Community Forums

jameshawk · 02-19-2015, 08:05 AM

Pulling my 36,000 lb DP out of my drive I ventured into the yard with my RR wheel. I was up against the road surface with this RR wheel and I began spinning in the slop. The LR wheel was on the road surface and was not spinning or assisting in traction.
I must not understand the way a differential works as I figured the drive action would alternate between rear wheels as needed.
After an hour of digging around the spinning tire and filling the void with gravel I was able to get out, gotta be a better way?

Shadowcatche · 02-19-2015, 08:09 AM

A limited slip differential will. One trick is to apply the brake to help even out drive, an old off road trick that some times works enough to get you out.

Gary RVRoamer · 02-19-2015, 08:26 AM

In a standard differential, all the power goes to the wheel that moves most easily, which in this case means the one with no traction. A limited slip differential or locking axle would prevent that, but they are more complex and more expensive, so very few motorhomes have them.

Light pressure on the brake will reduce the tendency of the one wheel to spin and may transfer enough power to the other wheel to get you going. "Rocking" is the other time-honored method, repeatedly shifting from forward to reverse to get the vehicle rocking back and forth and maybe climbing out of the hole via inertia. Tough on the transmission and axles, though.

Sometimes you can put the jacks down and lift the slipping side enough to get something more solid underneath. However, that's risky to the people working around it, so something to be done with extreme caution.

Tom3205 · 02-19-2015, 08:34 AM

If you lived up here in Wisconsin, you would not have that problem. EVERYTHING is frozen.... so slop here....

Tom N · 02-20-2015, 08:05 AM

I got stuck in "sugar" sand outside of Wilmington, NC. The huge wrecker winched me out.

tncruiser · 02-20-2015, 08:15 AM

I had that happen about a 1/8 mile from home I moved over to let an "idiot" who could not see MH so stayed in middle of road if I had given her about 6in less room I would not be telling my story. I called good sam road service was out in about 45 min and I live in a place that sometime it is said on mapquest you cant get here . I would never brag about CW as to many stories but road service well worth the 100 or so bux it costs
brianj

Tireman9 · 02-20-2015, 09:11 AM

NEVER spin your tires when stuck. It is easy to exceed the max speed rating of your tires as the spinning tire is going TWICE the speed indicated on your speedometer.

This can result in an Explosion. I have seen this type of failure.

I will have a post published on Monday 2/23 on my Blog with a picture of this type of tire failure.

powerboatr · 02-20-2015, 09:19 AM

most dp rear gear sets are OPEN differentials...and yes power goes the wheel with less traction.
i did the same thing as you described...
i gently applied brake effort and the traction wheel gained enough torque to move me forward and out. panic is not your friend, just steady pressure and watch your mirrors to regulate torque to the correct wheel.\\

pretty scary dropping a dp off in soft sinking area
these puppies sink fast