Section 9: Out on a Trail
Some rules and driving tips
Just follow the leader
Participating in an offroad trail run is essentially just “follow the leader”.
For even greater explanation, read our article “What to expect and prepare for on your first trail run”.
The Trail Leader is your guide and mentor. The Leader will use the radio to announce upcoming turns, obstacles and provide suggestions about the best “line” to take.
For example, “We’ll be coming up to a wash shortly. Stay to the drivers side to avoid some nasty ruts.”
Note that we use the terms Drivers Side and Passenger Side rather than left side/right side to avoid confusion, especially if someone is spotting you from roadside, facing towards you so that their “right” would be your “left”.
The best advice for beginners is to watch the jeep ahead of you and follow in their tire tracks. If your caravan consists of mixed vehicles (Jeeps, Toys, etc), I would suggest grouping similar vehicles behind each other, with an experienced driver at the front to demonstrate the optimum “line” for the others to follow.
“Drive at a pace that YOU feel comfortable with; the other drivers will accommodate your speed (or lack of it). ”
Make sure you can see the car behind you
At all times, keep an eye on the vehicle behind you. If they fall too far behind, slow down until they catch up.
If the cars in front of you get too far ahead, use your radio to ask them to slow down so that you can catch up.
If you come to a fork in the road or an announced turn, wait there until the car behind you can see where you are turning. This is especially important if the caravan gets spread out.
You have a radio; use it! Don’t be hesitant to ask for advice, such as the best way to negotiate through an obstacle or how to bypass it. What gear should you be in: 4wd hi or 4wd low? Did the Leader suggest staying on the Driver or Passenger side?
Spotter watching and guiding tire placement
Maybe the obstacle looks intimidating. It is okay to ask for a spotter to guide you and coach you through it. Getting over some rocks or steps can be tricky, especially since you cannot see where your front tires are placing. A set of eyes outside the vehicle really help a lot!
If you notice a road hazard while driving, announce it for the benefit of everyone behind you. Maybe there is a washout on one side of the road, sort of hidden in the shadows. Or a protruding rock that could threaten a tire’s sidewall. Perhaps a pipe sticking out.
We start the trail together, and we finish the run together. Never separate from the group or decide to go off and explore another path on your own. Stay with the group until the air up point is reached or the run is officially concluded.
If someone does have to exit prematurely (mechanical issues or emergency), someone should accompany them back to the highway. Sometimes, two vehicles go with them, if the escorts plan on catching up to the run afterwards – because what if a lone escort breaks down on the way back!
Do not attend a run if you are watching the clock and have plans for later that day. Return times are only estimates. We don’t always finish on time, because there are so many variables. Don’t expect twenty jeeps to rush through difficult obstacles just because you have dinner reservations.
Roles of the Lead, Tail, and Mid Gunners
There are at least two, but usually three, people who serve as the staff on a trail run.
The Trail Leader is the primary person in charge. He or she leads the group and has the final say. The Leader is responsible for navigating the trail and should have “pre-run” the route recently to verify trail conditions and to make sure that their saved .gpx tracks in onX or GAIA are accurate and up to date.
At the rendezvous site, the Leader will collect waivers or release forms and conducts a brief drivers’ meeting.
During the run, the Lead will announce turns, obstacles, and offer driving advice. Periodically, he or she will ask for status reports from the Mid and Tail, to make sure that the caravan does not get too separated.
Second in command is the Tail Gunner. The Tail acts as the caboose and is visibly able to monitor the back half (or third) of the column.
A Mid-Gunner inserts about half-way down the column and keeps an eye on the handful of vehicles in the front half of the column that are between the Mid and the Leader. Small groups, such as only 6 cars, often forego the role of Mid. Very long columns, such as over 15, may even have a second Mid to help keep track of things.
Gunners should have a copy of the .gpx trail route on their devices
Mids and Tail will echo any radio instructions from the Leader. That confirms that they heard the instructions correctly and serves as a “repeater” to insure that any vehicles in a radio blindspot or at the far end of the column can hear the instructions.
The Trail Leader should share a copy of their route .gpx file with the Tail and Mid Gunners, in case they have to escort someone off the trail or for redundancy in case the Leader’s electronics fail.
Tail (or Mid) should be familiar with and have onboard GPS navigation along with a copy of the Trail Leader’s .gpx file route – just in case the Leader has electronic problems or if the caravan gets separated for any reason. Sometimes, a driver very familiar with the trail will drive in the number 2 slot, just behind the Leader, to help advise the route.
