Failed hill-climb in an automatic

when i have failed on climbing a steep offroad climb, with my manual Toyota 4runner, i simply put gear in reverse and took feet off brakes and clutch and allowed the vehicle to roll-back in reverse with engine breaking, sometimes i used the brakes to control the descent, but taking care to avoid locking any wheels

with my automatic colorado, it seems to go back pretty fast in reverse. I found this out again this weekend on a steep grassy bank (in between bagging some bunnies with the rifle) , which took me several attempts to get up, even with tyres at 15psi and rear-locker engaged.



I have read that it may be better to use two feet, one to feather brakes to slow the vehicle down without locking the brakes and causing a slide and the other to use the accelerator to help the torque converter lock-up more and help with engine-braking - but i have always chicken'd out of trying this

I have also read of leaving the auto transmission in a forward gear and rolling back like this? (I "think"I might have read this in Tom Sheppards book, but i need to check again to be sure)
but wouldn't this damage the transmission.

any thoughts?

also got bogged down again, but airing down tyres got me through (and saved me having to call farmer or AndrewT to pull me out)

Did you have it in low range as well Andy? I haven't had that happen - will try at the end of the month when I'm out playing again, I hope

yes Gary it was in low

Hi Andy,
I've always found the two foot trick to help more than anything else with the auto box ... steep ascents/descents being a bit rubbish in an auto is the main reason why I bought a manual.

Cheers,
Grant

With the auto, it drops like a brick for a bit until it all catches up. Then you get some control. On a really steep hill it can be terrifying frankly. I have tried leaving it in a forward gear when going backwards and each time it has stalled the engine. Yep, you can stall an auto.

Chris

Does the abs disengage on these? Still braking a bit wont do any harm, better to start off slow than to have to slow it down later

yes ABS disables when in low-range

aye Chris - i stalled it once leaving it in a forward gear, which surprised me too,
i will have to practice more with the reverse gear and get used how long it takes for it catch up and slow down!

Just use the foot brake, it works for me

Chris said:

With the auto, it drops like a brick for a bit until it all catches up. Then you get some control. On a really steep hill it can be terrifying frankly. I have tried leaving it in a forward gear when going backwards and each time it has stalled the engine. Yep, you can stall an auto.

Chris

Click to expand...

Agree Chris, it will stall. Best way and the way we teach the 4x4 response is to use left foot breaking. It is the only way. Also never put it in park then you have failer a hill climb. As some times it can lock the gear box and you can not get it out of park without going forward.

Paul

Further to what Paul and Chris have said just read this:

http://www.burniemorgan.com/grand_vitara/driving_thru_brakes.html

adrianr said:

Further to what Paul and Chris have said just read this:

http://www.burniemorgan.com/grand_vitara/driving_thru_brakes.html

Click to expand...

Surely that cant do the brakes any good?

One of the nice things about coming down a steep hill in a manual in low range, is you get to the bottom and as the brakes havnt been touched there not red hot and fading.

Interesting read. I have always just used my right foot on accelerator and brake in failed ascents and the control can be a little lacking. The left foor technique will taka little practice to get right but I will try it when I get a chance. But as Ben says, cant do the brakes much good.

Agreed it probably may not do the brakes a lot of good but if its that or out of control must be better.

The number of times it would get used i would have thought would be pretty small, plus you are not normally talking about really long distances for using it, and if you are using it to prevent acceleration rather than to drag down full weight of the truck from say 70 mph to a stop you wont be producing anything like that amount of heat and wear on the components?

I have to say that generally I go into neutral. Simply due to the fact that the engine has so much torque that it pushes you against the brakes which doesn't help. I do this going forwards too. The brakes on an 80 are pretty good and you can usually control the descent well. Never had them fade when doing this maybe it's a 70 thing.

Next time you are going down a steep bank in low try it in neutral and you'll see how much control you get back. Ok some circumstances you should be in drive but its a good technique especially in ruts where you don't have to steer

Chris

I put it in reverse and roll back down on the brakes. With it in reverse gear, if you do start to slide and lift off the brakes you get control back a bit quicker with the engine trying to turn the wheels instead of relying on friction with the ground. Depends just how slippy it is I guess. Left foot braking to modulate the power going forwards over tricky bits works well.