Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

I have an auto box on the d4d and on sunday something interesting has occurred that made me realise...I dont know the car all that much yet. On a steep hill sandy climb i had it in HL and the stick in 2nd. Half way thru the hill the car would swap gears from 1st to 2nd, loose the momentum and stop. I got out in L - HL but my question is whether there is a way of putting the car in 2nd and make him lock into it without trying to reduce it back to 1st? Is 2nd start going to help? (it will get the car going in 2nd but will it prevent swapping back to 1st?)

[ozwapet2 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close ozwapet2]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

I have an auto box on the d4d and on sunday something interesting has occurred that made me realise...I dont know the car all that much yet. On a steep hill sandy climb i had it in HL and the stick in 2nd. Half way thru the hill the car would swap gears from 1st to 2nd, loose the momentum and stop. I got out in L - HL but my question is whether there is a way of putting the car in 2nd and make him lock into it without trying to reduce it back to 1st? Is 2nd start going to help? (it will get the car going in 2nd but will it prevent swapping back to 1st?)

HL = High range / Centre Diff locked ?

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

HL = High range / Centre Diff locked ?

yes

[StormyKnight Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close StormyKnight]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

Yes switching the 2nd start on will acheive this....

In fact with the 2nd start activated, you can effectively then use the T-bar to manually select which gear you want the auto to be in...

You put it in first it will stay in first, you put it in 2nd & it will stay in 2nd...in 3rd it will only go down to 2nd....


Just be aware however......

Because of the cooling fan being mechanical (i.e. it runs the same speed as the engine), if you forced the car to 2nd gear, the engine rpm will drop which will reduce the amount of cooling that the fan can provide. Usually the auto will not select 1st unless it is virtually stopped anyway & perhaps earlier if you have your foot planted & its still slowing down in 2nd...

Being in sand will aggrevate the issue too :wink:

The other side effect is the A/C will cut out if the engine gets too hot, so watch out for the early signs....

Short runs should be fine, I had the above issue on a long climb where I selected 2nd start when the car wanted to choose 1st...by the top the engine was too hot & the A/C was cut off. I had a bug screen across the car & it was about 35 degrees too.

Anyway have a play with the 2nd start button, it can be handy if your in terrain that requires manual selection between 1st & second.

Cheers

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

Yes switching the 2nd start on will acheive this....

In fact with the 2nd start activated, you can effectively then use the T-bar to manually select which gear you want the auto to be in...

You put it in first it will stay in first, you put it in 2nd & it will stay in 2nd...in 3rd it will only go down to 2nd....


Just be aware however......

Because of the cooling fan being mechanical (i.e. it runs the same speed as the engine), if you forced the car to 2nd gear, the engine rpm will drop which will reduce the amount of cooling that the fan can provide. Usually the auto will not select 1st unless it is virtually stopped anyway & perhaps earlier if you have your foot planted & its still slowing down in 2nd...

Being in sand will aggrevate the issue too :wink:

The other side effect is the A/C will cut out if the engine gets too hot, so watch out for the early signs....

Short runs should be fine, I had the above issue on a long climb where I selected 2nd start when the car wanted to choose 1st...by the top the engine was too hot & the A/C was cut off. I had a bug screen across the car & it was about 35 degrees too.

Anyway have a play with the 2nd start button, it can be handy if your in terrain that requires manual selection between 1st & second.

Cheers

well this is what I was after, mainly locking 1st and staying there (in that case just chuck L in and you're right) but staying in 2nd and not going up or down is very crucial. 3rd isn't so crucial but who knows might be handy one day

anyways here are my attempts:

first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=548g2g8ogLA

(kept changing the gear)

final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRL1CsY6eNY

(put it in L and therefore locked it into 1st only)

please note the cheers on the last attempt...haha one way to learn is to keep on trying till u succeed

[StormyKnight Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close StormyKnight]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

...please note the cheers on the last attempt...haha one way to learn is to keep on trying till u succeed

Hey congratulations...& yep keep trying you will learn heaps & have fun along the way!

[Prado4Eva Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Prado4Eva]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

Yes switching the 2nd start on will acheive this....

In fact with the 2nd start activated, you can effectively then use the T-bar to manually select which gear you want the auto to be in...

You put it in first it will stay in first, you put it in 2nd & it will stay in 2nd...in 3rd it will only go down to 2nd....


Just be aware however......

Because of the cooling fan being mechanical (i.e. it runs the same speed as the engine), if you forced the car to 2nd gear, the engine rpm will drop which will reduce the amount of cooling that the fan can provide. Usually the auto will not select 1st unless it is virtually stopped anyway & perhaps earlier if you have your foot planted & its still slowing down in 2nd...

Being in sand will aggrevate the issue too :wink:

The other side effect is the A/C will cut out if the engine gets too hot, so watch out for the early signs....

Short runs should be fine, I had the above issue on a long climb where I selected 2nd start when the car wanted to choose 1st...by the top the engine was too hot & the A/C was cut off. I had a bug screen across the car & it was about 35 degrees too.

Anyway have a play with the 2nd start button, it can be handy if your in terrain that requires manual selection between 1st & second.

Cheers

Hey Guys

Have you tested the 2nd start button out any further? These posts seem to suggest that the 2nd start button will not lock it into a particular gear on an auto, and will not prevent the gearbox changing gears automatically. i.e. with the 2nd start button depressed the gearbox will still change automatically between the gears:
http://www.pradopoint.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7003
http://www.pradopoint.com/viewtopic....st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Cheers
Prado4Eva

[StormyKnight Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close StormyKnight]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

Basically you can think of the 2nd start switch as a 1st gear lockout. 1st will not be used unless you force it there with the T-Bar.

The T-Bar has priority so if it is....

in 1st the gearbox will be in 1st irrelevant of the 2nd start switch.
in 2nd the gear box will choose between 1st & second only if the switch is off, but will only be in 2nd if the second start switch is active.
in 3rd the gearbox will choose 1st, 2nd or 3rd if the switch is off, but can choose 2nd or 3rd if it is on
in Drive the gearbox can choose any gear with it off, but can only choose 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th if it is on.

(Exception to the above rules... you are going too fast for the gearbox to select a lower gear, it will stay in the higher gear until you slow down enough - this has priority over t-bar & 2nd start switch)




Cheers

[Prado4Eva Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Prado4Eva]

Re: Locking it in a gear on a hill climb

Ahhh gotcha. Thanks heaps!

Got another question. My mate has a manual gearbox in his nissan patrol. We went camping and he towed a fairly heavy trailer. When we were in the dunes he had to go over a large hill. So he reversed up, gave himself a good run up, selected low range, and put his manual stick into third. Then he gunned it and made it to the top (nice manoeuvre, I video'd it) without changing gears.

How would I achieve this kind of move in my Prado? The auto gearbox might change on me half way up, and it might all go pear shaped?

Kind Regards

Prado4Eva.