“To volunteer as a Gunner, you don’t have to be an expert in everything nor stock your vehicle with all sorts of recovery equipment. Our jeep club encourages new people to experience the roles of Mid or Tail, because we realize that there are some highly experienced club members in the run who can step up in the event of an emergency.”
Understanding 4 wheel drive
Not to alienate my fellow Subaru drivers (besides owning a Jeep Wrangler, we also have a Subie Outback Wilderness) — there is a world of difference between 4wd and All Wheel Drive (AWD). I am not going to get into all the technical details here, but it is easy enough to Google should you want to explore the subject.
In a nutshell, AWD translates into Any Wheel Drive; not Every Wheel Drive.
Power goes to any of the four wheels, as needed. A differential determines if power should go to Driver or Passenger side; or if power should be directed from Rear axle to Front axle. Many of the “civilian” SUV’s that promote themselves as AWD could almost be considered one-wheel-drive!
Differentials, by their nature, send the most power to the wheels or axles that have the least traction – which is counterintuitive to what we want to happen on a trail. You would think that if one tire is spinning fairly freely, and the opposite tire is firmly grasping the ground, then the tire WITH the traction should be receiving the most power. However, “open” differentials direct the most power to the free spinning wheel, while reducing the power to the tire with the traction!
Electronic Traction Control uses a sophisticated system of controlled intermittent ABS braking wherein free wheel spin is reduced, thus encouraging the differential to output more power to the good wheel (with traction). They system is fooled, because of the applied braking to the free spinning wheel into sending power to what used to be the slower rotating wheel (the one that was not slipping), which the differential now sees as the “faster spinning wheel”.
Subaru uses a very sophisticated computer monitoring & ABS control to achieve a more consistent power distribution that comes closer to 4wd than their competitors, but they still depend on differentials.
Subaru is really good at achieving very well balanced power distribution to all four wheels, which makes them such great cars. But in extreme terrain, the CV transmission and differential drivetrains just cannot send enough overall power/torque to a wheel for the car to overcome the obstacles that a Jeep Wrangler or 4-Runner would easily manage. Subies don’t have enough low gearing strength for just one or two gripping wheels to haul an entire car up a steep, slippery obstacle. The strain becomes too much, and the system stalls rather than burning itself out.
Compare AWD to 4wd. With 4wd, the transfer case, not a differential, can directly lock both axles to the driveshaft so that 50% of the power always feeds front and rear. 4wd vehicles still use differentials to allocate how much power goes to Driver and Passenger, although lockers or limited-slip-differentials mitigate that. Low gear transfer cases can generate even more direct torque to the wheels, providing the power to climb over rocks and ascend steep, slippery hills.
You can think of it in a layman’s way like this. Differentials suggest where power ought to be directed. Transfer cases and lockers demand where power is directed, and don’t take no for an answer!
“As owners of both a Jeep and a Subie, I can testify that there is a significant difference. The AWD performs better on wet highways and light snow than the Jeep, since the Jeep is generally in 2wd on paved roads; and the Subie does just fine on mild offroad trails. But even the forest rangers know that uncertain offroad conditions might stop an AWD and will post signs indicating that some roads are restricted to “4x4 High Clearance Vehicles Only”. They will ticket you if you are caught driving an AWD, even a respectable Subaru.”
How to
operate
4wd in your Jeep
Note: For those who do not drive Jeeps, read your owner’s manual or ask someone at the dealership to explain your specific vehicle’s 4wd features. The buttons may differ, but the principles are similar.
Lockers: When you engage Lockers, the Driver and Passenger wheels are locked together, and the differential no longer allows for slight speed differences between either side.
Normally, when any vehicle turns left or right, the outer wheels will spin faster than the inner wheels. The role of the differential is to allow this difference in turning rate on either side of the axle to avoid dragging the tire or binding.
When the differential is LOCKED, both wheels rotate in sync with each other, regardless of either wheel losing traction. Great on straightaways, but not good if you are turning.
You can engage lockers for the front, rear, or both axles.
Limited-slip differentials are somewhat similar to a locker in that they try to maintain even power to both wheels, even if one tire loses traction. Not as good as a locker, but much better than a standard open differential.
Not all Jeeps come equipped with lockers or rear axle limited-slips. For example, Wrangler Rubicons come with front & rear lockers, along with electronic sway bar disconnects. Wrangler Saharas do not have lockers, but a limited slip rear differential could be ordered as an OPTION.
