Finding a Selec-Trac In Stock?

[dcmdon]

They seem great so far. I've driven them at highway speeds during heavy snow with lots of heavy wet slush. They were good.

Just today I took them down a power line trail. Fresh "virgin" snow with a crust on the top and about 10" of snow underneath - good.

Braking, turning and stability has been great.

I've had Blizzaks and Michelin Arctic Ice snows and they seem comparable to them. I didn't know about the Generals. To my knowledge the Nokians are the only 285/70-17s you can buy. Prior to these modern snows, I had all kinds of skinny, knobby Vredesteins and Gislaved snows on my Saabs and Subarus.

I"ve got SelecTrac so I'm in 4H Auto most of the time and have no idea how often I would need it if I was in RWD. I can tell you that the combination of SelecTrac and the Nokians makes for an awesome snow machine.

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[Snake Eyes]

So...not having select trac makes the JT crappy in snow? I haven't had any issues in snow once in 4WD and using general grabber AT tires...maybe I'm just used to driving in those conditions for years. If you can...school me on why it's better.

Agree. Mine does not have it and I am fine. In fact we chose NOT to order it with the 22 JT I got. Like off-roading…driver skill makes up most of the success.

I had a TJ back in 97 which of course back then nothing like it and I drove it in blizzards, ice, snow, rain, varied road conditions, etc without a lick of a problem. Shifted when I needed to.

Personally I would rather not have it so I dont “rely” on electronics ano have a sense of complacency. When I was a LEO the vehicles I pulled the most out of the snow were cars with AWDs and 4x4s who just thought whatever their setting was they were fine and let their guard down. And I was in a RWD Ford police vehicle.

For some reason a lot of people with AWD or 4H Auto drive faster thinking all is good and then all of a sudden find out the it means “drive” not “stop” and off the road they go or they hydroplane.

I drove a RWD miata in Idaho with the appropriate snow tires and weight in the trunk was as good as any other vehicle.

I have had only one vehicle in a long time with anything but RWD or 4x4 Part Time and I have lived in Utah, Idaho and Colorado.

 

[COmtnbiker]

With Selec-Trac, does the JT lurch/awkwardly turn through tight turns? When I have 4H on - the JT makes turning seem like you're breaking the thing....

 

[Robtco99]

I used my Select-Trac on the way to work this morning. It's a great option to have, especially when road conditions vary. Another reason to order one, plus dealers like Gupton that offer under invoice pricing make it a no brainer

 

[jac04]

With Selec-Trac, does the JT lurch/awkwardly turn through tight turns?

No it doesn't.

The Selec-Trac is basically 'invisible' in how it operates. However, there have been a few times that I have been able to notice my Selec-Trac, all under the exact same conditions: accelerating briskly from a stop while making a very tight turn with 3-4" of wet snow on pavement. It's almost like the system is shifting power around for a few seconds before figuring out what to do.

 

[dcmdon]

With Selec-Trac, does the JT lurch/awkwardly turn through tight turns? When I have 4H on - the JT makes turning seem like you're breaking the thing....

Absolutely not. It's completely smooth and transparent.

It feels just like it's in RWD except that when you put your foot into it the truck just goes.

If you have any experience with any AWD cars, it's just like that.

 

[dcmdon]

Earlier I mentioned that while it's certainly not necessary, its better.

This morning I was thinking about this thread while I was driving so I took some photos.

I started out on this solid icy road covered in a dusting of snow.

Then turned onto this town road. Plowed, but not salted, with packed powder a dusting of fresh snow.

Then onto this state road with some residual snow and the potential for black ice.

Then onto this well plowed and salted state road.

Then I turned around and went home. All this within 10 miles.

With SelecTrac, there's nothing to remember or worry about. I completely agree that it's not necessary. I survived driving in the snow in a RWD car when I first learned to drive.

But there is no denying that in most cases on road AWD (what 4H-Auto really is) is clearly superior.

For what it's worth, someone on mudders with their Jeep in RWD is driving a vehicle that's no better than my 78 Monte Carlo that I had as a first car.

 

[legacy_etu]

Earlier I mentioned that while it's certainly not necessary, its better.

This morning I was thinking about this thread while I was driving so I took some photos.

I started out on this solid icy road covered in a dusting of snow.

Then turned onto this town road. Plowed, but not salted, with packed powder a dusting of fresh snow.

Then onto this state road with some residual snow and the potential for black ice.

