Steep Hill Kills Clutch

[cuzican]

So this past weekend I was travelling down a hill in first gear in low range. The hill was steep and the surface was loose. When the Jeep started to slide partway down the hill I disengaged the clutch and hung on for the rollercoaster ride. Just before I reached the bottom there was a bang. When I got stopped the clutch pedal wouldn't depress to disengage the clutch. My first thought was the throwout bearing had gone astray.

These pictures are what I found this evening when I pulled the tranny. Notice the dust and gouges in the pressure plate housing



This is the way the pressure plate came off - actually had to pry pieces of the clutch off with a screwdriver.





Couldn't disengage the clutch but we managed to wheel for another few hours after this happened by starting up in gear. A real good reason to disconnect the neutral safety switch.

Based on my gearing and a potential speed of 50 km/hr at the bottom of the hill the clutch would have been spinning at over 15,000 rpm when it decided enough was enough.

Lesson - if when travelling down hill there is a need to free wheel remember to knock the transmission out of gear.

[SwampSinger]

Holy crap Stephen  :shock: ...

Good info ... I do the same sometimes...

 Thanks!!




BUT... come on... tell us the truth... you took the ol' Heep to the Drag races  :lol:

[BlackYJ]

Lesson - if when travelling down hill there is a need to free wheel remember to knock the transmission out of gear.

I am glad to hear that you were okay, but with the obstacles we do, you should not be free-wheeling down hills.

[01sahara]

So this past weekend I was travelling down a hill in first gear in low range. The hill was steep and the surface was loose. When the Jeep started to slide partway down the hill I disengaged the clutch and hung on for the rollercoaster ride.

Lesson - if when travelling down hill there is a need to free wheel remember to knock the transmission out of gear.

I know it is hard to make split decisions on the trail and things happen fast especially on trails but Scott is right freewheeling down a hill at that speed on a trail is dangerous. For those that may be new to wheeling and reading this thread, if the jeep is loosing traction due to engine braking in gear then try to give it some gas but leave it in gear and the clutch engaged.  Better to drive down the hill under power at 20-25KM and under control than freewheeling down at 50KM. It might not work but givining it gas may get the wheels rolling again and give you back traction. If I had time to think about it thats what I would try.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the clutch. I know the feeling and have made lots of the decisions myself that have cost me repairs. (Dam trees, stupid deep mud holes, off camber ice flows) I am sure I will also make other costly choices in the future.

Good luck with the repairs.

Blair

[yjcanibul]

good info !

thats an easy mistake to make and caught me off guard once on a steep decent and its just plain scarey ... I was hard on the brakes which werent doing it and I popped the clutch followed by some gas to straighten out and gain control back ... mega drivetrain shock !

I will never forget and I still occasionally want to depress that clutch ... but fear reminds me not a good idea ...

[TJ54]

You did a good job blowing up that clutch :lol:  Hopefully that is the only damage, the tranny must have taken some of that shock as well.

Freewheeling down a hill is a scary business, if you get going too fast you can always upshift for a while. Winter and icy hills are almost here, downhill slides are not uncommon. It is so important to keep your vehicle under control during these incidents. Bad things can happen, you are very lucky that the clutch let go and that you didn't end up rolling the jeep.

[cuzican]

It was nice and straight but quite steep. I wasn't concerned about rolling it while free wheeling down - I was concerned with sliding further sideways while the wheels were slipping - potentially resulting in a roll.

Additional gas wasn't an option - well not if I wanted to keep the engine.  

Split second decision though and if you consider winter driving, depressing the clutch and steering into the slide resolves skewed lost traction situations alot better than brake or acceleration.

Second concern was I had both of my lockers engaged and additional power might not have straightened me out but rather placed me in a more precarious predicament and moving faster.

Next time around I'll leave the lockers disengaged - or better still I'll take the bypass.

[01sahara]

It was nice and straight but quite steep. I wasn't concerned about rolling it while free wheeling down - I was concerned with sliding further sideways while the wheels were slipping - potentially resulting in a roll.

Additional gas wasn't an option - well not if I wanted to keep the engine.  

Split second decision though and if you consider winter driving, depressing the clutch and steering into the slide resolves skewed lost traction situations alot better than brake or acceleration.

Second concern was I had both of my lockers engaged and additional power might not have straightened me out but rather placed me in a more precarious predicament and moving faster.

Next time around I'll leave the lockers disengaged - or better still I'll take the bypass.

No problem. We all make split second decisions and you were the one in the driver’s seat not me. My comments were not meant to criticize your decision but to educate any new off road drivers that were reading the thread to the idea of keeping the clutch in and speed down.

Good luck with the repairs.

[rocnrol]

i for one am going to criticize.

Additional gas wasn't an option - well not if I wanted to keep the engine.

cuzican..........this indeed was your ONLY option. iam not sure why you are woried about your engine here in this situation, but rest assured it wouldnt have been in any danger. a small blip on the throttle would have straightend you out and regained your control. the very SMALL amount of speed increse would have been nothing compaired to what you did reach.

you, and the people around you are lucky that a granaded clutch was all that came from this. you really need to get out with some people with some more experiance before you end up seriously hurt.