Handling question

[Guest Lenny]

Today while out doing some suspension testing, I was running at about 30mph along a rough gravelly road. I say gravelly because the rocks were up to maybe 1-1/2" in diameter with a hard surface below them. I came up on a turn that forced me to brake down and steer into it. All 4 wheels started to skid some but nothing locked up. General wheel to road traction was fine but then the rear started to swing around on me. Probably got to maybe within 15 or 20 degrees of sliding completely sideways. Started to think "so this is how you roll it". The front seemed to hang in good and tracked where I steered it. The front held tight while the back felt light on traction. I realize that the loose gravel made the situation worse but both front and rear were on the same gravel. My question is, is this caused from over steer and do I need to lessen my tow in or is it because the front took more then it's share of the weight on braking and if so how do I correct that. Afterwords, I played a bit more and found that the rear would get loose when braking hard on gravel while turning. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Glad I was strapped in good. As my suspension gets better, I find myself going faster in rough stuff and some things that are not scarry at slower speeds show up a bit more concerning. With more experience at faster speeds I'll learn how to deal with these situations a little different. I guess the only way you learn what it feel like when something starts to go wrong is to have something go wrong.

Lenny

[BeeZee62]

Lenny, my T2 does similar on gravel roads but I've just attributed it to the fact that I'm running on MudLites. On any other surface handling is fine but on gravel it's like I'm steering in the general direction I want to go. Although I've gotten quite good at sliding through corners like a pro, rolling over is always on my mind. I was hoping that switching to truck tires would alleviate the problem but I've not done that yet (mud it far too much fun). What type of tires are you using?

Barry

[Quig]

Lenny, my T2 does similar on gravel roads but I've just attributed it to the fact that I'm running on MudLites. On any other surface handling is fine but on gravel it's like I'm steering in the general direction I want to go. Although I've gotten quite good at sliding through corners like a pro, rolling over is always on my mind. I was hoping that switching to truck tires would alleviate the problem but I've not done that yet (mud it far too much fun). What type of tires are you using?

Barry

, newb here,, rough idea on what air pressure to run in tires,, & shocks? mainly gravel,& dirt roads & trails, not much sand or rock climbing,

[brostar]

Lenny, that's how we drive it in New Zealand and gravel is your friend when you do it right. On the tarmac(not with the mudlites), you would have to drift it to stop it rolling but on gravel you just power up and point your noise where you want to go. Of course most of the time this means crossing the wheel up, if you know what I mean. The Trooper behaves like a Rally car and that's just one more reason to like it. The secret is to set yourself up for the corner and use your pedals to steer more than your steering wheel and don't brake in the corner, keep the pedal to the metal. Like Rhys Millen in this video, which showcases the difference between gravel and tarmac beautify.

By the way, this is one of the best driving your see and he is a Kiwi.

Quig, I have 16lbs in my tyres have left the shocks as they were set and do your kind of terrain plus mud, lots of mud. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention mud, heaps and heaps of mud.

Cheers Mike.

[flatbed]

Lenny, a couple things will do what you are saying, but it sounds like your springs might be a little soft on the front letting weight transfer off the back when you get into heavy braking, the other thing is you have to much brake in the front but i do not think that is it. Try rasing the front end and see if it changes it at all, that would give you a idea if that is what is going on.

[Guest Lenny]

Lenny, that's how we drive it in New Zealand and gravel is your friend when you do it right. On the tarmac(not with the mudlites), you would have to drift it to stop it rolling but on gravel you just power up and point your noise where you want to go. Of course most of the time this means crossing the wheel up, if you know what I mean. The Trooper behaves like a Rally car and that's just one more reason to like it. The secret is to set yourself up for the corner and use your pedals to steer more than your steering wheel and don't brake in the corner, keep the pedal to the metal. Like Rhys Millen in this video, which showcases the difference between gravel and tarmac beautify.

Quig, I have 16lbs in my tyres have left the shocks as they were set and do your kind of terrain plus mud, lots of mud. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention mud, heaps and heaps of mud.

Cheers Mike.

Wow, great video. Reminded me of when I raced motorcycles, no motocross then. I was on a TT track, after the the long straight away, it crested over and ran down hill following a closing radius turn to the left. I'd be wide open down the straight and as I crested, I would hit the compression release with a little light front braking. This would scrub off some speed and cause the rear wheel to begin to drift out as the bike began to cross up. Then begin to roll the throttle on and power slide the corner. Like poetry, what a rush. With my Trooper yeaterday the corner snuck up on me, they had done some earth moving and the corner sort of went over a berm into some rough stuff if I missed it. I could of went straight and rode it out letting the suspension do the work but I felt I could make the turn. I just didn't expect the rear to come around and when it did, I figured if I hit the pedal, that it would have spun. Sliding off the trail into the rough in this condition didn't look good. Haven't got the feel of a lot of power sliding yet and stay shy of rolling. I thought it was going to go over but it stayed real stable. BeeZee62, I'm running 31x10.5-15 Micky Thompson Baja Claw tires at about 10-12 pounds pressure. In the sand, I'll drop them down to 8-10. They do a good job on dirt, rocks and in the sand. The fun starts when you get a little dangerous.

Lenny

[Guest Lenny]

Lenny, a couple things will do what you are saying, but it sounds like your springs might be a little soft on the front letting weight transfer off the back when you get into heavy braking, the other thing is you have to much brake in the front but i do not think that is it. Try rasing the front end and see if it changes it at all, that would give you a idea if that is what is going on.

Thanks for the insight. I will give that a try. Good to hear from you. You always stay so busy that it's a treat to have you stop and post once in a while, Thanks

Lenny

PS: You mean I have to stiffen my front and go do that turn again that scared me the first time.

[brostar]

Lenny, I see what you mean now. The Trooper can be tail happy in 2wd and on the marbles in 4wd it is the same, but regardless as soon as you put the anchors on as you start to slide, with or without tweaking the T2s setup, you will loose more control. If you can pull it up in time then no harm done. I always try to power out of a bad saturation, but that is not 100% the answer. I grew up on metal roads and as soon as I got my first car this was our weekend entertainment. I had a near miss once when someone panicked so much just as I was heading into a notorious hairpin I slammed the brakes on and slide towards the outside of the corner and pulled up about five feet from a huge drop-off.

Flatbed, good to hear from you mate, howz that hotrod build coming on? I've sold my Z28, but might get another one to play around with sometime into he future but the kids have got to that stage where they have cars now so not a lot of room around here.

Cheers Mike.