We had a little snow last night, then a thaw followed by below freezing weather. During this cycle, water had melted then pooled around the right rear tire. The water then froze into a little ice puddle. The other three tires stood directly on frozen sandy gravel .... no snow or ice between the tire and the level ground.

I tried to back up. All I could do was spin the tire that was sitting on the little ice puddle. The truck would not budge. (but the battery light and temp/low oil pressure light came on but I'm saving that for a different thread).

I tried putting the truck in 4x4 high (while the wheels were stopped and the tranny in neutral). Still no luck ... just the one wheel spinning. I tried to engage the 4x4 low in the same way. Again, no luck.

Finally had to go get some ice melter, place it around the one tire that was sitting on the ice puddle and wait until it had melted most of the ice pad. I was then able to gently rock the truck and get enough traction to back out.

I thought my C1 limited slip differentials was designed to help in these situations ... am I wrong? Do LS Diffs wear out? Was I doing something wrong? Having this truck's 4x4 set-up is new to me (our RAV is automatic AWD and kicks in when needed although you can lock the center differential).


I'm really scratching my head here ...

 

Were your front hubs locked when you tried 4wd?

Also turn off the traction control system if you have it.

 

Front hubs were set to "auto". Don't know if they locked in or not ... is there a way to tell or a light that comes on?

Also, I don't think I have traction control on my truck.

 

You can manually lock the front hubs. There's a dial on each front wheel that you can set to "auto" or "lock". Set it to "lock" and see what happens.

what truck do you have?

 

See my signature for truck details. It has the C1 differential.

PS - I've never locked the front hubs since buying it 3 years ago nor have I ever run it in 4x4 low. To be honest, I'm a little leery to in case something bad happens and I put myself in a situation I can't easily (and cheaply) resolve.

 

I use an Iphone, so I can't see your signature info.

I'd say manually lock the hubs and see if that works.

When was the last time 4wd worked?