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Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Bowling in Sweihan - Chapter II - Abu Dhabi - 18 Sep 2021


Lorenzo Candelpergher

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I always drive in D, except going to M for these two cases:

a) I want to avoid automatic early upshifting, typically from 2nd to 3rd gear, in the initial stages of a climb or to avoid upshifting at all, by remaining in 2nd gear. 

b) I want to force early downshifting from 3rd to 2nd or 2nd to 1st gear to maintain a better revs/torque regime. This, with Jeeps, is tricky as WOT (wide open throttle) downshifting is prevented by the ECU software, so downshifting can only be achieved by feathering the throttle, which is not always easy to achieve, especially if you find yourself on a bumpy climb. 

The Rubicon has a "Off-Road+" button that changes the mapping of the engine / gear shifting to achieve higher revs and more sustained short gears. It is quite effective in helping with the above but I totally avoid to use it: if activated, this feature is equivalent to drilling a hole in the tank as the car burns fuel as if there was a massive leakage.. 😂😂

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7 minutes ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

The issue I found that sometime the downkick is very slow in D when you need to call for a slower gear and more torque... 

The throttle control for me as I see it in my X , or this is me , foot almost constant on gas paddle while changing as example from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1  and after getting the desired torque then comes the speed to maintain the momentum which will carry you from point A to B ( example long sidy like we did on Saturday in Sweihan ) 

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The trick is to plan ahead in which gear and speed you need to be in and not while you are in the middle of long sydy or a steep climb , this sounds ideal as the unexpected things along the spesific performed path may occur which might force to bit go up or down with your gear or gas paddle .. I believe with practice it becomes like a morning coffee handling thing 😅

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30 minutes ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

in my case, the main issue I have in needing a lower is gear is indeed Mohamed @M.Seidam on side sloops approached with not enough momentum. While I remember not to fight the gravity, the FJ is usually able to recover small mistakes of judgement by downshifting. Only two issues while doing this... the engine often stays in the "wrong" gear for 2-3 seconds, which are killer for me in those situations, the loss of momentum worsen and you can only steer down at that point. Doesn't happen to you guys @JeromeFJ , @Niki, @Hisham Masaad ?

The second issues is that to force the downshift , the pedal goes to the metal and usually the reaction is the downshift accompanied by a quite important torque transfer to the rear axle which induces oversteering, usually easy to control, but it doesn't look the right thing to do as potential unintended consequences. By the way , this is what exactly happened to me in a recent ride with @Lorenzo Candelpergher in Sweihan... 

Clearly the solution is in front of our eyes, right judging the momentum is the key and it addresses all of the above. "Funny" enough after driving my car that came from Al Futtaim with a Borla exhaust, the reason of misjudgement remains the same: my engine has a prominent sound already at low revs giving you the impression that a brutal turbocharged diesel V8 is pushing already the car with the energy of an angry bull... when actually, it's just noise... Amazing, that I am still tricked by that. Need to focus more . 

I always use first gear only for challenging Situations

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50 minutes ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

I always drive in D, except going to M for these two cases:

a) I want to avoid automatic early upshifting, typically from 2nd to 3rd gear, in the initial stages of a climb or to avoid upshifting at all, by remaining in 2nd gear. 

b) I want to force early downshifting from 3rd to 2nd or 2nd to 1st gear to maintain a better revs/torque regime. This, with Jeeps, is tricky as WOT (wide open throttle) downshifting is prevented by the ECU software, so downshifting can only be achieved by feathering the throttle, which is not always easy to achieve, especially if you find yourself on a bumpy climb. 

The Rubicon has a "Off-Road+" button that changes the mapping of the engine / gear shifting to achieve higher revs and more sustained short gears. It is quite effective in helping with the above but I totally avoid to use it: if activated, this feature is equivalent to drilling a hole in the tank as the car burns fuel as if there was a massive leakage.. 😂😂

I can agree with this!!! Feathering the throttle is quite tricky - 

 

Fuel consumption - 😆😆 - no one buys a Wrangler for its efficiency. Moving a building on wheels would probably have less air resistance than a Wrangler.  

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9 minutes ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

image.png.aba61cad72d0f68a767208954e08e97f.png

 

sorry :) , anyway coming from an FJC driver, I am sure you won't be offended... likely the wrangler and FJC aero engineers took the same courses at the Uni 

PS: I am also engineer... aerodynamics doesn't play a significant role in our desert ride (only maybe at the speed @Lorenzo Candelpergher drives sometime :D  ) , but it does play a role on the way to/from the desert :D

You see....we like to think we are clever engineers....but then....

fe36c49b4627ce41f63d0bcbbe6dc8ac--jeep-life-truths.jpg

Edited by Ruan van den Heever
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19 minutes ago, Ruan van den Heever said:

You see....we like to think we are clever engineers....but then....

fe36c49b4627ce41f63d0bcbbe6dc8ac--jeep-life-truths.jpg

So very true.. And I'm an engineer too... 😂😂😂

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1 hour ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

Only two issues while doing this... the engine often stays in the "wrong" gear for 2-3 seconds, which are killer for me in those situations, the loss of momentum worsen and you can only steer down at that point. Doesn't happen to you guys @JeromeFJ , @Niki, @Hisham Masaad ?

True, sometimes, it just "doesn't come" and you just contemplate your loss of momentum with frustration...

In some cases i manage to overcome by lifting slightly the gas pedal, and then down progressively to avoid issue number two... but not always. I guess this will come with experience, this combination of anticipation, selection of the "line", and this magic touch with the foot...

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1 hour ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

Doesn't happen to you guys @JeromeFJ , @Niki, @Hisham Masaad ?

@PaoloMaraziti I do recognize the experience you mentioned about the car holding the gear longer than needed and forcing us down vs taking the full slope or climb. 

I did manage climbs okay in D, doing Iftar Bowl relatively straightforward in D however i found for climbs, momentum lost with bumps was the killer.  So better suspension helps, subtle left-right steering and also doing a first pass to find the bumps and second run to slow just before a bump and then floor it.  Flooring it on the approach for climbs doesn't always help as the moment you hit air or start the bouncing, you likely have lost the climb.  I do suspect being in manual will help me with larger climbs but haven't had that opportunity yet to experiment! 

For slide sloping - if you were further up the convoy (near the front) then it gave a better chance find a higher line and therefore able to run longer.  further back, even with good intentions to make it up higher on a dune, the previous cars tracks and the slipped sand made it difficult. and ridge riding mid dune i always accepted exiting earlier... i have felt the gear-hold experience a lot on these side slopes but am looking forward to AD dunes to keep practicing.

I have heard the Pedal Commander @Hisham Masaad - addresses the lag in our cars and potentially allowing a more controlled shifting.  I have also heard that feathering the throttle between 4-5k+ rpm can help keep you on a slope... but i have never tried this.

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21 minutes ago, Niki said:

I have heard the Pedal Commander @Hisham Masaad

I have been using pedal commander for quite long time, it's very useful to control upshift and downshift by pedal only, and it brings rev up before a huge climb quickly.

I have driven almost all Toyota cars available in the region, Toyota's pedal setting is really gentle, you really have to tame it by more aggressive daily driving, and understand the tricks to up and down shift. 

Few sequoia and LC 5.7 owner friends of mine are happier with their cars after using the pedal commander, without it their big 5.7's acceleration feel more or less like the v6 at streets.

@PaoloMaraziti you can give a try, some vendors they let you try before purchase, and FJ's model should be the same to Prado/LC which are common in UAE

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