Transfer case shifting lever (which is separate from the transmission shifter)
The transfer case, unlike the differential found in AWD vehicles, directly engages (or disengages) the driveshaft with the front axle. 50% of the engine power is directed to both axles. There is no difference allowance for rotational speed (as there would be with a differential) when the transfer case is engaged. Both axles will rotate in sync at the same speed. The transfer case shifter allows you to choose between two gearing ratios: 4wd-Hi for more speed but less torque; or 4wd-Low for greater torque but slow speed.
2-Hi: This is your standard driving mode. Power is only applied to the rear axle. Always use 2-Hi when driving on dry, hard non-slippery surfaces such as asphalt, cement, or solidly baked offroad trails that feel like nature cemented over them.
When your dirt trail connects with a maintained road, remember to shift from 4wd back to 2wd until you return offroad.
“To transition from 2wd to 4wd-Hi, just pull the transfer case lever towards the rear. You can do this on the fly, so long as you are under 50 mph.”
4-Hi: This mode engages 4wd so that power is applied to front and rear axles equally. It is okay to drive in 4-Hi up to 50 mph.
You can freely shift between 2-Hi and 4-Hi on the fly, so long as you are under 50 mph. Just pull the lever straight back towards you (or push it forward away from you).
When your car is in motion, all four tires naturally rotate at separate speeds during a turn. On straightaways, your four tires are in step with each other; but when you turn, the front axle rotates at a different angle than the rear axle, which means it is at a different speed. Also, the inner tires rotate slower than the outer tires.
4wd wants both axles and both sides to be in sync, which does not happen while turning. So we don’t want to use 4wd on dry surfaces that would force our tires to skip or drag, while creating undesirable torque to our drivetrain.
Instead, we want to drive on loose, slippery roads that facilitate some tire slip & slide. Otherwise we are generating twist to the drivetrain components. Loose dirt or gravel, wet, muddy, or snowy paths are optimum for 4wd.
If you encounter an obstacle, or need to control your downhill speed, learn how to use the semi-manual Sportsmode, sometimes called a Paddle Shifter. Pull the Transmission Shifter sideways towards the driver from D to M, and it will allow you to manually toggle (no clutch to worry about) between all your gears. M1 being the lowest, slowest, but most powerful --useful for steep hill ascents or descents. M2 or M3 if you want a little more speed. Pushing the lever forward will select the lower gear and pulling it backward will raise the gear. Judicious use of the low gears will prevent you from riding the brakes when coasting downhill.
Although you could work your way through all of the available gears, I usually just nudge the Transmission Shifter back to the Drive (automatic) mode beyond M3 or M4.
4-Low: Use this mode for maximum torque to your wheels but try not to exceed 25 mph. Most of the time, we are in the 5-15 mph range. Low gear is for clambering over obstacles, tackling steep hills up or down, and places where you need strength & traction. For even better control during steep ascents/descents, additionally use the semi-manual gearing such as M1 or M2.
There are many Trail Leaders who just remain in 4-Low the entire time they are offroad, but feel free to ask the Trail Leader to advise when you should be in 4wd Hi or shift to Low.
Shifting in and out of 4-Low can be tricky at first, especially in a Jeep. New Jeeps can be difficult to shift for the first few tries, until the gears wear in a little. Ask the dealership or a fellow Jeeper to teach you.
· First, come to a complete stop, or at least a very slow crawl not more than 2-3 mph. Most of the drivers that I know prefer to stop completely.
· Shift your Transmission from D to Neutral.
· From 4-Hi, push the transfer case shifter sideways toward the Passenger, and then yank it towards the rear. The first pause puts it into Neutral. Pull hard some more until it clicks into 4-Low. The indicator in your dashboard will show what setting you are in.
· Then, go back to the Transmission shifter and return it to Drive.
After several practices, this process will become second nature.
If the transfer shifter is stubborn and doesn’t want to go from Neutral down into 4-Low, try letting the Jeep roll a couple feet to facilitate the teeth in the Transfer case to realign.
If you are on a Trail run and either forgot how to shift between 4-Hi and 4-Low, or the Jeep is uncooperative – use your radio and ask someone to help you! Do not be embarrassed; mastering the art of the Jeep transfer case is a rite of passage that all of us have struggled with, and that the commercials never mentioned.
“An advanced driving technique to get over obstacles is to TWO-FOOT it. Keep your left foot on the brake pedal while using your right foot on the gas. Applying a little bit of simultaneous braking will send some power to spinning tires as well as keep your engine RPM’s higher which increases your power.”