Then onto this well plowed and salted state road.

Then I turned around and went home. All this within 10 miles.

With SelecTrac, there's nothing to remember or worry about. I completely agree that it's not necessary. I survived driving in the snow in a RWD car when I first learned to drive.

But there is no denying that in most cases on road AWD (what 4H-Auto really is) is clearly superior.

For what it's worth, someone on mudders with their Jeep in RWD is driving a vehicle that's no better than my 78 Monte Carlo that I had as a first car.

This must be up North because there's no snow around me here in Northern RI or MA.................which is fine by me I'll add.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Earlier I mentioned that while it's certainly not necessary, its better.

This morning I was thinking about this thread while I was driving so I took some photos.

I started out on this solid icy road covered in a dusting of snow.

Then turned onto this town road. Plowed, but not salted, with packed powder a dusting of fresh snow.

Then onto this state road with some residual snow and the potential for black ice.

Then onto this well plowed and salted state road.

Then I turned around and went home. All this within 10 miles.

With SelecTrac, there's nothing to remember or worry about. I completely agree that it's not necessary. I survived driving in the snow in a RWD car when I first learned to drive.

But there is no denying that in most cases on road AWD (what 4H-Auto really is) is clearly superior.

For what it's worth, someone on mudders with their Jeep in RWD is driving a vehicle that's no better than my 78 Monte Carlo that I had as a first car.

That's pretty well stated.
For most of us, true, not "necessary" but for a few who have difficulties because of what life threw at them years ago, it's almost necessary. Or at least a huge safety factor. We tend to forget - we're not all built or made or born the same and forget those who don't have all perfect limbs. For some, it's an aid for sure.

It's definitely convenient.

Heck, there's times I had to shift my 2020 into and out of 4H just on my own property! And I'm talking only about 3 acres at most.

Absolutely not. It's completely smooth and transparent.

It feels just like it's in RWD except that when you put your foot into it the truck just goes.

If you have any experience with any AWD cars, it's just like that.

I can make mine jump a little bit in a REALLY tight turn on the rough pavement here where the tires don't slip a lick when it's dry and even my dual-quad car doesn't break 'em loose easily. But it's rare and mild. It takes a real tight to the steering stops to make it happen, and slow speed.
When taking off from a stop the clutches are actually engaged. You can see it with jscan - the pressures and engagement of the clutch packs in the transfer case. It's like it's assuming that taking off from a stop you will need the 4 wheels planted and driving. So it doesn't wait for a wheel slip when taking off from a dead stop - it's engaged from the jscan screen shots I've seen. (not mine, posted by another guy)

It's not quite like a Grand Cherokee in how it works, but not that far off, either. I have felt a slip before it kicked into action as if it's double-checking to see if it was a simple one-off thing or if it really needs to engage but it was barely noticeable.......... I just have a feel for that sort of thing, I guess.

Speaking of learning on rear wheel drive - all of my first cars were RWD, and they almost all had LSD (not the type 1/4 my high school class was using at the time)
I had a 77 AMX with the rear window louvers when I was first married and lived out in the sticks next to a federal reserve (roads not well maintained)
Narrow winding 2 lane blacktop to get to the road we turned off to get to the road we took for the last several miles to get home.
We went into Des Moines on a clear night to see a movie. Movie over - blizzard had hit. Got to that winding narrow highway and almost to our turn south, the road was blocked by drifts and a jack-knifed semi. Crap. No way to turn around, and the only other road we could turn onto to go south to get home was almost a mile back. She rolled the right window down a bit, cleared the mirror and watched to the rear while I used the left mirror and peaking through the rear louvers and backed that car what was probably 3/4 of a mile back to the other road. Luckily no one else was on the highway. The 4 speed transmission in that car had a really high reverse so that was fun, too.

 

[jac04]

If you have any experience with any AWD cars, it's just like that.

I really like the Selec-Trac. While it works really well and is very transparent, I find that it isn't as advanced as a 'real' AWD system.

But, I'm coming from a long line of AWD cars (5MT WRX wagon, 2 5MT WRX sedans, 5MT Legacy wagon, VW Golf R DSG, Audi Allroad, plus my wife's 5MT A4, Forester and 2 current gen CX-5s).

My 2019 Allroad had Ultra Quattro which monitored a zillion things to preemtively send power to where it was needed (outside temp, road temp, barometric pressure, steering angle, throttle position, engine torque, lateral & longitudinal acceleration, relative wheel speed, driving mode, and it even used what it had 'learned' about my driving style).

