snow driving probs, a few q's

[SteveR]

hi all

Finally the snow has arrived here in Italy.
the road pic is steeper than it looks in pic, I live at the top of it.
My sj has old dunlop sp44 M+s marked tyres.
goes ok in fresh snow but up those hairpin bends on compact snow only just made it, embarassing when old pandas and puntos on skinny winter tyres manage to get up ok. tried both flat out and gentle style, gentle won but only just got up hill, the Italians choose flat out wheel spin method in smaller cars.

So the question is which tyre tread is good on STEEP compacted snow, pics of tread pattern would be good.

Next prob, when driving on the flat in thin wet snow on normal roads, first tried 2 wheel drive and nearly changed ends twice, so 4 wheel drive for 5 miles, on getting home tried to change to 2 wheel drive, lever blocked ( changed transfer lever bush recently), changed ok from 4wd high to low easy but not 2wd. released fwh and rocked and then shuved level in 2wd ok. Is driving on slushy roads a prob in 4wd ?. Suzuki info says ok 4wd on slippery roads, may I have another prob with transfer box.

Any thoughts on the above welcome

[twiss]

hi there! wish we had that kind of snow!!!

because there is no center diff in an SJ... when you are driving on the road in 4wd and have grip... as you go round corners the front and rear props turn at different speeds and this can "wind up" the transfer box and get it stuck in 4wd.... you can normally undo it by reversing a little bit!

its not very good to drive in 4wd on grippy surfaces and should be avoided if possible... as too much wind up with grenade the transfer box eventually!

as for the tyre pattern... in that kind of snow i would want something like 80% off road/20% on road if possible

[dan_2k_uk]

You probably had a tiny bit of transmission windup. Just creeping backwards in reverse while applying gentle pressure to the lever probably would have got it out.

With regards to tyres I think if you only plan to use the SJs four wheel drive capability for dealing with snow I would get some dedicated winter tyres. It really will make a huge difference.

I had written all this then Twiss replied. Not going to waste it!

[twiss]

hahah fair enough