stuck in the woods...but there is a plus side.

[hotpod]

well we have had 48 hours dry with some sunshine, so we are going for recovery tomorrow morning if it stays like this.
will take some photos and movie and keep you all posted.
as i said, i have never managed to get it properly stuck before and thats not for want of trying, but this has made me realise i still have a lot to learn.
perhaps it is high time i actually attended a syncronauts event rather than just thinking about it.

tyre pressures will be the first thing i do. i never even thought of it on the day!

thanks everyone.

[Mick & Tracey]

Hotpod

I have a very similar situation in my wood. My advice is same as others - drop the tyre pressures down - it makes a huge difference and I've often turned what felt like terminal situations into "what was the fuss all about" by doing this on sand and mud. Drop them as low as you dare, no desperate need to monitor pressure exactly, prob 10-12 psi at which point tyres will be quite flat. Risk is that you might shred the tyre off the rim but avoidable if you take it gentle & steady. Carry a decent electric pump - not el cheapo Halfords otherwise it will overheat / take an eternity to get tyres back up to pressure.

First gear often better than G unless it's really steep / rock crawling.

Other options without winches (which in themselves can be terrifingly dangerous if you don't know how to use them), would be using foliage to create a natural waffle board or stones/ gravel, getting passengers to push, digging.

If slipping on steep ground, don't panic. A heavy 4x4 slipping can easily become quite scary. Stop. Get out. Get passengers out. Chill. If you have to brake (syncro's are annoying in not having low ratio reverse gear), try to gently cadence brake and resist the urge to keep brake pedal down. Keep clutch out. Easier said than done, which is why practice sites with others around / getting experience training are helpful.

I wouldn't bother with front locker on a twisty track and would prefer to feel where fronts are going but maybe that's just personal preference, but would put rear on at start of climb and get it engaged by deliberately wheel spinning on easy stuff (never been comfortable with the idea that the diff lock will instantaneously kick in before you're bogged down)

Re: tyres. Opinions can be divided between wide MT treads and narrow less aggressive treads, argument (of old school landy owners) being that narrow treads cut through to base rock more easily.

On a slightly different tack, I recently drove a new Freelander on road tyres on similar ground. I was gob smacked when all I had to do was to re-dial a different traction setting and when it spun, keep wellying it. The clever ABS / traction control all did their stuff and it went up. I'd have probably been spinning all day / bogged down in the syncro. Hey ho!

[Aidan]

Mick, Syncro R gear is the same as G gear, ie low
imho one of the best things about a syncro is the slow reverse no need to feather the clutch like on a 2wd
hence the ability to reverse up things , sometimes you need the engine weight on the 'front' wheels

[jebiga41]

Hotpod

On a slightly different tack, I recently drove a new Freelander on road tyres on similar ground. I was gob smacked when all I had to do was to re-dial a different traction setting and when it spun, keep wellying it. The clever ABS / traction control all did their stuff and it went up. I'd have probably been spinning all day / bogged down in the syncro. !

yeah right and pigs do fly

[syncropaddy]

Hotpod

On a slightly different tack, I recently drove a new Freelander on road tyres on similar ground. I was gob smacked when all I had to do was to re-dial a different traction setting and when it spun, keep wellying it. The clever ABS / traction control all did their stuff and it went up. I'd have probably been spinning all day / bogged down in the syncro. !

yeah right and pigs do fly

Careful now ....... I've been having some great fun in my Freelander this week in a very big quarry up in the wee North! I like a vehicle that can off road quite well and then let me drive 150 miles home, well in excess of the motorway speed limit in air conditioned comfort with the cuise control on! Not a thing a syncro can do very well!

[jebiga41]

Pity you get stuck in wet fields with it and have to get farmers to pull you out

[hotpod]

UPDATE:
went back on sunday to find that even after 48 hours of dry, the ground had improved very little.
tried to drive the truck out as was and got stuck at the same point.
i backed it onto a flat straight bit of track and let all the tyres down to around 15psi ( checked roughly with my cheap plastic compressor) and pulled both diff locks with the idea that having the front one on would give me an idea of when my wheels were straight. i have power steering but it is still quite clear that the van wants to go in a straight line when the front lock is on.)
it then proceeded to drive out of the woods without batting an eyelid.
unbelievable.
CONCLUSION:
letting my tyres right down is the single most usefull piece of information i have had for years. it made a massive difference. i knew the theory but as i have never got stuck before (i have had a few cold sweat moments dont get me wrong but the van has always won so far) i didnt imagine it would make that much difference.

