nope not at all, I do it every time I wheel in deep snow or loose sand.

As you rev up, your wheels will loose the traction that makes them jump, then you'll be back to normal but revving over 3000 rpm's.

 

How much are you airing down to? I recently did a snow run (actually the first one) and noticed a big performance and drivability difference with just a couple psi difference. It was deep snow but I did not notice this jumping thing.

 

Our 08' Rubi does the same thing in deep BC snow. I thought it was binding up or something. Then I remembered that the diff's have posi clutches in them, but only the front does it. I'm going to check the motor and tranny mounts as well. Our shifter in our 6 speed hammers around when it does it. It'll bounce around under 3000 RPM on flat ground until just above idle. It's very annoying and friends thought our Jeep front end was ripping itself apart. Coil suspensions with the control arms like this shouldn't be hopping this badly.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention that I thought the posi clutches were slipping. I've checked the diff backlash and changed the oil to synthetic 80W-90. Still there. Is adding an additive like Ford's CXL-3 to the diff an option. I've read that it doesn't require it but would it hurt the posi clutches?

 

well, front wheel jumping in the snow is NORMAL if you're not revving enough. All to the mentionned above is also a normal condition when front wheels are jumping. The only thing you can do to fix it is either to rev up more to make them spin faster or just to slow down to try to let them make their way up on snow.

Usually, I air down to the same I do when wheeling on rock, and as long as I don't have beadlocks, that means around 15 psi.

 

I have not tried airing down yet, but will do so next time. It usually is a quick trip with the kiddos!

 

See my earlier post for why it happens.

I came back from an all-day snow trip this weekend and airing the tires way down (5 PSI for me) stopped the hopping as the tires floated better.

 

If you're trying to break through our wet snow expect the Jeep to hop & shudder & be very loud. That's normal, especially going up hill. What psi you running? We're up in Squamish yesterday & ran 10psi. Never had any problems with our 3.21/open diff sport. The rubi that was ahead & breaking fresh snow sounded like it was going to fall apart though lol

 

Airing down should help. Don't get it jumping too much as it is hard on the drivetrain/suspension. Get too carried away and yes you can break stuff.

 

To me, sounds like the jumping is the standard 4-wheel-drive binding that happens on grippy terrain.

The binding could be causing the snow pack under the wheels to push/crush/collapse/slide - basically creating a washboard surface.