My Cherokee is my 1st 4x4 so I'm pretty new to 4 wheeling. Last night we went out on a level B road (not maintained) and came upon a drift that was about 2 feet deep and maybe 100 yards long. I have a 2000 XJ with 3 inch lift and Bridgestone Dueler RVT tires 245x75x16. I made it about 3 to 4 lengths into the drift and that was as far as I could go. I was 4H and 3rd gear.
My question is, is that something my XJ should be able to go thru or not. If so what 4wd setting and what gear should I have tried?
Your experienced advise would be appreciated


Thanks Erik

 

Others will chime in but I think it's better to go in 2H until you get stuck then use 4H to back out. If you get stuck in 4WD your options are a winch or a strap. When driving in 2' of snow your dragging axles and there is always a risk of getting stuck if you can't maintain momentum.

 

hit reverse, back out of it, get a little bit more momentum and keep on truckin'

 

^^what he said...but the most important thing to remember about snow driving is...just because you have a lifted xj dosent mean that you can barrel down the highway at 60mph in a foot of snow like a idiot lol drive safe and enjoy

 

Momentum is your friend. All the lift in the world won't help if you're plowing the diff. Next time you have the opportunity, try more speed. It's fun to test the limits but best tried when there's someone to pull you out if things don't go as you'd hoped.

I've installed a 1st gear lock-out and find that 4hi/1-2 with lock-out engaged is my best option in deep drifts but I will always test the conditions first.

 

My son and I went out and tried it again, YES momentum is definitely needed. Here is the end of the road, after we came out of it and once again we both have "Smart Phones" but neither of us thought about making a movie. The Jeep went through it without any problems but I definitely knew it wouldn't be good to stop or slow down, snow was flying everywhere to the point where I could barely see the road. It was a good time! I hope the pictures work
Thanks again for your input

 

so this was fresh no tracks? sometimes you have to break trail then back up and run at it again to get it.

 

this is where we stopped last weekend, about a mile north of woodville, mi.
this is a seasonal road and we're at the top of a hill here, probably 2' of snow on the ground everywhere, drifts 3'+ it was awesome.

 

Lockers help a ton- as do a good set of tires. It also depends on the type of snow. Momentum works great in powder but when you get a few feet of snow and it freezes solid, It is better to go fairly slow and break through as little as possible. Sucks when you suddenly fall through halfway through a huge drift lol. Tire chains of course always help.

Most of the time momentum will do it for you- sometimes hitting it a few times will get you through. Just don't stop in the middle of a deep section if you can help it. Looks like fun!

 

That's bad***.

 

Guys this looks like the road to my house when it snows and were lucky if the plows get to us in 4-7 days is quick. That is why we have always had 4 wheel drives they were a must have here on the farm. If one got stuck bad out came the JD tractor.

 

Yup! lol

 

Someone had been down it several days ago but we had more snow and his tracks were pretty much filled in

 

Yea we got about 2 feet up at the house over the past few days. Still snowing a little bit here and there. The sucky thing here is the mountain can get 20+ feet of snow and you have to wait till July to make it up there.

 

Snow wheeling is a relative thing, depends on conditions. Is it soft and fluffy, hard crust on top, slushy, ice underneath, anyway you get the picture. Every one of these needs a different driving technique, and learning the hard way is most often how you learn to know what to do. We snow wheel here about seven months of the year. Had to put chains on all four AND winch just to get to the hunting spot in October this year, and its getting deeper! Managed to rip off both front flares, one rear, and a bumper endcap with the chains though.