LR3/Discovery 3 off road traction control video

[MrWesson]

My tires may suck but they provide a good workout for the terrain response 4x4 system.

06 LR3 4.4 HSE(no locker)
Crap road tires(not even all season) and stock size
Suspension in Super Extended mode(maxed out)/4LO/Rock Crawl
Terrain is loose dirt,shale, and gravel off camber stuff.

Shot with my camera phone because I forgot my action camera(pain to setup alone).

No annoying music.



Open to suggestions about operating the Terrain response system and driving in general. The system works very well but IMO requires more wheelspin than is needed before braking.

 

[DiscoDavis]

Open to suggestions about operating the Terrain response system and driving in general. The system works very well but IMO requires more wheelspin than is needed before braking.

That is a frequently noted observation, and a good one. Some say the non-lockers have to give it a bit more power/spin before the system kicks in while those with lockers don't have to.

 

[unseenone]

What did you try?

Low Range, grass gravel snow or rock climb. The street tires are probably your biggest problem. I would be interested to see the difference with a set of Nitto Terra Grappler G2's.

Then you can go slow, give the computer time to figure out what is going on, see what happens.

 

[ColoDisco]

I see more than just a equipment issue. And please don't take this the wrong way. You have to give the truck every advantage by picking the right line. I see you getting hung up on the back tire while turning full lock and punching it. Every time you put the steering straight again it grabbed and went. The physics are working against you with the line you pick and the angle of the front tires kept you there.

That being said, the tires are rubbish. Get off-road tires if you want to rock crawl. I recently bought tires knowing I was heading to Moab and plan on some difficult trails and steep angles, and was I ever glad I did!

 

[Victory_Overland]

My experience, which is not too much but enough and tested by a fellow Landy buddy says......"keep the crawl going at constant throttle and when wheel spin happens, hold continuous throttle and the traction control will compensate after just a few seconds". Everytime the throttle is stepped on during wheel spin, the traction control is playing catch-up.

Slow, patient and steady throttle response gets the most out of the LR3/4 traction control with no lockers installed.

Give that a try and see how you like it. I learned the hard way too and then found out my skill was greatly improved by letting the traction control prove I have little skills. :victory:

Rover on brother, keep us posted. :smiley_drive:

 

[A.J.M]

As said.

Keep throttle steady, you need to work with the car and the systems.
Also, turn DSC OFF! Helps a lot in keeping power to the wheels when the car wants to reign it in.

 

[MrWesson]

I see more than just a equipment issue. And please don't take this the wrong way. You have to give the truck every advantage by picking the right line. I see you getting hung up on the back tire while turning full lock and punching it. Every time you put the steering straight again it grabbed and went. The physics are working against you with the line you pick and the angle of the front tires kept you there.

That being said, the tires are rubbish. Get off-road tires if you want to rock crawl. I recently bought tires knowing I was heading to Moab and plan on some difficult trails and steep angles, and was I ever glad I did!

To put into some context as to where I was at. I live in FL and this is a abandoned rock quarry. I did a good job of framing the shot but in reality its very small. Basically I had to turn in every shot or run into trees where the camera was positioned. the whole hill was probably 100'x100'.

You're right about picking lines but I didn't really have much choice.

As to the tires its on @ the top of the list but I can't justify replacing tires with good tread at the moment.. Just bad timing as i'm planning alot of big ticket spending this month(European vacation, paying off another car,etc).

If it were me driving in the loose dirt and gravel situation that you were in, I would have put the terrain control into sand mode. It looks like it took a lot of spin before the traction control really kicked in and did much. Sand mode "aims for a cautious take off" because "any wheel spin causes a vehicle to sink into it" (pulled form the terrain response white paper). And yes, if you were really trying to just get through the obstacle, then you certainly made it more difficult on yourself by the cranking the steering wheel with the spin. However, I didn't know if you were just trying to really test the traction control or if you were just trying to get through the obstacle.

I've tried sand mode in similar situations and found it let me down. I noticed the opposite where the TC allows tons of wheelspin to keep you moving in sand mode. Wouldn't I want the center diff locked for climbing?

The area was very small and many times required a 4 point turn just to approach the next line.

My experience, which is not too much but enough and tested by a fellow Landy buddy says......"keep the crawl going at constant throttle and when wheel spin happens, hold continuous throttle and the traction control will compensate after just a few seconds". Everytime the throttle is stepped on during wheel spin, the traction control is playing catch-up.

Slow, patient and steady throttle response gets the most out of the LR3/4 traction control with no lockers installed.

Give that a try and see how you like it. I learned the hard way too and then found out my skill was greatly improved by letting the traction control prove I have little skills. :victory:

Rover on brother, keep us posted. :smiley_drive:

This has worked best for me in the past and how I was driving in the video until things went south, I got impatient and didn't trust the system like I should have.

As said.

Keep throttle steady, you need to work with the car and the systems.
Also, turn DSC OFF! Helps a lot in keeping power to the wheels when the car wants to reign it in.

Wouldn't turning DSC off keep the traction control from doing its job(braking the correct wheels)? Like I said i'm new to this type of system.

 

[DiscoDavis]

slightly off topic but what is the best mode to force the Centre diff to lock more often?

 

[MrWesson]

slightly off topic but what is the best mode to force the Centre diff to lock more often?

When and rock crawl mode it seems to me that it's always locked. At least more often.

 

[EricTyrrell]

Wouldn't turning DSC off keep the traction control from doing its job(braking the correct wheels)? Like I said i'm new to this type of system.

DSC maintains vehicle stability so you don't crash. It does this primarily by reducing engine output which is often unnecessary or detrimental off-road. Traction control works independent of it.

 

[aek50]

DSC will f@&k you up when you need power the most killing momentum and possibly taking you off your line. First thing I do is turn it off before hitting the trail.

 

[MrWesson]

DSC maintains vehicle stability so you don't crash. It does this primarily by reducing engine output which is often unnecessary or detrimental off-road. Traction control works independent of it.

DSC will f@&k you up when you need power the most killing momentum and possibly taking you off your line. First thing I do is turn it off before hitting the trail.

Tested and confirmed yesterday. Thabks guys!

 

[nwoods]

Late the party here. I only watched the first minute and yeah, you are working against the system. DSC off (wherever you are off pavement). Go into first gear (manually), 4low, rock crawl mode. Then while driving: Keep your foot off the brake, and maintain Gentle.Steady.Throttle Pressure. This cannot be understated. Maintain gentle steady throttle pressure. You should notice the TC kicking in after one or two wheel rotations, not spinning freely as in your video.

 

[zelatore]

slightly off topic but what is the best mode to force the Centre diff to lock more often?

Yes - rock crawl is by far the best way to get the center engaged.

So many times I've wished I could manually control the lockers on the LR3, but it's just not so. RC is the best you can do.