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I really like the Selec-Trac. While it works really well and is very transparent, I find that it isn't as advanced as a 'real' AWD system.

But, I'm coming from a long line of AWD cars (5MT WRX wagon, 2 5MT WRX sedans, 5MT Legacy wagon, VW Golf R DSG, Audi Allroad, plus my wife's 5MT A4, Forester and 2 current gen CX-5s).
My 2019 Allroad had Ultra Quattro which monitored a zillion things to preemtively send power to where it was needed (outside temp, road temp, barometric pressure, steering angle, throttle position, engine torque, lateral & longitudinal acceleration, relative wheel speed, driving mode, and it even used what it had 'learned' about my driving style).

Because with a little science and geometry, they can avoid a slide or skid by controlling each wheel and that's only possible if they know what each wheel is doing independently.
A true system not only controls the power flow to each axle, they control it at each individual wheel, including not only applying brakes via ABS, but giving a wheel MORE torque if needed.

A friend who works as a tech in a Mercedes shop near DC gets a hell of a deal on Mercedes lease (he's one of the top techs there). He was showing off his ride at one of our race events a while back and he took that thing up to 100 mph on the highway outside of the track and let go of the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes. The car took over, it never deviated from being centered perfectly between the lines and it stopped faster than I'd seen a car stop before. Scary as crap when he did it - I thought - "we're gonna DIE!"

 

[Ogre_FL]

Do you guys notice any difference in MPGS running around in 4H Auto vs 2H?

 

[ecidiego]

Do you guys notice any difference in MPGS running around in 4H Auto vs 2H?

It would have to be lower. I know our MDX has 2mpg less ( SH-AWD ) than the FWD versions.

I've always found it odd how ALL variations of Jeeps, from the most base Sport to a loaded Mojave ( sorry Rubicons!! =D ) have the "same" MPG on the Sticker. MDX has different economy figures on the Stickers with AWD versus FWD. Maybe because you cannot turn off AWD the way you can 4A in Jeep?

 

[ZTMAN]

The one and only feature I wish I had that I don't is Selec-Trac (automatic 4 wheel drive).
I've been casually checking dealer inventories within 300 miles from home, but it's a tedious process of loading my other preferred options and then taking a close look at the results one by one, because there is no check box for Selec-Trac on Jeep.com, Autotrader, or cars.com.

If anyone knows of a trick I may be missing I'd love to hear it.

Go on cars.com and search for new Gladiators. At the bottom of the search, there is a key word box. Type in selec-trac and the Gladiators with that option will populate

 

[dcmdon]

I really like the Selec-Trac. While it works really well and is very transparent, I find that it isn't as advanced as a 'real' AWD system.

But, I'm coming from a long line of AWD cars (5MT WRX wagon, 2 5MT WRX sedans, 5MT Legacy wagon, VW Golf R DSG, Audi Allroad, plus my wife's 5MT A4, Forester and 2 current gen CX-5s).

My 2019 Allroad had Ultra Quattro which monitored a zillion things to preemtively send power to where it was needed (outside temp, road temp, barometric pressure, steering angle, throttle position, engine torque, lateral & longitudinal acceleration, relative wheel speed, driving mode, and it even used what it had 'learned' about my driving style).

Some of those systems are definitely more advanced than SelecTrac.

However, our system is architecturally identical to what VW and Audi use in the Golf R, Jetta, and A3 and possibly in the non-S model A4s. I can't speak to the software, but I suspect that the software in something like a Golf R is going to be more sophisticated than what is in our jeep or even a Golf Wagon. A non performance system isn't going to worry so much about steering angle, manifold absolute pressure, drive mode, and things of that nature)

Our system also architecturally identical to the system used in current Subarus, except for the STi.

In all of these systems there is a primary drive axle(s). At low throttle and when no slippage is detected power is sent to that axle.

At higher power setting or if differences in wheel speed are detected a clutch gradually engages to send some of the torque to the secondary axle.

The VW/Audi system is known as a Haldex system. The clutch on that system is actually in the rear differential, but it functions the same.

Interestingly, ever since the Legacy came out in roughly 1991, Subaru used different systems in their MT vs their AT vehicles. The MT vehicles used a TorSen center differential that always sent power to all 4 wheels. The AT vehicles used an electronically controlled transfer case.

So in summary, our system is identical to many AWD systems in several cars.

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