So I've heard that when your in a low traction situation with open differentials, hitting the brakes a little can help 'trick' the diff into sending torque to the wheel with traction.

The other day I was out wheeling in a muddy area and got a little stuck in some ruts. I saw that the front driver side tire wasn't moving and that the passenger side was obviously spinning.

I thought I might as well try the brake thing and sure enough jabbing the brake pedal a few times seemed to get the driver side tire to spin too and I started moving again.

Now maybe it was just the placebo effect but it appeared to work.

Another thing to consider is I wasn't really 'stuck', more or less just a bit hung up, open diffs and all.

So I'm just wondering what everyone else thinks of this, useful wheeling technique or complete bull?

I tried searching around Google for a bit but didn't come up with much. There was a thread on pirate4x4 but it wasn't a very technical discussion.

 

Cool story. But I'd rather have a real locker on both ends

 

Indeed that is a way to help yourself out. I do the same thing with a Trutrac limited slip....

 

E-brake is more effective.

 

Um....not on the front....

 

exactly.

 

Yeah... Cool story..

 

Front brakes are too strong to really pull it off?

I've never actually tried using the parking brake before, what would be the best way to do it?

Give it a few sharp yanks or hold it steady?

I'm looking to buy an Aussie locker for the rear eventually but for now I'm stuck wheeling with open diffs.

 

when I get into a situation like this instead of using the brake i just lift the throttle a little bit till I feel traction and then give it a little more gas. kinda hard to give it brake and clutch at the same time to prevent from stalling where traction will not mean crap. lol.

 

yeah true, i guess you gotta go easy on the brakes so ya dont stall.

 

I have some brake biasing tips (for limited slip) on the page below:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/TrueTrac.shtml#Impressions

 

I can confirm this. Bone stock 92 runner so it's got an open diff in the back. Put the brakes on and slowly got on the gas until the rear wheels spun, low and behold there were two holes in the gravel after.

 

Not everyone starts off with F+R lockers.

This is called Brake Throttle Modulation or BTM for short. It does work to simulate a locker short term, but won't be practical to do for a whole day.

The way it works is by applying the brakes, it will slow down the axle that is spinning fast enough so that the diff will try to send some power to the non-spinning axle.

 

I was told this last time I went out wheeling by a more experienced guy in our group and it worked. It's no replacement for a locker, but good info to share!!

 

i tried this with my rear wheel spinning in loose dirt, they were spinning about 20mph, i stabbed the brake and held it about half way and it worked. only for a few seconds, but it could be the difference between stuck or not stuck

 

Done it before to rock myself out of a mudhole.
Only to move 3 more feet and get stuck even harder

 

Good to know as something to at least try, but not rely on. Hopefully I'll be upgrading to at least a rear locker soon. Will still be able to use this trick for the front though.