Thread: Suzuki escudo 4wd help

What is actually happening in this scenario, is one wheel on one end of the diff has good traction and it's opposite number doesn't so spins happily while it's mate that still has some bite, bites and doesn't spin. In a basic open differential gearcase there isn't anything to send the drive to both sides despite the fact that one side has grip and the other doesn't, so power being power goes in the direction of least resistance.

Next time try adding some load to the wheels on that diff to make them both spin - i.e. a couple of clicks of park brake to balance the load through the diff or a little bit of foot brake to do that same. This is what the modern electronic locking differentials are trying to do when you are in 4L or electronic lock modes, except they do this by tricking the ABS system to think that the wheels are slipping and trying to cause the ABS system to pulse and slow the spin down. It works surprisingly well, I've driven past some guys with fully kitted out locked diffs all around just by going quietly in the electronic locked mode and not digging a giant hole for myself.

Ha, @makka tag...

Great info @makka and @No.3. I'll have to remember the handbrake trick if I get into trouble in the hills.

A rear locker or limited slip diff running Redline Heavy duty Shockproof gear oil (isuzus) will lock up rear end and significantly improve traction. Huge improvement - had this on all my club trucks, plus front locker at times.

The other key thing to do for easier travel over sand is lower your tyre pressures to widen tyre footprint. Whereas you might normally run tyres on road at 32-40lbs, lower them on sand to 20. Big difference. Some boys even run them down to 12-15lbs but then you must be careful not to spin tyre off rim. For this option you need a little plug-in tyre inflator pump..pretty cheap.

Lowering tyre pressures to say 25 something we oalso often do say for lumpy terrain/river work - gives you a softer more rolling ride. Leave tyres fully inflated for snow/ice/slippery condition.

As for getting stuck up to the sills like that - this is called learning!

Originally Posted by mudgripz

A rear locker or limited slip diff running Redline Heavy duty Shockproof gear oil (isuzus) will lock up rear end and significantly improve traction. Huge improvement - had this on all my club trucks, plus front locker at times.

The other key thing to do for easier travel over sand is lower your tyre pressures to widen tyre footprint. Whereas you might normally run tyres on road at 32-40lbs, lower them on sand to 20. Big difference. Some boys even run them down to 12-15lbs but then you must be careful not to spin tyre off rim. For this option you need a little plug-in tyre inflator pump..pretty cheap.

Lowering tyre pressures to say 25 something we oalso often do say for lumpy terrain/river work - gives you a softer more rolling ride. Leave tyres fully inflated for snow/ice/slippery condition.

As for getting stuck up to the sills like that - this is called learning!

Yeah this, not just for sand for everything off road bag the tyre out.
We run 10 psi in the bush trucks with beadlocks and 2 psi in the trials truck you want that tyre bagging out for maximum traction.


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And this is all a very true set of statements too...

I used to have one of these with muddies. It was a bit of a weapon and surprised a few mates in the mud. I didn’t do much sand work with it. Could have just been a soft spot of sand, getting stuck happens to everyone.

Without front and rear lockers, 2H only gives you 1 wheel drive in soft ground, 4H locks the centre diff and gives you 2 (1 front and 1 rear) in soft ground. You need to lock the front, centre and rear diffs to get real, actual, genuine 4WD.

Mate has a new Jimny and that has all the tricky gear fitted (traction control) as factory standard now. Climbing up a steep slippery slope the little sod was happily feeding power to what ever wheels could handle it. Very little slipping. It knew what wheel was slipping and reduced power to it (or maybe it was sending that to a wheel that had better grip). Bloody clever stuff anyway.
For the Escudo you could fit wheel locks to each wheel and have a dash mounted switch to control what wheel gets power, what wheel is locked. It just bungs the brake on for the wheel/s you select. I've seen that system fitted to a Terios and it worked well...but no idea of costs, and it was all a manual thing. Your fingers would be dancing all over those switches in a real slippery situation. But just saying...there are things that can be done. How deep is your wallet and your time available?
Edit: Does your Escudo not have a traction control lurking on the dash somewhere? If it's there maybe it's not working?

[QUOTE=Grey Kiwi;1487429]Very little slipping. It knew what wheel was slipping and reduced power to it (or maybe it was sending that to a wheel that had better grip). Bloody clever stuff anyway. /QUOTE]

It uses the ABS brakes to grip the spinning wheel, which it senses is spinning faster than the others, which in turn will transfer the power to the other wheel on that axle.

The last generation of NZ Army Land Rovers had early Range Rover drive train (less of course the useful disc brakes and coil suspension) so were also running AWD like your Escudo. Which when you get in the poo and don't know what you are doing is one wheel drive(as others have said).

Because the Landys had leaf suspension they were prone to pig jumping if you had not remembered much from your drivers course, and had not locked the centre diff. This killed a couple of drivers, as they attempted to negotiate steep lumpy terrain in low box without engaging the diff lock. Massive pig jumping results, driver loses control and the Rovers rolled off the feature into a gully with resultant fatalities.

When driven by experienced off roaders they were capable of scaring the pants off the more road orientated passengers, even with open diffs. Low tyre pressure and triple tractions helped a lot. That, and a very forgiving engine at low revs.

The Escudo can be a bit of a sleeper. Very capable in the right hands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19BNRvuNLWE

Crawl control!

Yeh sand and pea gravel just keep dropping air pressure if there's no chance of getting a tow until you have enough contact tyre width to float back above it. Having a 12V pump for when you're back on the hard stuff. I've even used a stand up bike tyre pump. That takes a while though but definitely doable. Pays to stay above the high tide/wave mark. Don't ask me how I know.

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Used to carry a 12v little air compressor slow but handy

Yep some good info and advice in here. I havent previously done much beach work, and I dont have any intention to do much again in the future haha. I have learned some great lessons from this though, and will go forth more prepared.

At least hopefully. The car crapped out yesterday on the way back from the mountain. Looks like a blown head gasket at the very least, possibly a cracked head fml

What engine is it

Originally Posted by blip

What engine is it

It’s a 2.4 petrol.
I have mechanical breakdown insurance though so they should hopefully be taking care of it.