off roading on steep inclines?

Practice makes perfect. The 2 scariest things I can think of behind the wheel off road are:
Cresting a hill and seeing nothing but sky over the hood till the truck levels out.
Starting down a hill and seeing nothing but sky over the hood until you drop off the edge. Can you say heebie jeebies?

It does get better with practice. Always remember. When in doubt, stop, get out and check it out before doing anything. Often stuff that looks scary behind the wheel isn't so bad once you've checked it out. With some practice you will realize that you can often easily drive stuff you wouldn't be comfortable walking.

A GOOD spotter is your best friend. BUT they need to understand what you need behind the wheel. Agree on signals ahead of time. Make sure the spotter is out of harms way at all times. It takes practice for both folks. There are some folks I would let spot me in dangerous places if I was blindfolded and just listening to them. There are others that are so bad I would rather drive dangerous places blindfolded than accept their spotting in an empty parking lot.

Low range is your friend. I use it for everything from extra traction on boat ramps to just driving slow to enjoy the scenery. In steep situations both up and down hill it reduces stress on both the driver and the vehicle.

Phil,
I light of your post I see Ace's post that way too, but that's not how I originally read it.

Ignoring inertia, toppling over in any direction means that the Center of Gravity's straight-down 'shadow' got outside of the rectangle defined by the tires. That's really steep! Inertia can be your friend, and sometimes not!

With those 'can't see over the crest' kinds of places w/o a spotter I've learned to honk the horn somewhat short of the crest.

What Squatch said about good spotters vs. not so good spotters. I've been known to turn down spotting requests because I didn't feel that I would be a good choice for the vehicle in question. This was particularly true when the bulk of my off-road driving had been solely in the dune buggy. At that time I had no idea what a good line for a 4X4 might be.

ntsqd said:

Phil,
I light of your post I see Ace's post that way too, but that's not how I originally read it.

Ignoring inertia, toppling over in any direction means that the Center of Gravity's straight-down 'shadow' got outside of the rectangle defined by the tires. That's really steep! Inertia can be your friend, and sometimes not!

With those 'can't see over the crest' kinds of places w/o a spotter I've learned to honk the horn somewhat short of the crest.

What Squatch said about good spotters vs. not so good spotters. I've been known to turn down spotting requests because I didn't feel that I would be a good choice for the vehicle in question. This was particularly true when the bulk of my off-road driving had been solely in the dune buggy. At that time I had no idea what a good line for a 4X4 might be.

Click to expand...

Understood...seems like my learning always ends up being more "errors" and "trials"...but eventually I get the message; until I forget it!

Hey, I love 'discovery learning'!

Phil

Wish I'd had a spotter Memorial weekend. I was backing up, watching to make sure I didn't hit the fence behind me. Didn't see the tree in front of the fence Nice dent in my new bumper now.

I am a little leery of spotters. My Jeep has the drivetrain offset to the right as opposed to most of the newer ones where its right down the middle. If someone doesn't take that into account it can get interesting.