Traction control

[Meeka]

Remember people all questions are not dumb. Does traction control really do anything if you have an FX4 with all the modes you ever need? Normal, Slippery, Sand, Mud/Ruts, Tow/Haul. Enlighten me please, just curious as to when trac control would be helpful. A lot of people I talk to always say they turn it off, and I’m not talking just our Mavs here. Thanks!

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[Tbone289]

Some modes disable traction control automatically. Switch to each one and the light will illuminate on the dash for those that disable.

I offroad my FX4 on occasion and never have felt the need to disable it manually.

 

[Master Blaster]

The number of situations is very small where turning off traction control is an advantage. Just leave it on unless you are doing very serious offroading in deep mud and need to keep the wheel with the least traction spinning.

 

[Camdak]

The number of situations is very small where turning off traction control is an advantage. Just leave it on unless you are doing very serious offroading in deep mud and need to keep the wheel with the least traction spinning.

So that should be the same for deep snow also?

 

[Master Blaster]

So that should be the same for deep snow also?

Probably not, although YMMV.
Traction control keeps all the wheels from spinning, giving the wheels with traction more usable power. Spinning tires in snow will usually ice them, leading to loss of control and less traction. Watching yahoos floor it to get up a slippery hill is hilarious. One of the worst moves that you can do on snow is to spin wheels. Not having traction control turned on while on the road will as a result usually make the vehicle somewhat uncontrollable. It will usually move forward, but it might crab sideways at the same time. That's not good for the paint job after you fix the body panels, wears tires down a lot, and sits you on an ice patch that will make traction that much harder. If you're offroad, then you probably don't care too much if you dent a few parts, and the mud does not ice over...

 

[Ranch]

Some modes disable traction control automatically. Switch to each one and the light will illuminate on the dash for those that disable.

I offroad my FX4 on occasion and never have felt the need to disable it manually.

I used the "Mud and Rut" mode recently at the ranch with my FX4 and traction control was disabled.

It worked well but it did keep the transmission in a low gear a bit longer than I cared for on certain parts of the dirt road.

 

[Tim d]

Remember people all questions are not dumb. Does traction control really do anything if you have an FX4 with all the modes you ever need? Normal, Slippery, Sand, Mud/Ruts, Tow/Haul. Enlighten me please, just curious as to when trac control would be helpful. A lot of people I talk to always say they turn it off, and I’m not talking just our Mavs here. Thanks!

If you get stuck in snow or mud,turn your traction control off. When it's on the brakes are applied to a tire that's spinning,effectively putting you in 2 wheel drive.thats how it is in my ram,someone correct me if the maverick is different plz.

 

[Sig-vicious]

If you get stuck in snow or mud,turn your traction control off. When it's on the brakes are applied to a tire that's spinning,effectively putting you in 2 wheel drive.thats how it is in my ram,someone correct me if the maverick is different plz.

Yeah that's when I've heard it makes sense to turn it off. When you're actually stuck...meaning not going anywhere. At those times you might benefit from spinning the tires, to power out of a situation, instead of the traction control stepping in and reducing the spin.

But otherwise agree with others, at least for the street...leave it on unless you're totally stuck or not getting anywhere.

 

[Mox4615]

I tinker with things just for grins and I’ve always wondered myself why traction control on an AWD would make any sense. Just seemed kinda redundant. I’ve drove around with it off and on in normal mode and the only real difference I can see is that it feels like it cycles through gears a lot faster and lugs more in overdrive.

 

[Camdak]

I tinker with things just for grins and I’ve always wondered myself why traction control on an AWD would make any sense. Just seemed kinda redundant. I’ve drove around with it off and on in normal mode and the only real difference I can see is that it feels like it cycles through gears a lot faster and lugs more in overdrive.

Does it seem like it ‘lugs’ with trac control on or off? Thx.

 

[Tim d]

Yeah that's when I've heard it makes sense to turn it off. When you're actually stuck...meaning not going anywhere. At those times you might benefit from spinning the tires, to power out of a situation, instead of the traction control stepping in and reducing the spin.

But otherwise agree with others, at least for the street...leave it on unless you're totally stuck or not getting anywhere.

My 10 ram was the first vehicle I bought with traction control.almost buried it the first time i went wheeling where my 95 Dakota went with no problem. My son suggested Turing the traction control off and I walked right out.

 

[Mox4615]

Does it seem like it ‘lugs’ with trac control on or off? Thx.

When it’s off. To me it’s pretty noticeable.

 

[KEMeyer]

Remember people all questions are not dumb. Does traction control really do anything if you have an FX4 with all the modes you ever need? Normal, Slippery, Sand, Mud/Ruts, Tow/Haul. Enlighten me please, just curious as to when trac control would be helpful. A lot of people I talk to always say they turn it off, and I’m not talking just our Mavs here. Thanks!

As I tell people who say "this may be a dumb question": there are no dumb questions, only dumb people... then smile and prepare to run like hell if they get pissed.

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