Traction control on or off in snowy conditions?

[dcmdon]

Turning on or off TC is not a terribly important decision.

I leave it on because although I am confident I can do better than it when I'm fully focused on driving. I'm not always fully focused on driving. Life happens. The phone rings, a good song comes on the radio, whatever.

However one thing you should NEVER EVER EVER do if you are moving at any kind of speed is turn off stability control.

Stability control can do things that you CAN'T DO. No matter how good you think you are.

For example, stability control can brake only the left side wheels to mitigate yaw if you run your right wheels into six inches of wet slush at 70 mph. You can't do that.

So while stability control is no replacement for good judgement. It can save your bacon.

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[Rocksalt]

I’m going to make this discussion easy. Over the last few days I’ve finally been testing the jt in deeper snow(12+). It will bog down with traction control fully on. At least shut off the basic traction control either by the button or off road plus mode. Now on the highway it is a different story. Always keep traction engaged fully. I would not wait until your stuck to turn the button off, unless ofcourse your looking for an excuse to try out your traction boards.

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[NachoRuby]

Driving out on the freeway, I was Jeep's best advertisement (or worse, depending on how "Karen" people get when they see someone can actually drive in the snow).

I saw a woman in a CRV driving down the freeway straddling two lanes. 3 lanes were bare in the tire tracks. If you count the bare stripes from left to right, there were 3 stripes, the CRV in the next two, and 1 stripe left. Idiot. She figured it out shortly after I blew past.

Yeah, I'd definitely be the one you blew past, although not straddling both lanes. 4wd/awd does not eliminate risk. I've done plenty of driving in the snow, but enough to know to always expect the unexpected. There's just no reason to drive fast in snow. Ice or slick patches can be anywhere. The person next to you or in front of you can lose traction unexpectedly at any point.

 

[Stonesolo]

Yeah, I'd definitely be the one you blew past, although not straddling both lanes. 4wd/awd does not eliminate risk. I've done plenty of driving in the snow, but enough to know to always expect the unexpected. There's just no reason to drive fast in snow. Ice or slick patches can be anywhere. The person next to you or in front of you can lose traction unexpectedly at any point.

Yea...I drive 35-45 tops when the roads are crappy...I see no reason to fly just because I have a jeep. I take my time and listen to tunes.

 

[DocMike]

The JT is shockingly nimble in the snow. I find it well balanced. Well, that was on 33s and no lift.
Turn off traction control and feather the throttle and it dances like one of those Hippos in Fantasia.

Do I drive it fast in shitty weather? No. 2wd and 4hi when needed.

My 95.5 URS6 Avant....400hp, 5 spd, and old school Audi Quattro. Pinnacle of Group B tech and took on shitty weather with grace and poise. Biggest issue was snow build up on the ass.

 

[Trickster]

Yeah, I'd definitely be the one you blew past, although not straddling both lanes. 4wd/awd does not eliminate risk. I've done plenty of driving in the snow, but enough to know to always expect the unexpected. There's just no reason to drive fast in snow. Ice or slick patches can be anywhere. The person next to you or in front of you can lose traction unexpectedly at any point.

Let me just add this.
At least 80-90% of the vehicles I see here in the ditch on the highway are….AWD or 4WD.
Better traction….higher speeds….bigger loss of control when shit happens.
Of those vehicles in the ditch the majority are lifted full size pickups driven by younger, inexperienced, coal rolling, inconsiderate, road raging, punks.
I chuckle when I drive by.

 

[RavensEyeOffroad]

On. I would only turn it off if you were in a situation that required being able to get some momentum/speed.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

On. I would only turn it off if you were in a situation that required being able to get some momentum/speed.

I've never seen the need to turn it off. It's never been a problem. It knows when to reduce power to cut wheel spin and slippage. That's one of the points of it.
I think sometimes people just want full throttle control and get pissed when the thing cuts torque to prevent breaking wheels loose. Let it work. It's smarter than a driver and can detect what needs to be done.
Granted, mine has a bit of a problem as I can give throttle at an intersection and it WILL let the wheels spin and it will let the rear go sideways.
But I can go back to my Chevy with all of the controls in it and it would walk through things other trucks wimped out in. There were times I pushed the throttle and it slapped my foot and backed off. It knew if I kept pushing things were breaking loose. It was frustrating coming from decades of that pedal being connected directly to throttle plates via linkage or cable but I had to get over it and let it work.
Bogging down? No, it's not bogging down - it's being smart. It's minimizing wheel slip to maintain grip. I'd bet if a person went back and looked at the tracks left by the tires - when left in control the tracks would be perfect tread imprints but if TC was turned down or off, you'd see a lot of wheel spin. You'd still be moving, but...........

