Re: ABS Limitationsu

From: Bruce Aaron Hefner (gt9742a@prism.gatech.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 05 1997 - 23:04:09 EST


>
> I found another road surface on which ABS is of little value this weekend.
> As several auto magazine writers have noted, snow atop glare ice is one
> surface where you're actually better off without ABS - the snow will pile
> up in front of a locked-up tire, and help stop you. I've found this to be
> true back in Montana, but the advantages in other winter driving conditions
> outweigh that disadvantage.
>
> I've also found four-channel ABS quite useful offroad, and on gravel and
> sandy "roads". With the rains this weekend in California, I found one
> more surface where ABS doesn't help -- I don't know if it hurts, but --
> and that's sticky, gumball mud. The kind of clay'ey, clumpy mud that
> clings to tires and makes them get bigger and bigger, then flies off and
> sticks to whatever it hits.
>
> As it happens, I was descending a steep, narrow fire road, with a 1000-ft
> drop, no guardrails (ha!), sections where half the road was washed out
> (generally on the inside of tight turns) and another mile of downgrade.
> I put the truck in the ditch only once (I was lucky there was a ditch at
> all at that point -- the alternative would not be pretty) and I was able
> to back out pretty easily in 4WD-Low. It was a challenge though. The rear
> tires would collect mud, getting bigger in diameter, and wanting to go
> faster than the front, so I'd have to stab the throttle to keep the front
> in front, and to shake off the mud in back -- and gaining speed! The ABS
> kept the rear from locking when I'd hit the brakes, so the mud would
> accumulate again, the rear would come around again, and...
>
> Oh, and did I mention this is with enough elevation to be IN a rain cloud?
>
> Dakotas...RULE!
>
> There is an interesting afternote to this. I found out I'd sucked the
> bushing and pin out of one of my fancy Bilstein shocks in back. Didn't
> know you could do that, but the folks at Off Road Warehouse have had a
> few Chevies so abused... Bilstein has changed the part number; anyone
> wanting to fit Bilsteins on a 4x4 Dakota, I'm using the shock they spec
> for a Chevy Suburban: F4-B46-2042-H0. I didn't check on part number changes,
> but the front shocks are usually fit on Ford F250's. With the greater
> unsprung weight of the 31x10.5-15 tires, this setup works very well.
>
> Jim
>
> Dakota - the Right Caliber of Dodge Magnum Force.
>
>

Just wanna know, where is this trail, I gotta try it some time, it sounds
awesome....

Bruce



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