Wheels spinning on unlevel ground

[tauteur]

If I'm at any kind of angle, the humvee's wheels spin. It doesn't seem right. My nissan pathfinder can take angles better than this. If I don't take a slant straight on, or if any 1 of the 4 wheels aren't touching the ground, the thing spins and doesn't trek. I got it about 6 or so months ago from Gov Planet. This just doesn't seem right. Thoughts?

 

[Coug]

100% normal.

So the HMMWV has torsion diffs and no electronics to deal with loose/slipping wheels.
The torsion diffs act just like open diffs when there is no load on the system.

For best results off road you need to learn about and practice how to do BTM.
Brake Throttle Modulation.

There are videos and other stuff out there to explain it in depth, but the basics are: if you apply the brakes a little bit, then over ride the braking with additional throttle, this will cause the torsion differentials to bind, locking up and acting the same as if you had no diffs at all.

 

[Coonass77]

A Humvee will go just about anywhere. If it doesn't, then it's most likely due to the driver and not the truck. BTM (and anti-lock brakes) separate the people who truly know how to drive from the people who can press an accelerator or brake pedal and let the traction control systems do all the work for them.

Not knocking you or anyone else - just research, study and practice. You'll be amazed at what your Humvee can do.

 

[Mogman]

All the above and also if only one wheel in the air stops you you must not have the transfer case in HL or L.

 

[TNDRIVER]

If I'm at any kind of angle, the humvee's wheels spin. It doesn't seem right. My nissan pathfinder can take angles better than this. If I don't take a slant straight on, or if any 1 of the 4 wheels aren't touching the ground, the thing spins and doesn't trek. I got it about 6 or so months ago from Gov Planet. This just doesn't seem right. Thoughts?

You have to learn to LEFT FOOT brake............it's odd in an automatic but I've done it all my life so it was not a problem. I learned that if i'm slow releasing the brake when starting to make a turn I could get tire scrub and squealing until it straightened out. As the post have pointed out how the diff's work its a skill to learn. Not as good as a locker but they do what a HMMWV was designed to do. There a couple of U tube videos that explain how they work.......... (It's magic)

 

[Maxjeep1]

If I'm at any kind of angle, the humvee's wheels spin. It doesn't seem right. My nissan pathfinder can take angles better than this. If I don't take a slant straight on, or if any 1 of the 4 wheels aren't touching the ground, the thing spins and doesn't trek. I got it about 6 or so months ago from Gov Planet. This just doesn't seem right. Thoughts?

With that being said… keep in mind that if you lift one wheel on a sloped driveway it will roll down the driveway!!! Ask me how I know

 

[Mogman]

With that being said… keep in mind that if you lift one wheel on a sloped driveway it will roll down the driveway!!! Ask me how I know

Not if the transfer case is in HL or L
You were very lucky!!!

 

[tauteur]

You have to learn to LEFT FOOT brake............it's odd in an automatic but I've done it all my life so it was not a problem. I learned that if i'm slow releasing the brake when starting to make a turn I could get tire scrub and squealing until it straightened out. As the post have pointed out how the diff's work its a skill to learn. Not as good as a locker but they do what a HMMWV was designed to do. There a couple of U tube videos that explain how they work.......... (It's magic)

do you have those youtube videos links?

 

[mgFray]

With that being said… keep in mind that if you lift one wheel on a sloped driveway it will roll down the driveway!!! Ask me how I know

While I've not experienced it on the HMMWV, I have seen that on other trucks.. so I always use wheel chocks when I lift ANY wheels off the ground. (I also use them on the HMMWV when the vehicle is on display at the local American Legion, in-case someone releases the parking break.)

 

[tauteur]

I tried the left foot on the break at an awkward angle and yup i pulled right out of there, thank you got to admit its getting better a little better all the time

 

[TNDRIVER]

do you have those youtube videos links?

Stick "torsen differential" in the search bar......... there are some new ones I have not seen. Takes a bit to wrap you mind around these, NOT A CLUTCH.

 

[Vapor Trail]

I’m deciding about differentials now on my ride and there’s no good answer. Part of my driveway is 150 yard steep hill that no trucks can get up in the snow . I don’t think running the brakes and throttle hard for 150 yards is what you all have in mind when you say BTM is the what to do and it really kind of sucks that that’s necessary.

 

[Maxjeep1]

I’m deciding about differentials now on my ride and there’s no good answer. Part of my driveway is 150 yard steep hill that no trucks can get up in the snow . I don’t think running the brakes and throttle hard for 150 yards is what you all have in mind when you say BTM is the what to do and it really kind of sucks that that’s necessary.

I would love to have a Detroit Locker in the rear and work on my brake to get traction. I will do one in the rear at some point and time. Bigger fish to fry. Before you lose traction you first need to drive. Lol that’s where I’m at. AC blows cold

 

[Coug]

I’m deciding about differentials now on my ride and there’s no good answer. Part of my driveway is 150 yard steep hill that no trucks can get up in the snow . I don’t think running the brakes and throttle hard for 150 yards is what you all have in mind when you say BTM is the what to do and it really kind of sucks that that’s necessary.

I've used it quite a bit on the jeep trails with my foot almost constantly on the brake.
You're supposed to do it at relatively low speed. You aren't really building up much heat in the rotors with the speeds down low.
If you're trying to go fast then you might have an issue, but it doesn't take a whole lot of braking to get the diffs locked up.

 

[Coug]

Just remember if you DO have one wheel up in the air and spinning: DO NOT SLAM ON THE BRAKES!!

Gentle braking is fine, but the inboard brakes means all that rotational mass is going to go through the geared hub and the halfshaft, and out of the system the half shafts/CV joints are the weak link and you WILL break them.

Just for reference, one wheel in the air spinning is doing so at a speed equivalent to 4 times what the speedometer says. The transfer case multiplies it to double because the opposite differential isn't spinning, and the differential doubles it because the other side isn't spinning.

So if your speedometer reads 10mph, the tire is spinning at 40mph. That's 160ish lbs spinning that fast. Plus the half shafts are designed for half the weight of a normal vehicle because the gear reduction built into the hubs.

 

[Maxjeep1]

Just remember if you DO have one wheel up in the air and spinning: DO NOT SLAM ON THE BRAKES!!

Gentle braking is fine, but the inboard brakes means all that rotational mass is going to go through the geared hub and the halfshaft, and out of the system the half shafts/CV joints are the weak link and you WILL break them.

Just for reference, one wheel in the air spinning is doing so at a speed equivalent to 4 times what the speedometer says. The transfer case multiplies it to double because the opposite differential isn't spinning, and the differential doubles it because the other side isn't spinning.

So if your speedometer reads 10mph, the tire is spinning at 40mph. That's 160ish lbs spinning that fast. Plus the half shafts are designed for half the weight of a normal vehicle because the gear reduction built into the hubs.

You won’t do that on a 12k shaft

 

[Coug]

You won’t do that on a 12k shaft

There are still plenty of people that have managed to break the 12k shafts.

And honestly, if you spin the tire fast enough and hit the brakes hard enough, then something WILL break.

The half shaft is probably the easiest and least expensive thing to break in the final drive train, so better to break it than say, the brake caliper mounting bracket, or the geared hub.