Basic 4wd principles changing.

You must be getting old Allan - theres a lot of fun inbetween those stereotpyes.

Robin Miller

Only one rule I reckon....common sense.

I'm with you Allan.

I see this from other point of view. In the past anyone attempting to tackle difficult road must know that he is taking all responsibility. It includes everything – maps/route, driving technique and in particular knowing your vehicle and its ability or luck of them. As result “old school” 4WDers was responsible people and it automatically translates into responsibility in front of other 4WD, in front of Mother Nature, in front of people who maintain roads etc.
Now we have new breed of vehicles - lots of things inside them cannot be serviced with “screwdriver, spanner and hammer” anymore. This includes auto-transmissions, electronic engine control, ABS/EBD/ETC, unnecessarily overcomplicated hydraulic transfer cases etc). As result “live it to specialists” attitude develops and widely spreads. And this *AUTOMATICALLY* lead to attitude with luck of responsibility whatsoever. (To be fair it hugely applicable to wide range of our being, no to 4WD only).
With new breed of 4WDers develop (some call them “consumer”, but I recon they just losers) manufactures make yet another step and yet even “supernova” breed of cars emerge. I am talking about Disco 3 HSE and alike where we have not even given rights to select low gear, but rather have to dial to choose between “bitumen”, “sand”, “mud” etc. Losers became incredibly happy – they need to study nothing now, but just buy “proper” SUV (I am going to wash my mouth after using this word, but can not call such creation 4WD either) with GPS navigation and going to anywhere! Funny enough even RACV support this bunch of losers better then “old school” 4Wders and crown Disco 3 HSE “best all-terrain 4WD”.
Who going to take such a vehicle off-road? IMHO only person with total luck of responsibility whatsoever. So what sort of responsibility I can expect from him towards to other users, roads etc? IMHO not difficult to figure out.
Just my feelings.
Cheers

rule 3 --- kind of curious about this and WHY should i ALWAYS be in 4x4 when on a dirt road?

some dirt roads i go on you could take a jag onto - why would i need to be in 4x4 full time and just adding to drag on motor and such

Boc

Have you noticed how some of the 4wd mags seem to have articles on "How I crossed The Desert Twice in 24 hours" ! They seem to praise people that want to break some sort of non-existant records - who cares ?

Yea but years ago 4wding was different - you usually did it coz you had to not coz you wanted to
-4wds were that rough you would kill yourself going anyfaster than dead slow
- They were too expensive for just anyone to buy (comparativly)

Yes you are getting old Al. We no longer drive Landrovers that only do 90 kph, we have double diff locks, 150+ KW of power, constant 4x4, ABS, traction & stability control, 12,000lb winches & after market suspension that was developed in the Paris Dakar rally. We drive fast because we can safely, we rarely stop to check conditions as the car will go through or over almost anything, besides Parks have bulldozed almost every difficult track in the country. We don't look after the vehicle as we're getting the next model shortly anyway & 2WD is always more fun particually on opposite lock.
If you look at any 4x4 mag you will quickly discover there is no terrain a 4by can't drive & damage is just another expense like fuel :-)
My guess is you use your 4x4 to see interesting detinations, for others it's the getting there that's the fun bit.
Cheers Craig...............

alanmac,
You're dead right! You're the bloke who'll come along and pull all these other twits from the mess they've put themselves into with all 4 wheels at full pace.
Low and Slow is the creedo ..as relevant today as always.