 

[ElDirector]

Personally, I mostly leave TC on. Let the computer figure it out. The JT seems better than most at staying predictable. I HATE unpredictable nannies. My wife's old Saturn AWD was the worst. One minute they would override everything you were trying to do, the next they would shut off completely. Freaking bipolar.

That said, the Gladiator is the only vehicle with this level of "nanny" that I own. I do NOT feel disadvantaged in my other vehicles. They still drive fine in any weather.

 

[stil2low]

Off, but I have a sport with a limited slip. While the nanny system does an ok job, most situations I like the limited to grab and let both wheels dig to get moving

if it was a Mojave or Rubi, then on always as it’s pure open diff when not locked

 

[jac04]

I’m going to make this discussion easy. Over the last few days I’ve finally been testing the jt in deeper snow(12+). It will bog down with traction control fully on. At least shut off the basic traction control either by the button or off road plus mode. Now on the highway it is a different story. Always keep traction engaged fully. I would not wait until your stuck to turn the button off, unless ofcourse your looking for an excuse to try out your traction boards.

You make a great point Jim, and one which most people won't know about until it is way too late. In deep snow, you need to keep those wheels spinning to keep forward momentum. Otherwise, you end up at a standstill with the gas pedal to the floor. I've experienced this, and it is a genuine "WTF is happening" moment. And, once you come to a dead stop in deep snow, it can be tough to get going again.

 

[Josh00333]

In this kind of crud, 5-8" of packed snow. TC is great, so is selec-trac as there is snow and bare spots all over, with the freeways being clear here (plowed).

As noted for normal driving, leave it on. If your in deep snow there are times to leave it on.

99% of the time it stays on.

 

[Fouts]

ON

 

[DailyMoparGuy]

Just leave it on while you’re driving on the road. If you’re stuck in deep shit, then yea turning it off will help. Your margin of error with it off is so much worse while driving in normal snowy traffic conditions though. People who turn it off are often spirited drivers from my experience. They like having full control of the vehicle at all times.

The computer will detect slippage before you do so unless you just like correcting slippage on your own terms then there’s almost no reason to turn off traction control.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You make a great point Jim, and one which most people won't know about until it is way too late. In deep snow, you need to keep those wheels spinning to keep forward momentum. Otherwise, you end up at a standstill with the gas pedal to the floor. I've experienced this, and it is a genuine "WTF is happening" moment. And, once you come to a dead stop in deep snow, it can be tough to get going again.

Just a theory here - if it's in 4 wheel drive mode, since the front and rear drive shafts lock together (thus the part time only) if the truck is moving, all wheels would be turning at the same time. If you slip at the rear, you have to keep the same driveshaft RPM at the front, so I'm trying to figure out how it would detect spinning wheels and cut torque in deep snow when the transfer case is locked in 4H or 4L.
Won't you have the same driveshaft RPM front and rear - and especially if limited slip, about all that could happen is a front wheel spin faster than the other 3?
The only time I had problems moving in deep snow was last year I decided to not clear the driveway - and our driveway is up hill to get out (my 4x4 lawn tractor slips on it in the snow)
I got stopped 3/4 of the way up - was spinning all wheels and the engine never was cut back, likely because the traction control assumed since all 4 were spinning, I was moving.
I noticed at least on my Chevy, if one wheel started to slip the ABS kicked in and slowed that wheel, forcing the torque to go to the others. It never cut torque, it "walked" up the hill and through the snow.

Just thinking and wondering how would it work since both driveshafts are locked together so you get equal torque to each differential.......

I guess you do whatever works.
but I've not had my JT bog down in deep snow - it keeps moving until I spin more than one wheel then the idea is to NOT spin because if you get to a point of no return, you have dug a hole and piled up packed snow behind you, making it harder to back up and make a run. (I've watched a few silly drivers spin trying to get going and they simply make a hole and can no longer back up because of the wedge of packed snow behind them. One was a truck driver - should have known better!)

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