ABS and off-road use of LR3

[bterpstra]

I got caught in a surprise thunderstorm coming down black bear pass this weekend. I was in my D90, but it got me thinking.

I am not comfortable being in steep situations with the ABS still on. Does the LR3 have a means to disable ABS in crawl mode or is there a way to temporarily disable it?

Appreciate anyone's insights here.

 

[jwest]

I wonder what differences there are in the first Terrain Response mode that would be at least better for that situation.

It's too bad if we can't turn it off though like my BMW motorccyle. On the track I turn it off of course but when in the rain it allows more traction in corners if left on. It's kind of cheating how much better than the other superbikes it is in rain on the track.

 

[Swift]

Why would you want to turn the ABS and electronic traction aids off? They are what makes the LR3 (Discovery 3 over here) such an unbelievable off-road vehicle.

 

[bterpstra]

Why would you want to turn the ABS and electronic traction aids off? They are what makes the LR3 (Discovery 3 over here) such an unbelievable off-road vehicle.

Not the traction control - just the ABS portion. I understand that the two are linked but in a severe downhill direction having ABS functioning isn't safe. The Mercedes G-series turns ABS off when in 4-Low.

The idea is that when heading downhill on a loose surface, it's better to allow the wheels to lock up and create a small ridge of loose material in front of the wheel to facilitate stopping. If the ABS is on, the wheel can't lock up so it can't create the small berm of material.

It's one of my few annoyances with the vehicle.

 

[LR3 Owner]

Not the traction control - just the ABS portion. I understand that the two are linked but in a severe downhill direction having ABS functioning isn't safe. The Mercedes G-series turns ABS off when in 4-Low.

The idea is that when heading downhill on a loose surface, it's better to allow the wheels to lock up and create a small ridge of loose material in front of the wheel to facilitate stopping. If the ABS is on, the wheel can't lock up so it can't create the small berm of material.

It's one of my few annoyances with the vehicle.

Thats interesting thanks for the post.

 

[Swift]

Not the traction control - just the ABS portion. I understand that the two are linked but in a severe downhill direction having ABS functioning isn't safe. The Mercedes G-series turns ABS off when in 4-Low.

The idea is that when heading downhill on a loose surface, it's better to allow the wheels to lock up and create a small ridge of loose material in front of the wheel to facilitate stopping. If the ABS is on, the wheel can't lock up so it can't create the small berm of material.

It's one of my few annoyances with the vehicle.

Hmm, interesting. The LR3 uses the ABS to make the Hill Descent Control feature work, but I was under the impression that once your speed got low enough, jumping on the brake would cause the wheels to lock. I assume you have an LR3 which is how you know about the problem?

Now if Land Rover would raise the speed level at which the air suspension lowers then I would be a lot happier. Ever developed enough speed to crest a large sand dune and the car starts beeping at you halfway through the attempt?

 

[jwest]

Now if Land Rover would raise the speed level at which the air suspension lowers then I would be a lot happier. Ever developed enough speed to crest a large sand dune and the car starts beeping at you halfway through the attempt?

Matzker in Germany makes an electronic unit (pricey~$1500 usd!) that allows user overide of the height settings as well as +/- 1" from current setting. Meaning, in normal "hwy" mode, you can drop it 1" for better handling in corners/aerodynamics but you can also raise it 1" from either normal or off road height and keep it there - at least up to 60mph. I like the idea of the off-road + 1" to allwo for more initial snow depth clearance on even the basic jeep trails that are no problem in summer but a different animal in winter.

They also make some beautiful hub-centric billet spacers for the wheels to help with tire widths but I think that they really only make sense for the lowriding 22" city builds because the swing area of the tire further offset would run into body/wheel arch parts sooner with the tire set another 25mm outboard.

On anther thread here I saw that one can semi-permanently (by going under and swapping for shorter height-sensor-control-arm-links) cause added lift to all settings- with a few camber issues of course. Adding the elec kit to the physical "trick" would allow the mechanically lifted "normal" height to be dropped on inch for hwy driving and therefore keep tires better aligned and probably safer while retaining and even further extending the tricked heigh increase.

Very possibly this is when the whole thing would crumble to pieces if not rebuilt with better supporting structural members....

 

[bterpstra]

I was under the impression that once your speed got low enough, jumping on the brake would cause the wheels to lock. I assume you have an LR3 which is how you know about the problem?

Actually I wasn't aware of that. Need to try that in my driveway when I get home. That would somewhat address my issue, depending on the speed at which that happens.

Exactly the sort of feedback I was hoping for. Wanted some facts on that BEFORE I ventured out on trails like Black Bear.
Thanks.

I agree with you on your speed/lowering issue too.

BT

 

[gordonwh]

If you hit the brakes whilst the hill descent is active, yes, you can lock up (all 4 of) the wheels.

Cheers,

Gordon

 

[bterpstra]

So I just need to remember to actually use HDC. Never actually used it before.

Thanks.

BT

 

[JamesWyatt]

So I just need to remember to actually use HDC. Never actually used it before.

Doesn't HDC come on automatically in Rock Crawl mode?

 

[gordonwh]

I'm not sure if different spec'd vehicles vary with regards to HDC, but mine comes on whenever a TR program other than 'sand' is selected (and perhaps grass/gravel/snow, I can't remember). The speed at which it cuts in is then varied via the cruise controls - in rock-crawl you can set it to the lowest speed. You can manually switch it off, but it will reset itself if you change the TR setting.

Cheers,

Gordon

 

[bterpstra]

Doesn't HDC come on automatically in Rock Crawl mode?

Possible - my spouse likes to put crap right there and it could have been switched off accidentally. Only had it out 4 times so far, each time with the aforementioned spouse.