yeah trying to go up a snow/ice hill in my 2.3L ranger with no weight in the bed my speedo read 50 mph and my RPMs were screaming around 5k, but I was barely moving. I'm certain though that if I would have let up or shifted from 2 into D that I wouldn't have made it up that hill

 

a Supercharged F-150 isn't a very good family vehicle with 3 kids in carseats, dog and misc crap that gets carried around....it all fit, but was not fun.

traded in on Expy in signature and ended up buying the Stang 1 month later for myself as a consolation prize

 

Glad you got your own car for fun at least.

 

I will set up a scenario for those doubters in here.
Traveling down a logging road in a foot or more of freshly fallen snow.
Trailer in tow, and all is going well until you come to a long steep hill.
You know this road as you have driven it mny times before in nearly identical conditions.
This time though something has changed.
While you took your usual run at the hill to have the momentum to take you over the top a problem arizes.
Your new truck starts applying brakes to wheels scrubing off your momentum and you are now in trouble.
Soon you have lost the speed you needed and finally the road wins.
You slide backward into the ditch and have damaged truck trailer and trailer contents.
We up north in the snowbelt area buy a 4wheel drive to take us offroad in the worst of conditions.
Some electronic progress halter is not going to work here.

 

I still prefer to have traction control on slippery/lose conditions than not have it at all. I used to tow our boat and jet ski out of the sea in the UK with our 4x4 every weekend and it would be so easy to get stuck resting on your axles before you knew it. Give it just a tiny bit to much throttle for just a second and you will be stuck. I sometimes used my mates 4x4 what had traction control and as soon as one will started to spin and lose traction it would cut power to that wheel and you would never have an issue of digging your self into the sand. The other wheels that had good traction would carry on moving you along. It was great that it didn't let you get to carried away with the throttle as this was a mistake almost every newb done when trying to get there boats out of the water up the sand.

Also anyone who drives on ice a lot will tell you that you have a lot less traction when a wheel is spinning compared to it rotating at vehicle speed. Momentum will help you get up these icy hills for sure but keeping your wheels from spinning is the key to getting to the top. I have sat at the bottom of Snowshoe mountain many a time watching people in 2wd cars trying to get up the mountain after new snow fall and it's always the people with either a sensible foot or traction control that win. The guys with there wheels spinning are just going from side to side going no where fast.

 

Do you have anything to back this up or is this just pure speculation that I suspect it is? Ford traction control does not apply brakes. It reduces, not cuts, throttle to limit wheelspin.

I'd have to question why you would be taking a stock vehicle in a foot of fresh snow up a long steep hill with a trailer in tow anyway. Sounds like a recipe for disaster in anything w/o tracks. Also since you can disable it up to 30mph, it shouldn't be a problem. If you're going more than 30 in those conditions, that's irresponsible. If you're spinning more than 30 MPH, you're out of control anyway.

Mike

Edit: Here's a good video that demonstrates the benefit of TC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFJI0tLMVpI&feature=fvw They say that it uses throttle reduction and braking, but I thought that Ford's only used throttle reduction. Either way the results are clear. No TC, you're not going anywhere. I also think it's clear that Ford's system doesn't cut power, but reduces it smoothly.

 

in the video, they say the F-150 had a Limited Slip...I call B.S. If so, it and the Tundra would have gone right up that slope. I was in way way worse situations in the mud with my last truck that had a factory LS...even had wheels off the ground. It powered right through that without any excessive wheel spin.

and yes...despite what everybody THINKS, the TC and the RSC system DOES APPLY THE BRAKES.

I've said it many times...now hopefully people will read that little tidbit and believe.

And when TC engages...it isn't a "gently" effect. It is a sudden harsh throttle attack.

 

If they were open diff trucks then it's even more impressive what the TC system can do because otherwise they shouldn't have moved at all once one tire was on the slippy surface. It would make sense to apply the brakes as how else would you get the torque to transfer to the other wheel?

