Wet, Slippery, Long decents, I hate them!!!!.

Hi Axle, have only been in that situation once in the old lux, was very steep down hill but luckily was very short and was just riding the ruts so really wasnt going to go anywhere but I hate that feeling of not been in control. The old lux had brilliant low range but when I hit that clay stuff with A/T's on it was hang on for the ride. Regards Steve

The knuckles turn white. The breathing goes shallow. Heart beats faster while the adrenalin pumps out. The passengers are screaming, and your eyes are bulging out of the sockets. The sphincter closes up tighter with every inch of motion.
Mght be safer to go skydiving.

I think most of us that go four wheel driving has been in a similar situation. Me included, and I don't like it.
After its all over and done with, the question remains.....

Would we do it again?

Been there on a wet Creb trek---good exersize for the heart!

I agree

You really need to hope the the ruts are deep enough to keep you on the track,not deep enough to strand you or tip you over and not direct you off the side or into something hard

The worst thing is if you slide down you probably wont be able to drive back up again if you need to go back (good to have a winch)

Regards Don

Hi Axle , been there done that.
Was in a group of 4x4s with a novice driver behind me, saw what was coming and told him not to use his brakes, he though I was until he shot down to me at the bottom.
Another meter and the rear end of mine would have been bent.
It was bad enough just using the gears (white knuckle) but when he hit the brakes he just took off. ( white knuckle + change under wear).


Bushy

Would it help if you had snow chains on your tyres????

only did it once -- love bites on the jocks!!

Funny you should post this, I just had such an experience about an hour ago.

I was on a 4WD ATV, now there is not many place those things won't go, anyway we had 125mm (5 inches) of rain overnight and a lot of our tracks are hard clay which when wet is like ice, you're flat out walking on it (literally flat on your back)

There was a break in the rain only light drizzle now so I thought I'd do a couple of jobs (we live on a farm) I was coming down a steep track which as well as being slippery as can be, also has deep ruts running everywhere from where the rain has eroded it. Normally you go pretty slow to avoid tipping sideways.

I started to feel the wheels slide so I gave it a bit more throttle, starting to go sideways a bit, not good, straighten up, going a bit fast now but wheels have stopped sliding. (knuckles sure are white now) Three quarters of the way down travelling well although a bit too fast.

Only problem now was the mob of cattle I was moving to another paddock and who were following me had also speeded up as I had (it's what cattle do).
So at this stage I've got a mob of 150 cattle (about 70 tonnes of prime beef) catching up on me fast with no way of stopping (they don't get much traction on the clay either)

My knuckles had gone whatever colour they go after white. Only thing to do is to speed up and hope.

That was one hell of a bouncy, sliding, wild ride. I would never go down as fast as that in the dry when the track has just been graded let alone in todays conditions.

I got to the bottom and turned into a bit of a side track about a meter ahead of the lead cattle.

To say my heart was pounding would be putting it mildly.

The story has a funny ending. Towards the rear of the mob were two very large steers about 600kgs who were actually sliding down on their back sides and knees they must have lost their footing and couldn't get up again. The look on them was the funniest thing I've seen in long time.

I've just washed the mud off and had a strong coffee, I'm feeling much better now.

A couple of years ago near Brissy, we had to lead a group down a long steep very slippery track after we got caught in the forest in the rain, lets just say it was exciting not until I found a short side track 2/3rd's the way down. We shot down there, stopped, had a short breather, then started again. it was such a relief to loose all that momentum.

The next vehicle was his first time out in his 4wd and he did not do the side track, he was white as when he got down.

All the experienced drivers did what we did so there were no problems other than bleep tered nerves.

We have had quite a few experiences like this when we lived in NZ and did more wet off roading than we do now, never is nice when you are being taken for a ride and have no real control. You never get used to it.

Stevesub

It doesn't have to be wet!

A step track with basically ball bearings as a road surface I did a few times in my 60 series. Being a Manual Diesel it had a very good low range 1st gear.

But at every diagonal contour bank the tyres would slip & the car felt like it was falling it took off so fast, only to skid back to normal when grip returned. Made the passengers look over the edge (inwhich you could see the bottom) in horror!

But its any length longer than a car length of steep clay that is always interesting - oddly, going up can be easier than going down with decent tyres.

Sounds like you had a moment like in thread 68264 Axle. Good to see you survived.

Now admit, it is a lot of fun afterwards when you don't hit anything.

Its during such moments the true worth of low C of G , narrower tyres etc
and probably traction control (if you had it ) become more than academic.