I've inherited a 2WD Rodeo

[BT50]

I know this forum is about 4WD vehicles but I have a couple of questions about this ute. It's a 2 door Holden Rodeo TF/G1 LS Space Cab Pick-Up with the 2.6 litre petrol motor. It's build date is July 1990, compliance August 1990 and first registered October 1990.

I'm going to use this as my farm ute basicly to do all the dirty work such as taking the rubbish to the tip and picking up loads of mulch, sand etc. from the garden supplies. This is where my problem comes in. My land is not flat infact it's damn steep in the back paddock. As soon as I get one rear wheel on the grass on any sort of slope I'm stuck. The trusty Bravo and now the BT50 has had to pull it out many times.

I've started to look at ways to get more traction and the tyres were the first to go. Last week I replaced the near bald commercial tyres on the monstrous 14 inch rims with brand new wintertread retreads Motorway Tyres - Products - Winter Tread tyre (http://www.motorwaytyres.com.au/popups/products/wintertread.php)

I now get traction on the grass :thumb: where its flat :mad: . Now I don't want to spend a lot of money on this ute as you can tell from my purchase of the retreads but I would like to get both rear wheels pushing this beast in slippery or slopey conditions. Anyone got some ideas that aren't going to cost me an arm and a leg?

Thanks

Denis

[Eddy]

CIG locker ;)

Drove an old XW falcon ute on and off road for at least six years so equipped.
Won't take long to get an idea of how it behaves ...

[Bazza_rips]

the cig locker will make it impressivly capable offroad but be careful on road or you'll go through diffs pretty fast.

i think this may be the best bang for buck though. :D

[Big_Waity]

I would either go the CIG locker or look at tidying the ute up to sell it and use the money to buy a 4x4 ute of your choice that can do the same job. A dirty old hilux or cruiser or something would be great as a farm ute and can hold a bit of a load in the tray. Would save you from slippery situations as well.

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Learn and practice using the left foot braking method of brake throttle modulation, it WILL work on manuals as well as auto's, just not quite as well!

You'll be losing traction because the open diff will only drive the easiest wheel to turn, the one with the least traction. By gently applying pressure to the brake with your left foot, you are actually increasing the amount of torque that it takes to keep that wheel spinning, and at the same time you are increasing the amount of torque being shared with the other wheel (especially so if it's an LSD worth anything, and I think the Rodeo's have such an LSD!) As you gradually increase the torque and don't stall the engine, you'll be getting more drive!! Admittedly the LSD will only share the torque available, so it ends up providing less than half the torque, allowing for friction losses and heat etc; which is where the maximum torque transfer of 40% for a good LSD comes from. But short of fitting a Locker, that's about as good as you'll get in this instance!

Unless of course you DO look at fitting a Locker - Detroit Lockers may not come in a suitable fitting for the 2WD Rodeo, but it's worth an ask - they are usually around the $1200-$1400 mark but are very useable and driver friendly in 2WD's while they provide unmatched traction! Been around doing just that in performance and race cars for years! Many heavy transport industry trucks do just that, run a Detroit or No-Spin in the rear to give them significant traction when in marginal traction conditions - works fantastically! Then there are things like the Detroit TrueTrac, a true torque proportioning LSD, effectively a geared LSD rather than a clutched LSD, or things like the E-Locker or the ElecTrac; and of course all the competitors like the ARB Air Locker, TJM ProLocker, Lokka, Lockright, Macnamara Locker, MaxiDrive, etc, etc. A Locker might well be your answer, all you've gotta do is find one that does the job and meets the budget!

Enjoy!

[cac]

my ute being 2WD as well i have considered the same thing and was given the following advice from a friends experience...

he found that when traversing side slopes, the LSD/locker equipped 2WDs would tend to swing the tail around, and get stuck pointing up the hill, where the open diff ones would just drive straight across....most likely with some wheelspin, but they did continue to track straight....

not trying to say don't do it, just passing on some good advice i was given....

if ur diff is an open diff, maybe look around the wreckers for an LSD from a 4WD rodeo...

whats the smallest mud terrain tyre you can get that has a high enough load rating....its going to be noticeably bigger than the stock 14s i know, but it might be worth looking into.....

a few bags of sand in the tub might be an option too....