[Gwagensteve]

Awesome tech.

[Marko_SJ]

OFF-CHOPS wrote:

manuals all the way up here not much sand!

plus we love to rip a few skids! in the zooks not in ya pants!

I found some in the Shoal Bay reserve yesty.

Deep white stuff. Mostly used 2wd, but in places needed 4h. I cant see how people burn clutches in the stuff, but I do see how autos would be better. You should be stuck before you burn a clutch IMHO.

Auto vs Manual for me: Auto offroad even though I havent tried one, I can see how they'd benefit. I almost considered a traumatic conversion but put it in the too hard basket. On road, I'd much rather a manual, driving my current road car has become muscle reflex memory and traffic doesnt bother me much. I dont think I could enjoy spirited driving in an auto.

Drag racing I'd run an auto, but reckon I'd do track or any other discipline before drag.

[zukenutter]

Marko_SJ wrote:

You should be stuck before you burn a clutch IMHO.

Being stuck is when most clutches get fried. The other way is high tide soft sand with people not airing down enough or choosing H when L would be the better choice. High sees people slamming between gears and slipping clutch to avoid RPM drop. Low keeps things well in torque range and gives time for mellow shifts. Being in a hurry makes no sense when the tide is high.

I don't know about autos in these instances but I imagine the long runs in soft stuff has them shifting between gears constantly if the driver doesn't think to shift out of D. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here… I'm sure somebody will

Obviously I can't speak for dune driving compared to beach because we don't have dunes we can drive on, although as a young fella I used to play on the dunes at Boat Harbour, Kurnel (there were still dunes there in the 80's). That sand was very firm in comparison to the beach sand here in SEQ. I never got bogged at Boat Harbour and was usually playing around with close to 30psi

The sand here, when it's high tide, can be like having 600kg of trailer behind you (sand mounding in front of the tyres adds a lot of load), except the load keeps changing constantly from nothing to the 600kg. Add to this beach weather 40° days plus too much PSI and things get very hot.

[Marko_SJ]

zukenutter wrote:

Marko_SJ wrote:

You should be stuck before you burn a clutch IMHO.

Being stuck is when most clutches get fried. The other way is high tide soft sand with people not airing down enough or choosing H when L would be the better choice. High sees people slamming between gears and slipping clutch to avoid RPM drop. Low keeps things well in torque range and gives time for mellow shifts. Being in a hurry makes no sense when the tide is high.

I don't know about autos in these instances but I imagine the long runs in soft stuff has them shifting between gears constantly if the driver doesn't think to shift out of D. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong here… I'm sure somebody will

Obviously I can't speak for dune driving compared to beach because we don't have dunes we can drive on, although as a young fella I used to play on the dunes at Boat Harbour, Kurnel (there were still dunes there in the 80's). That sand was very firm in comparison to the beach sand here in SEQ. I never got bogged at Boat Harbour and was usually playing around with close to 30psi

The sand here, when it's high tide, can be like having 600kg of trailer behind you (sand mounding in front of the tyres adds a lot of load), except the load keeps changing constantly from nothing to the 600kg. Add to this beach weather 40° days plus too much PSI and things get very hot.

Yeah thats what I meant. Either you just stop, try low range or get pulled out.....

I was driving around in high and did have to shift quickly because I slowed down a bit for the corners, but didn't have to slip the clutch, it would shift from about 2.5 - 3 k to about 1900 and pull it fine, even with a g13a. Its seriously soft stuff. Flood plain sand.

Just bought a new camera so might be forced to drive back, have a plink, take some pics of birds and skippies etc.

My car does get a bit warm driving sand, so I fully intend on a g16b viscous fan one of these days, when I find a round tuit.

[christover1]

I got an auto mainly for my back and leg issues, but the off road and on road gains for me were all good.
5 years of towing in sand, rock, mud, highway, peak hour I love auto.
It gets a little warm on long high range climbs, so I fitted an extra auto cooler.
I vote auto for off road.
They not the unreliable things they were in the past.

[OFF-CHOPS]

Marko_SJ wrote:

OFF-CHOPS wrote:

manuals all the way up here not much sand!

plus we love to rip a few skids! in the zooks not in ya pants!

I found some in the Shoal Bay reserve yesty.

Deep white stuff. Mostly used 2wd, but in places needed 4h. I cant see how people burn clutches in the stuff, but I do see how autos would be better. You should be stuck before you burn a clutch IMHO.

see any goose out that way, heard numbers this year are shocking!

jump on darwin zookers on facebook if you arent already decent sized community for darwin!

we are headin out to gunnies beach tonight

[Gwagensteve]

More awesome tech :armsup:

[Marko_SJ]

Steve, I think the original topic has been done to death on AZ, so don't mind me when I go Off topic .

And this is what I've taken away from the many discussions: as a general rule, AW4s are where its at, trimatics work for off road or larger tyre rigs, Jimny auto's not as good as the other two for strength but still a doable, and manual is the least preferable for hardcore 4x4ing. The main benefits stem from the slip of the convertor, as this gives cushioning to driveline components as well as multiplying your crawling abilities.

The fact that autos shift under power in comparison to manuals is also a good thing, as it prevents momentum loss, or missing a gear. Its also not a bad thing to eliminate the vulnerable clutch and throwout bearings from the equation with mud driving. What needs to be done to ensure auto life is a trans cooler as auto transmission damage happens as the transmission is heated up. Modified shift mechanisms are also the go.

OFF-CHOPS wrote:

Marko_SJ wrote:

OFF-CHOPS wrote:

manuals all the way up here not much sand!

plus we love to rip a few skids! in the zooks not in ya pants!

I found some in the Shoal Bay reserve yesty.

Deep white stuff. Mostly used 2wd, but in places needed 4h. I cant see how people burn clutches in the stuff, but I do see how autos would be better. You should be stuck before you burn a clutch IMHO.

see any goose out that way, heard numbers this year are shocking!

jump on darwin zookers on facebook if you arent already decent sized community for darwin!

we are headin out to gunnies beach tonight

Didn't see any geese. A few whistler ducks though. I have seen geese around though, but not out there. I've heard them more than I've seen them so far.

Haven't got face book so I can't check it out.

Nor am I making one