Lucy still agrees that i need a winch though.

and what are the options for a compressor onboard? the cheap plug in the lighter socked one pumped up each tyre in about 5 minutes but i wouldnt want to rely on it doing all 4 on a regular basis.

took some movie on my phone but will E D I T it and try to upload it later if its any good.

thanks everybody.

[PetenAli]

I think Viar make the best portable compressors - check out the 300 (top one on this link) http://www.mattsavage.com/acatalog/comp ... table.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've had one for several years now and although they have gone up in price I still think its good value. You need a heavy duty plug or to have it connected up to your battery (they come already fused). I wouldn't want to run it off my fag lighter. They were designed for the type of tyres we run and inflate pretty quickly - in a different league to your Halfords special.

The after sales service is good as well.

Hope this helps,

Pete

[Aidan]

i've reverted to a footpump, suprising good a good one (like my 1940s one with leather washer) compared to cheap electric compressors and good excercise

[HarryMann]

Coscto are doing a BellAire 12V compressor for about £20 inc They're no bad, better than the Michelin ones, but still starts to puff from 40 psi upwards ona big tyre...

[Mick & Tracey]

Hotpod wrote:

and what are the options for a compressor onboard?

ARB http://www.arb.com.au/products/arb-air-compressors/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and others do onboard compressors, mainly used if you also want to run dif locks / air tools off them as well. Nice bits of kit, but maybe overkill for many people's needs.

[HarryMann]

Dont be swung into buying 50mm stuff , 38mm is more than adequate. IRRC we worked out my G wagon (2.8t ), vertically balanced (if you can picture it) on one wheel so all the weight was going thr a 6" sq contact area wouldnt snap 38mm

But don't think a 38mm (Green) waffle board will take the weight on a Syncro wheel when spanning more than about 3 foot, or even 3 foot, as an unsupported bridge. Tried it, and the (fibre) cracking sound was quite alarming.

There is a slight factor over and above surface area equivalent of all the edges of a waffle board, if the ground surface is not completely loose dry granular sand. I suppose if caught out one could use thick cardboard under the waffle board.

[ELVIS]

dunno answer to this one chap, maybe your board was fubar'd? 38mm is more than man enough when in serviceable condition

Have done LFH (just off Sarn Helen, north of Banwen) in a G wagon - (on a good day you can do it in 2 or 3 hours but it is less than a mile ) with 38mm boards. They do creek and groan first few times you use them , after that they just know they are going to be punished so dont bother moaning

If driving a substantial 'span' on boards its good practice to go back to what was said earlier - lower tyre pressure to decrease surface pressure. Also be careful when lowering front tyre pressure and using front locker at same time , what steering control you think you might have left after engaing front locker decreases even further. Go too low and you run helluva lot more risk (over rears) of taking tyres off.

Now, lets talk about beadlocks!

Whatever you do, do it safely , written off westy syncro oettinger 16" etc etc is still cheaper to replace than loved ones

[Mick & Tracey]

Now, lets talk about beadlocks!

Umm serious stuff! Never used them but interested to hear your experience. My gut reaction is that I wouldn't be confident in a syncro transmission holding up in extreme high torque situations - actually I must confess when the going gets really tough I want my old FJ back!! Will await "Judas" accusations....

[ELVIS]

it was a joke/talking point- same as decouplers i guess

i *guess* way to go is to use strongest/best quality outer Cvs and cheapest/second hand inners. Therefore purposely making the weakest part to fail the cheapest (on fronts anyway) part of the drive train. When running ARBs/carlos fandango tyres etc always used standard drive shafts on landies as they were by far the cheapest (and with a big magnet) easiest part to replace- cheaper and easier than a diff anyway

im with you, end of the day if you want a serious/decent off roader for any technical driving other than lanes, dont buy a syncro.


Im with you





judas