deathbyfire

I drove a jeep a few years back at Jeep 101. One of the things they demoed was going up and over a large hill. On the way down the jeep was controlled and crawled down slowly on its own. I tried this in my 2007 JK X the other day and that wasn't the case. I ended up having to brake all the way down.

I don't know a ton about cars so not too much ridicule if this is a stupid question, but what do you all think would be the difference and what made that other jeep crawl down so controlled. It was a stock jeep. Is there something I can mod on mine to make it crawl down like that?

jquader

were you in 4lo?

deathbyfire

Yeah, I was. I shifted into 4 wheel low, but then a few days later found out that I had broken this disc that threads the cable on the shifter. I wonder if it didn't go into 4wl and was maybe stuck in 4wh

I Drill

i'm sure you were in 4hi. being in 4lo will result in very little if any breaking.

jquader

yeah, sounds like you never made it to 4lo.

Try again once you're repaired.

deathbyfire

Yeah, I went to show my buddy who drives an FJ how it goes downhill and it just went like a mad truck downhill. I told him that isn't how it happened on my old jeep and the last one I drove.

deathbyfire

Kewl, will do. Had it repaired already. I will take it back out and give it a go. Thanks for the fast replies.

flyer415

I would also think that you want to be in the lowest gear possible. Mine is a standard so i leave it in 1st as well and let the engine compression do the braking. If your's is an auto then I would think that you would want to shift into L1 as well. (Not quite sure what the readings are on the auto)

deathbyfire

Yeah, it is an auto. When taking it offroad you are saying I should shift out of regular drive?

flyer415

When going downhill I would put an Auto out of regular drive and put it in a low gear...Yes.

Most people drive their autos in D continuously. The other gears are available and should be used. In this situation I would definitely use L1 or whatever it is labeled for going downhill.

Are there other times that I would use D3 or L2...yes. Whenever I towed something like a boat at the max weight I would start in a lower gear and shift up while I was driving/cruising.

I have standard trucks and jeeps so I have never offroaded with an auto so no response from me on if you should do it as a default measure.

My initial response is really regarding going downhill. Engine compression works great.