Slippery Kansas mud roads..like ice

[Kem Poyner]

More than once I have been bogged down chasing on wet muddy back roads in Kansas. Vehicle slides to the ditch even when stopped! Worse than ice, brakes get caked with mud, yet I get passed by small front wheel drive cars like its a normal road.
What works best on these roads? 4 wheel drive, AWD, or front wheel drive?

 

[Chris Bethurum]

Four wheel drive with locked front and rear axles providing power to all wheels. This is somewhat rare outside the serious four wheel drive community.

I was using an AWD Honda Element on a high altitude road near Moab, UT in April. The dirt road was crowned in the middle with drainage channels on each side. There surface layer was a very slippery mud. At one point it became necessary to use high wheel speed (slippage) to generate enough thrust to stay out of the ditch. I'll have to admit it was challenging and fun driving.

Front wheel drive is something like a 60-40 advantage or better over rear wheel drive. This is mainly due to more weight over the front wheels in the average vehicle. The fact that drive wheels can be turned can be a benefit to control as well. In each case you want traction to more wheels. The worst case scenario for traction is an open rear differential, causing most power or all power to travel through one rear wheel on slippery surfaces.

Better than the open rear for traction is a limited slip or better yet a locked rear differential. While forward traction is better, in certain circumstances the tendacy for the rear end to move right an left in an 'oversteering' fashion can make the vehicle harder to drive.

 

[Kem Poyner]

mud

thanks Chris! That is the info i was looking for.

 

[Marcus Opitz]

LSD on my lexus saved me in west texas despite rwd and low profile tires......I am a believer of muddy roads while chasing....It was a close call....

 

[Cris Schroeder]

True 4WD with lockers would be best, but I've had good luck with the AWD on my Venture. Many of the AWD setups imitate true lockers using various gerotor or clutch setups. The Versatrak system on the Venture does a good job avoiding wheel spin left-to-right, and will dump something like 30% of the torque to the rear if needed. It doesn't sound like much but 30% at the rear can make a huge difference when you need it.

The systems work on wheel speed differential, so sometimes you have to get on it pretty hard to make it lock up and turn all four wheels. It's point-and-click...point the front where you want it to go, and step on the gas.

If your car has a standard open diff, try to keep both drive wheels in the same conditions and go light on the throttle. It's tempting to keep one wheel where the traction looks better, but all that does is dump the power to the slipping wheel.

 

[Andrew Stoller]

Tires and tire pressure can make a dramatic difference as well. Half worn crummy tires at 45 psi will get you no where fast; quality all season tires with the correct air pressure will help a ton on a passenger car on a muddy road.

I've practically 4 wheeled my Toyota Corolla while chasing to get out of hairy situations (stuck on muddy road crown sliding towards ditch) with BFG Precept Touring tires (Beefy all season tread) and plowed right out with ease where others were having to be pushed.

 

[Jerry Prsha]

More than once I have been bogged down chasing on wet muddy back roads in Kansas. Vehicle slides to the ditch even when stopped! Worse than ice, brakes get caked with mud, yet I get passed by small front wheel drive cars like its a normal road.
What works best on these roads? 4 wheel drive, AWD, or front wheel drive?

Kem,

I think that the tires are the real culprit here. I own a 4 wheel drive Jeep and without the proper tires, you're going to get stuck, no matter what you drive. But then again, pick your poison. A stronger tread means lower gas mileage.

I guess your best bet (safest) would be to stay off the muddy roads in the first place?

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

AWD is very handy. I chased for a couple years in my Eagle Talon AWD. It was low to the ground, so if I sank any I was screwed, but with the turbo on there it had pretty good power. I have gone to a Grand Cherokee AWD now. That vehicle is the only reason I had any luck on May 5th this year in KS. Spent most that day going down roads that I would not have even considered in any other vehicle. It was like a muddy/sandy mess, but with bad ruts everywhere. I went down even worse roads in the Panhandle this year. One road was all clay type mud with big ditches on both sides of the road. I would have slid off the road except for the baseball size hail provided some traction and I kept my tires in a rut so I would keep going straight. Longest 3 mile road of my life. I like AWD myself just because you dont ever have to worry about turning it on or anything like that. Good tires are must on roads like that regardless on the drivetrain.

 

[Adam Lucio]

My vehicle is RWD only, I have yet to get stuck and have traveled several muddy roads in Kansas but game closest in west central Wisconsin on March 25th of this year. I knew I was in a bit of a situation when I passed a sign that had a picture of an ATV with the word "only" on it. I find what works best is to coast through and keep light pressure on the gas, mashing on the pedal will cause the wheel to slip before it even gets traction, and thats where the bad times begin. I have good thick treds on the tires. Mud has never been a problem but snow is another story...

Altho my next vehicle will be AWD just for this reason.

 

[Dan Robinson]

These roads are not to be underestimated no matter the vehicle. In some cases, the mud really is like ice in that there will be no traction no matter the vehicle or tires. While some 4WDs might survive on them, they will only do so slowly. Those roads are chase-enders and to be avoided at all costs when they are wet. Some of them are bad enough even dry!

 

[Tony Perkins]

I agree with Dan, just avoid them completely. My first venture down one was my last. I was afraid to stop or even pull into a driveway to turn around.

 

[cdcollura]

These roads are essentially clay-based dirt. This is like thick whip-cream / slippery molasses when wet. The consistency is clearly visible on the "bob's road" below...

The best bet is large mud tires and 4x4. Anything else you'll either slide around, into a ditch, or get stuck altogether.

A Toyota 4 Runner is a good choice ;-)

 

[Paul Knightley]

We went down (not very far!) a road in NE New Mexico this year, which was like molten chocolate! Our Grand Cherokee soon got the tyres caked in thick, red mud, and was sliding all over the shop. Luckily we got it out OK - our other team was in a Dodge Durango, which didn't perform as well in the mud. The main problem with both was using an auto box which doesn't allow a gentle application of power, which a stick shift would.

 

[Bryan Putnam]

I found on May 22nd that it doesn't matter what kind of drive you have, that mud turns into a slip and slide. I had my 4WD jeep locked and it did absolutely nothing. I almost slid into a ditch twice, and this was going 5 mph! I picked up a guy that had already slid off and felt dumb when I about slid off myself with him in the car.

Needless to say, I am done with muddy roads. That was harrowing experience I do not want to deal with again.

 

[Marcus Opitz]

Beware of grass shoulders as they can hide the loose mud/dirt/whatever below.