attempt to go up panel beater track. Next to the LC100 the Prado is next best equipped with
suspension and a rear detroit locker. But after 3 goes the Prado wasn't going to get there. This track is complicated by a tree that will have you for dinner on the way back down if you're not careful so momentum is difficult to obtain.
Well the LC100 just walked up (lockers engaged) and the driver was very happy indeed.
The 3rd highlight was testing out the downhill driving technique (for autos) where you hold a constant throttle position to apply power to the torque converter and control descent with brake pressure (using left foot on brake). This reduces wheel lockup.
Well it works very
well - we were going downhill on a pretty slippery slope using this technique and were able to maintain a conrolled descent.
Well worth practicing. A word of caution you must practice this in safe conditions before using it where you need to.
Enough said. In short I was very pleased with the performance of the cruiser and came away with the following conclusions.
The Dick Cepek tyres handled very
well. We ran pressures of 21PSI all day which seemed ideal - any lower on that type of terrain and the tyres would have copped a caning. They are a great alternative to the Cooper ST's
The Auto is a big advantage in ascents (as are the lockers - obviously) where speed control is important. Although it is a major disadvantage going down
hill - the controlled decent technique does work and is a significant mitigating factor. I chose an auto mainly for SWMBC during the week - But in hindsight I would get an auto as my own choice next time anyway.
The Airlockers are fantastic and worth every $ they cost. The bonus of having air on board is also great. For the record my 25ltrs of air was just enough to bring 4 tyres from 21psi to 35psi.
We were not in heavily rutted terrain but we didn't touch the underside once the whole day - every other vehicle hit bottom - the 60 even got hung up once needing to be lightly snatched off. So for all you IFS skeptics out there we were not limited in anyway.
In terms of difficulty - the worst of what we did on Saturday would have stopped most factory vehicles but I wouldn't call it extreme - I didn't use the winch once and we only needed the snatch straps 2-3 times (always for the 60) - So I will conceed we are yet to really
test it. - Looking forward to a trip with Eric one day *grin*
I'm not wanting to set off the usual debates by this post. This was our experience and our conclusions - hope some of it is useful.
Gaz