Stuck in the mud....

[richied]

I'm sorry to bother everyone (or anyone) with this. I'm a complete 4x4 newbie, having collected my first ever 4x4 two days ago. It's a 1996 3.0L manual surf. It was a nice day today so I took it for a spin across the fields, because I now had the right vehicle to do it in (or so I thought). I lost traction in soft ground and got stuck. Needless to say I was in the low 4wd gear all the time. I was surprised enough that I was stuck, but even more surprised when I looked out the window and saw that only my rear wheels were spinning and the front ones were doing nothing. Am I missing something here? I thought all four wheels should be turning. Is this normal? I walked home and returned with a armful of planks and thick timbers to put under the wheels, but couldn't get out no matter how much rocking I did. I eventually had to abandon it there. I don't know anyone with a tractor to pull me out so I'm buggered. Something about this doesn't seem right, it's behaving like a 2wd machine. Can anyone fill me in? Sorry about this, nobody likes a rookie...
Cheers Richie
email: mr.richarddoherty@gmail.com

[BioHazard]

Do you have a late 2nd gen or a 3rd gen ? are you sure you were in 4wd ? Did the light on the dash light up?


AND welcome to the nuthouse .........Beware the squirrel

[BioHazard]

Another thought .....if it's a manual has it got manual locking hubs??

[blackpoolsparks]

Ill leave the issue of whether your truck is working correctly to the others.
The point I want to make is this:
Just because you bought a 4 wheel drive dosent mean that you can throw it into any old muddy feild and expect it to drive through without a problem.

Off roading correctly is a skill thats developed over time. Additionally the correct components need to be utilised, like M/Ts (mud tyres) in your case.

The only way to develop these skills is to go and drive through mud, however NEVER ALONE. (Ask the Lovely Boyo, he'll tell ya)

I admire your enthusiasm, however your common sence is a bit questionable

[cazyp]

One of my friends has one with manual locking hubs and that has a manual gearbox..

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

Welcome to the Nuthouse

Make yourself at home and feel free to join in the banter

As previously said going offroad alone is a no no.

Did you have any lights lit to indicate that 4x4 was engaged ?

[richied]

Hey all thanks for the help. I'm pretty sure its a gen 3. Yeah I knew it was a bad idea without the right tyres, but it's just in a field beside my mams house, so I didna see the harm. I wasn't expecting to sink (now I know). I called the guy I bought it off and he said that it has an automatic hub, so there's no screw to turn on the front hub.

Everything seems to be working fine, the 4wd lights up on the dash when I shift to L4 and H4, and if I press the 4WD button when it's in H2. I had no reason to doubt that it was driving all 4 wheels. I didnt try this on pavement of course. From what I've been reading in various threads the problem might be the vacuum hoses (whatever they are). Am I right in saying that if I'm in L4 or H4 the centre diff is locked and the front wheels should be turning too?

Thanks

Richie

[richied]

This is it, from the original for sale ad

[goodcat]

This is it, from the original for sale ad

you bought a white box with a red cross in it?

[Macca81]

you say you only saw the back wheels spinning when you looked out the window... does that mean you could only see the 2 wheels on the drivers side? because there is every chance the front passenger side was spinning and the rear drivers but the other 2 had traction and therefor didnt spin. the diff will send drive the the wheels with least resistance, meaning you only need to loose traction on 2 oposite wheels to loose drive...

[TonyN]

Yeah, Like Macca said, you'll only ever see one wheel on each axle spinning on a stock surf.

Its unusual for the 4wd system to broken, if your getting all the correct lights on the dash.

You've just got it stuck, don't worry about it. Find someone to pull you out, and buy for better tyres, then check where your driving for bogginess in future.

[richied]

Ha, for some reason I can't see images in the forum, so I thought that photo might have uploaded properly. My bad

I'm a little confused; does a diff lock then not lock the wheels together? I thought the point of 4wd was that you had drive to all 4 wheels? Whats the point of having it then if when in ground like this you only get 2wd due to the diff? In my case, I had someone with me and they were able to tell me that neither of the front wheels were spinning at all, but both rear wheels were. This was obvious when I looked myself as the rear wheels had buried themselves but the front ones were sitting nicely on top of the ground and weren't caked in mud like the rears.

[richied]

Oh and it's a KZN185. Gen 3 then right?

[Ava_Banana]

Yup, the 185 is the Gen 3.

Presuming standard gen 3 with no LSD.

Standard operation:
Open front diff, Open rear diff, centre "diff" (transfer case) not connected.
Drive to rear wheels, but if one spins the the other won't necessarily.

4wd engaged:
Open front diff, Open rear diff, centre "diff" (transfer case) open "diff".
Drive to both axles, but if one wheel on an axle starts spinning the other won't necessarily and the other axle won't necessarily pull you out of a hole as all drive will go to the spinning wheel.

4wd engaged, diff (transfer case) locked:
Open front diff, Open rear diff, centre transfer box locked so power will definately go to both axles even if one starts spinning, but if a wheel on each starts spinning then you are stuck.

If you wan't "proper" diff locks, you need to look at money on either an LSD of some sort or an electric, manual or air locker.

[Albannach]

http://search.autotrader.ie/www/cars...argeid=6423994

It is a Turd Gen.

Methinks you've just been a bit silly with it...