{"id":137,"date":"2021-06-24T20:30:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T20:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/?p=137"},"modified":"2021-06-24T20:30:58","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T20:30:58","slug":"driving-in-the-backcountry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/2021\/06\/24\/driving-in-the-backcountry\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving in the backcountry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When taking a vehicle into the backcountry, four factors need to be carefully considered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1) the driving terrain,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2) the capabilities of the vehicle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3) vehicle maintenance, and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4) the experience level of the driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this short post, I will focus only on vehicle capabilities and maintenance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"
All Wheel Drive (AWD) Vehicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
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4×4 Vehicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AWD vs 4×4, which is better?  Well, that depends upon the application.  AWD vehicles provide power to all four wheels through clutches and gearing that do not require the driver to provide any input.  AWD vehicles are designed mainly to give traction on normal roads during inclement weather or light off-roads such as gravel.  Conversely, 4×4 systems are designed to handle rugged terrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One misconception that drivers have when they select an AWD vehicle, is that they assume these vehicles can perform just as well as 4x4s on rough terrain.  For most models of AWD vehicles, this is not the case.  For AWD vehicles, traction is optimized<\/em>, while for 4x4s traction is maximized<\/em>. Also, AWD vehicles tend to have much less ground clearance than 4x4s.  When negotiating trails with tree branches, rocks, large ruts, and washouts, clearance can be equally or more important than the type of drive system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 4x4s, both the size of the vehicle and the drive system can have drawbacks. It is rare to find a vehicle that is a full-time 4×4; therefore, the driver must learn to predict when it is necessary to switch between two-wheel drive, 4H, and 4L modes.  Moreover, for many vehicles, it is necessary to come to a full stop before changing modes.  On improved gravel trails one can generally get away with staying in two-wheel drive.  Upon engaging the 4H or 4L mode, the differentials become locked and prevent the vehicle from negotiating tight corners smoothly.  The inner wheel typically \u201cskips\u201d when it loses grip: this characteristic is especially noticeable when backing around a corner.  When turning a 4×4 vehicle around in tight spaces, try to avoid using 4H\/4L modes. Remember to execute turnarounds by using the maximum space available and taking advantage of a spotter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be sure to walk around the vehicle before heading into backcountry.\u00a0 Look for things such as worn-out tires, including a worn-out or poorly inflated spare.\u00a0 One spare tire will not replace four tires that are all ready to fail in quick succession! Know where the tire jack and lug nut wrenches are and how to use them.\u00a0 Check to make sure the vehicle sits level while on flat terrain; this will let you know if the suspension is damaged.\u00a0 Look for holes in the radiator grill that may indicate damage to the radiator.\u00a0 Lastly, fill up the fuel tank before heading out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Larry Hartman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When taking a vehicle into the backcountry, four factors need to be carefully considered: 1) the driving terrain, 2) the capabilities of the vehicle 3) vehicle maintenance, and 4) the experience level of the driver. In this short post, I will focus only on vehicle capabilities and maintenance.\u00a0 AWD vs 4×4, which is better?  Well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11420,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-in-the-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cascadia2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}