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Tyler's New Mexico adventure


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He wasn't alone -- 3 others with him. And had HAM as well as cell coverage throughout - along with his offroad club on standby to come rescue if needed. He facetimed me from the summit,,

 

Chuck,

 

Cool.  I should have known Tyler was sensible enough to cover all bases.

 

Graeme

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Unlike the other 3 cars?? what were they thinking??

 

Nathan,

 

I had the same issue in the snow on I80 this weekend.  Boy racer in a Subaru that thought AWD meant that he could drive 20mph faster than everyone else and weave through us all.  I knew he had less traction than I did, and I had the diff locked and TC engaged.

 

Graeme

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Glad to see him helping. Hard to tell from the shakes recovery video it appeared that he was pulling the subaru with his winch cable while reversing. From multiple experiences it is not the best idea to pull in reverse. Lots of load on the front axle can cause breakage.
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Glad to see him helping. Hard to tell from the shakes recovery video it appeared that he was pulling the subaru with his winch cable while reversing. From multiple experiences it is not the best idea to pull in reverse. Lots of load on the front axle can cause breakage.

 

Jason,

 

Actually, the front differential is stronger in reverse (unless you have a reverse-cut gear-set fitted).  The CVs are equally strong in each direction.  The one possible thing is that the axles themselves have a natural twist in the normal drive direction, but I doubt that is significant.  Reverse gear is lower than first, but that is no worse than an underdrive in multiplying the torque, and on an automatic gearbox the torque converter softens that anyway.

 

Graeme

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Frank blew his front diff on the Rubicon a few years ago pulling Chuck's truck out backwards and commented that he should have known better as those gears had a lot of hard miles on them and he shouldn't have put that kind of load on them in reverse.

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I lost a front CV trying to pull a U-haul truck in reverse. (haven't broken anything on the front since).  Watch a jeep front ring gear let go trying to pull a tree in reverse.  watched a front axle grenade on a '69 bronco pulling a jeep up a hill in reverse.  I have watched all three of those vehicles pull in forward without damage.  Maybe it's anecdotal but my theory is that pulling in reverse subjects the front axle to much greater normal force as the suspension loads up, similar to what happens in the rear when driving forward.  The additional normal force produces higher frictional forces and increases the torque applied through the drive train.  I can't say that the axle isn't engineered to the same standards between forward and reverse but I will only pull in reverse as a last resort based on what I have witnessed.  just my $0.02  (plus i would rather fix a rear axle over a front on the trail any day.  haha) 

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I avoid pulling in reverse when I can. I busted a diff doing that when I was dragging some railroad ties around my yard. I also busted Frank's diff when he was pulling me out in reverse on the Rubicon once.  I let the winch do all the work, have truck in neutral. Of course if you get out, remember to engage the parking brake. Otherwise bad things will happen. That is how Tyler ended up with that truck. 

 

I'd have to look at the situation again to see how he was doing the towing, but my assumption was it was a pretty light tug. 

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When I watched it I too thought he was pulling using his wench as a tow strap.  And it did look like a light pull but then again if you broke a diff just dragging railroad ties around....Jeez!

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I lost a front CV trying to pull a U-haul truck in reverse. (haven't broken anything on the front since).  Watch a jeep front ring gear let go trying to pull a tree in reverse.  watched a front axle grenade on a '69 bronco pulling a jeep up a hill in reverse.  I have watched all three of those vehicles pull in forward without damage.  Maybe it's anecdotal but my theory is that pulling in reverse subjects the front axle to much greater normal force as the suspension loads up, similar to what happens in the rear when driving forward.  The additional normal force produces higher frictional forces and increases the torque applied through the drive train.  I can't say that the axle isn't engineered to the same standards between forward and reverse but I will only pull in reverse as a last resort based on what I have witnessed.  just my $0.02  (plus i would rather fix a rear axle over a front on the trail any day.  haha) 

 

Jason,

 

Dana and Ford differentials are very different to Rovers.  A Rover diff is the same front and rear, with the front running on the "coast" side of the ring gear.  That makes the front about 70% of the strength of the rear, running in the forward direction.  In the reverse the opposite is true.  I could entertain minimal vector forces changing that a little due to suspension squat, but work hardening of axles in one direction is the only other potential cause of "reverse failure" being less than forward failure.

 

Regards,

 

Graeme

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