If you read on in the manual there is additional info that's different than what we've been discussing. On page 278 there is a chart that says if you press and hold the button, it disables everything up to 35MPH. After 35MPH, ESC and RSC are back on, but TC is not. So there you have it, TC can be totally disabled.

Mike

 

It appears that ford has slightly changed the strategy on TC. I havnt tested either, have not had an opportunity, but have "tested" LS (trac-lock) on boat ramps and off road. Cars, at least back in 03, TC only applied brakes to the slipping wheel. How much TC allows slippage before engaging brakes, I dont know, but to replace TL it would have to stop spin immediately and completely. I couldnt see the traction wheel on this video, only the slipping wheel and it appeared to be slipping some while it moved up the ramp. That tells me that it was either spinning the traction wheel some or the TC does not completely eliminate one wheel spin.

Drastically controlling throttle is NDG. I can see some advantage to gently rolling back throttle to keep spin from getting too much. I have seen too many people floor it just to impress bystanders, thereby completely loosing traction.

I have seen nothing, no replies, zero, nadda, to indicate that a traction adder of any kind will hurt the function of TC or RSC for that matter. Until I can determine exactly what the TC does and how much, I will have no reservations about getting a traction adder. So, next time I get a few $$$$$$ to burn, I will get a traction adder and then next Monday, I will install it. If not then, the following Monday--if not then, the next----. We have to remember that all Mfg's have to provide a product that can work for the whole market-----regardless of Stoopid !

 

pretty impressive that video. That exactly what would happen in the sand when pulling the boat/jetski out. In an blink of an eye you would be axle deep in sand. With traction control it was easy sailing.

 

The system in the ford F150 both cuts power and applys brakes according to the mechanics at the ford dealer i talked to.
Why any system will cut power is beyond stupid.
If i floor it I want all it has not some of what it has.
May as well make it a truck with 100 hp not 320 hp if I am not allowed to use it all anyway.

 

The F150's traction control system:
Aggressively cuts power to near-idle
Applies brakes if deemed necessary
Reengages above 30MPH, even if you hold the T/C OFF button until the icon blinks.

Keep in mind that the 30MPH reengagement point is not ground speed, but instead speedometer-indicated speed. Ever been on ice and seen how easy it is to get up to 30MPH indicated, when you're not actually going anywhere?

The T/C sucks. I've been meaning to go through the fuse block to see just how much of that crap I can permanently kill by removing relays/fuses, without disabling anything else critical.

 

If the wheels are spinning, what good is more power? If it didn't cut power, you'd have breakage or excessive wear. I've had TC on a couple of vehicles, not so bad. Not trucks, not off road though.

Maybe you can adjust your driving skills to fit the vehicle....

 

There is a clue to one of my questions, about what sequence the TC uses to control wheelspin. "aggessively cuts power to near-idle", "Applies brakes if deemed necessary". That dosnt sound good to me. I want the brakes applied first to the spinning wheel. If that dosnt work, then cut power in a systematic manner, but not aggressively. I can understand that this procedure from the Mfg may be good for the average soccer mom thats never been off-road, but it is not for the large majority of people on this board. We learned a long time ago, after digging a 4X4 out thats buried to the axles, to control wheel spin by our foot. Few of those, and you learn quickly.

Sounds to me like they have "dumbed down" things so much that you either need to figure out how to disable (temporarily) the TC or just go ahead and install a good traction adder.

 

What i think people are forgeting is this system wont come into play if you are applying the correct amount of power to the wheels and not causeing wheel spin. If you are spinning the wheels then you have no traction anyway so whats the point in more power. You could have a button that give you 10000 more HP but it's not going to give you the traction you need. More wheel spin = less control and clearly less grip. The TC stops the extra wheel spin and if you get traction control coming on all the time off road then clearly you need to take a off road driveing course because when your wheels slip you dont gun it. Even i know that from just watching the camel trophy years ago. It's a different. Driveing in slippery lose conditions is not a race but a test to your driveing skill. The Only people i know who can control cars at high speed with lost of wheel spin are rally car drivers and they are pros.