JL-EXPERIENCE : REUNION - PART 4 | Cinder Hills to the Grand Canyon

BillArnett

New member
On that big cinder hill climb was it just that the transmission refused to downshift or something more complicated? My experience so far has been that everything works fine in Manual mode.

Seemed to have been something more complicated. Being that there were multiple JL's, everyone got tried something a bit different and for some, more than once. Again, not everyone had the problem. Both Synergy and I made it up without the throttle cutting out.

Has anyone ever seem this problem in Manual mode?

Did anyone try to climb that hill slowly in M2 or M3?
 

BillArnett

New member
Has this been reported to Jeep? Do you know anything 13_Gecko_rubi?

Also, in the video Mel was hypothesizing that it had something to do with the pitch angle, if I heard it right. But we’ve seen other videos with much steeper climbs without such problems (eg Hummer Hill in Moab).
 

GCM 2.0

New member
Has this been reported to Jeep? Do you know anything 13_Gecko_rubi?

Also, in the video Mel was hypothesizing that it had something to do with the pitch angle, if I heard it right. But we’ve seen other videos with much steeper climbs without such problems (eg Hummer Hill in Moab).

Hummer Hill is not a good comparison because it is about 1/16th the length of the hill in the video, the cinders hill is actually steeper throughout the first half the climb, Hummer Hill is typically crawled from the start to the top in a low gear without ever needing to shift gears, all four tires never break traction at one time, usually the front tires squeal a small amount as the front end unloads it’s weight. I’m sure if anyone on the JLX event, or any place within the Offroad sphere of influence, has Jeep’s ear it’s Mel. Wayoflife has also become pretty close to the Jeep engineers over the years. Not to mention, those guys watch these videos too. That I know for a fact.


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

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wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Has anyone ever seem this problem in Manual mode?

Did anyone try to climb that hill slowly in M2 or M3?

As WJCO pointed out, watch the video and pay attention to what's said. Loren ran the hill in manual mode and still had the problem. Also, the guys who lost power were still able to get to the top albeit, very slowly. However, I don't think they could have gotten that far without a good running start.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Hummer Hill is not a good comparison because it is about 1/16th the length of the hill in the video, the cinders hill is actually steeper throughout the first half the climb, Hummer Hill is typically crawled from the start to the top in a low gear without ever needing to shift gears, all four tires never break traction at one time, usually the front tires squeal a small amount as the front end unloads it’s weight. I’m sure if anyone on the JLX event, or any place within the Offroad sphere of influence, has Jeep’s ear it’s Mel. Wayoflife has also become pretty close to the Jeep engineers over the years. Not to mention, those guys watch these videos too. That I know for a fact.

You know, Cindy pointed out something to me that I think has a lot of merit. Both Loren and Tom were running 40" tires and on aftermarket axles that were geared with 5.38's and both had throttle pull out on them. Both Dave and I were able to make it to the top but both of us were running 37's with factory 4.10's. Mel was running 37's and factory 4.10's too but if I recall, he said he initially tried making the run up in 4HI. In a nut shell, perhaps the problem on the hill had something to do with gear ratio and/or tire size - maybe they were winding out? Hard to say for sure but maybe something worth chewing on.
 

GCM 2.0

New member
You know, Cindy pointed out something to me that I think has a lot of merit. Both Loren and Tom were running 40" tires and on aftermarket axles that were geared with 5.38's and both had throttle pull out on them. Both Dave and I were able to make it to the top but both of us were running 37's with factory 4.10's. Mel was running 37's and factory 4.10's too but if I recall, he said he initially tried making the run up in 4HI. In a nut shell, perhaps the problem on the hill had something to do with gear ratio and/or tire size - maybe they were winding out? Hard to say for sure but maybe something worth chewing on.

Since I can only comment in depth on Mel’s attempt (riding shotgun in that rig) he was in 4H, but even manually downshifting the JL didn’t really seem like it was just losing rpms like any normal hill climb where you could then downshift and regain some rpms, before repeating the process to stay in a powerband. Even with the manual downshifting the motor had cut power and would not even think about regaining some of the lost rpms.

I really should not comment on Loren’s or Tom’s JLs. Is it because both of those thing might be the most custom drivetrain builds to date of any JL (Loren’s most definitely anyway), they may not have lock down every gremlin yet.

This subject matter almost needs to go to JL Talk or Stock Tech for future ease of referencing.....not sure. But as you know more than most people, you and Mel are definitely leading the charge in the field of JL research, development, and discovery. Just think of all that we learned on this JLX!
 

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aust249

New member
Awesome final chapter for the video. I definitely have the bug to go explore that part of the US by Jeep now.
 

JAGS

Member
As I noted on wayalife, another great vid! Thanks for sharing and reminding me what this addiction is all about and why I now have a new JL.

Need to make the time to get out more. Easier said than done, but will be seeing you soon at least.
 

dixonk

Member
Thoroughly enjoyed watching the series. Always looking forward to your next installment. Thumbs up left on youtube for you.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Selected totally at random, the WINNER of the Rancho Swag Giveaway is...

As I noted on wayalife, another great vid! Thanks for sharing and reminding me what this addiction is all about and why I now have a new JL.

Need to make the time to get out more. Easier said than done, but will be seeing you soon at least.

Congratulations Jason! :thumb:
 

JAGS

Member
Sweet!! Thanks Rancho for the opportunity and thanks JLWrangler and Wayalife for such great vids.
 

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