[muskyman]

Steve,

you are correct the H2 and rubicon are in a defferent class, the rubi is really a 2 person and some gear truck meant just for off-road enthusiasts

I believe you took my above post as a bash on the H2. It was not in any way. It was a response based on what a number of testers agree with in the 4wheel drive world.

The Jeep you spoke of was not a Rubicon so you are correct when you say apples to apples. All jeeps are by far not equal.

You said the 1 jeep you have seen was raised and had large aggressive tires.

When you lift/raise a vehicle you then raise the center of gravity.

When you add larger tires you also raise the center of gravity

That combination of modifications that raise the center of gravity on a short wheelbase most often reduce a vehicles hill climbing ability do to a increased weight transfer to the rear wheels.

I would also wonder about the drivers skill level by your description of the aggressive driving style.

Good drivers are smooth and graceful . you rarely get the feeling they are being aggressive. More often then not you watch them and they tip toe thru things by choosing the correct line and the correct locations to apply power

The hill you describe brings back many memories for me. Steep hills in relatively soft terrain vary often end up looking the same way. The passage of vehicles causes a rut to develop at the top. Rain and erosion then work on the rut in combination with trail traffic to make a rut that sucks in a vehicle causing it not to be able to pass it easily.

The proper technique to pass these locations is a combination of steps. These hills very often are soft on the bottom. This is a result of the material from the rut being flushed out and down to the bottom of the hill this part of the climb often needs to be a smooth acceleration thru the soft area on a line that aims at the higher of the two sides of the rut. As you reach the rut you need to roll of the throttle and steer across the rut. As your first tire crosses the rut you need to counter steer back into the rut using the vehicles weight against the first tire across to hold the other front tire on the other side. From this point you are straddling the rut and as you continue up the rear tire on the side of the first tire across will unweight and lift due to weight transfer. During this moment you need to avoid aggressive application of power because or it will make your other rear tire break traction and slide down the slope into the rut. By keeping your rear tireon the slope its most often a high traction climb to the top because the two high slopes will have good traction because they wont be weakened by erosion due to the fact all the area water runs down the trench.

In areas where the trench has eroded to a point its to wide to straddle the lower side of the slope will almost always have a area large enough to hold the vehicle to small to straddle it. In this case you then continue across it and the second front tire across will be the tire lifted. Once again avoid large amounts of acceleration during the moment of a lifted tire due to the fact that power will cause side slip that will slide you into the trench.


Driving tactical trails is a thinking mans game. Time and experience combined with a true knowledge of your vehicles strengths and weaknesses is what the key is

Case in point: Back in the mid 70’s Malcome Smith noted world champion cross country motor cycle racer and Jackie Stewart where hosting the “widow maker” hill climb on ABC sports. After 2 hours of watching every kind of cycle fail to make the climb. Including huge power paddle wheeled specialty bikes made just for that purpose. Jackie Stewart started goating Malcome into trying it. Malcome was astonished that nobody could drive up a hill that had so many places of good traction. Well TV being what it was back then Malcome put on his duds and got on one of his cross country racing Husquvarna’s he rode slowly to the base of the hill and started up in a very controlled graceful manner he drove close to bushes and foliage where roots systems hold the ground tight. He blasted rooster tails across a couple soft sandy stretches.he used momentum to jump the two or so ridges that stopped all the other riders and made the top in a very graceful well thought out manner.

That’s what off road is about!

Peace

thom