Bongo Fury

Had cause to reverse up an icy hill today (yes, we have low temperatures in Cornwall and had some serious frozen squashed hail outside my Dad's this morning) which leads me to question whether four wheel drive works in reverse gear.

I suppose this just requires a simple yes or no answer

Incidentally, I went up the same hill forwards and Seymour made very short work of it. An old boy going in the direction I had just come from waved at me to stop and asked me if the way I had just had just come was passable (on a housing estate!!) and I proudly said "I had no problem but this has four wheel drive )

Yes , works in reverse, I have a steepish drive and no problem reversing out when slippery with snow and ice.

Alison, if you felt the Bongo was "struggling" a bit in reverse, it could be because the gear ratio is different for reverse than forward gears.... which is probably why it went up the hill/slope/rise better........ I didn't have trouble reversing up an icy slope at the hospital tonight...

splitpin wrote:Yes , works in reverse, I have a steepish drive and no problem reversing out when slippery with snow and ice.

you are lucky - I have been stuck since yeserday morning with no sign of going anywhere - extrememly steep drive - basically just made of sheets of ice!

Depemds on the quailty and quantity of ice. I was stuck for the first time today.

Didn't even try since the road was totaly blocked with a car that tried earlier. Like mobilecat I have a speep sloping north facing drive. This leads on to a sloping narrow road, plus several more of the same until you you reach gritted territory.

The snow and ice so far were no problem to the Bongo but today all was one sheet of ice. Difficult even to stand. Not even a 4wd would have got anywhere without chains or snow tyres.

I drove all over the place in snow and ice on Monday andon Tuesday morning, BUT, came down my steep drive yesterday morning and never got out again because I had compressed the ice and there is no space to manouvre at all - and a brick wall to hit! I didn't leave it on the road as so many get hit there. Mine was hit last year without snow and in this weather our road which is also really really steep is like a ski slope - literally. Two roads away is totally clear - we just can't get to the road. Hubby who parks on the street has been able to get to Liverpool each day no problem from Manchester - its barmy, I just can't get out at all

Hi
We keep a LARGE quantity of salt handy, which we buy each month.....
Cheers
Helen

mobilecat wrote:

splitpin wrote:Yes , works in reverse, I have a steepish drive and no problem reversing out when slippery with snow and ice.

you are lucky - I have been stuck since yeserday morning with no sign of going anywhere - extrememly steep drive - basically just made of sheets of ice!

Big bag of rocksalt is only a couple of quid Cath,that should sort you out

Brian

Bongoplod wrote:

mobilecat wrote:

splitpin wrote:Yes , works in reverse, I have a steepish drive and no problem reversing out when slippery with snow and ice.

you are lucky - I have been stuck since yeserday morning with no sign of going anywhere - extrememly steep drive - basically just made of sheets of ice!

Big bag of rocksalt is only a couple of quid Cath,that should sort you out

Brian

Ho Ho Ho - you can't buy that in the shops here!!!!! You can't even buy low sodium salt! and our grit box at the top of the road has been empty since Sunday

Finally managed to be digged out today now standing in my neighbours drive (flat).

mobilecat wrote: you are lucky - I have been stuck since yeserday morning with no sign of going anywhere - extrememly steep drive - basically just made of sheets of ice!

Ho Ho Ho - you can't buy that in the shops here!!!!! You can't even buy low sodium salt! and our grit box at the top of the road has been empty since Sunday

Finally managed to be digged out today now standing in my neighbours drive (flat).[/quote]

Rocksalt available at the likes of Homebase,B&Q,Range ansd similar outlets

Brian

Yes 4wd works in reverse.

Our B&Q had Rocksalt a fortnight ago and I thought about buying some, but thought no, it'll be OK... I'll put salt on our paths... Yesterday, we were stuck in a traffic queue on a steep hill for over an hour because 2 cars in front of us had slid into parked cars. (Nobody was hurt and the police were waiting for rocksalt before they'd let anyone continue). Lesson learnt, and hubby went to B&Q today to get some but of course they'd sold out.

Four wheel drive is fine if its got something to stick to. I came down a hill on Tuesday and went straight onto an icy patch. Slid left, slid right, starightened up and continued. What a relief. I wasn't really in control and happily avoided granite walls on both sides of the road !! Phew! A Land Rover 90 round the corner had unfortunately stuffed itself into the rear of a small Peugeot. Not even the King of off-roading can cope with an ice rink.

The gritters are out, so my bongo is IN! I've learned in my FWD car that almost any slope, no matter how steep or slippery is negotiable in reverse gear. (in fact i've reversed up a few slopes through choice when i decided against going up forwards) I've dropped from 40 PSI to 26 PSI till conditions improve, the economy can take a back seat for a bit.

It's worthwile chucking any old spare bits of carpet you may have knocking about in the shed in the boot of whichever car you are driving at this time of year,along with a shovel, and some rocksalt if you can lay your mitts on some. A thick blanket,a strong rope,a BIG bottle of water, a fruit and nut,and a bar of kendal mintcake is a good precation to have in the car too should you get stuck somewhere with no mobile/battery or whatever. The foods will last for months,(unopened) and has a high energy yield.

Let's be careful out there!

samuel wrote:Four wheel drive is fine if its got something to stick to.

Exactly...... this has been exhausted on the Pistonheads forum, obviously petrolheads...... and many have beemers and can't go out to play in the snow. Also Tyres have been discussed like on here......
Many 4wd "pilots" think that as they have 4wd they can defy the laws of physics and nature.....while 4wd is good and Full Time 4wd very very good...... if the rubber bits that have a contact patch similar in size to a size 10 boot,can't "talk" to the snow/ice/tarmac etc. you wont go anywhere..... Speed/tyres/conditions are all variables in the equation......

Thanks all for an interesting discussion on this one. I think my initial problem was possibly caused by lack of traction generally (it was frozen hail and had been compacted) and possibly because I was being a bit half-hearted about it (I was trying to get out of the way of a bus, but he looked as though he was going to have to change his mind anyway ...... he did, fortunately). It's quite a hill (not sure of gradient, as there are no signs, but my guess would be about 1 in 6)

My comment about proudly saying I have four wheel drive wasn't smugness or over-confidence about the situation as the roads weren't that bad generally (it was all very localised). I just didn't know how that elderly person who was probably going to tackle it in the wrong gear would fare. Once the sun had come round about an hour later, everything thawed and the roads round Dad's had dried out again by 3. They had the same there for three mornings running but 12 miles away we had nothing at all.

I expect you read about the awful coach crash in Cornwall on black ice on the 22nd December. There were isolated crashes all over the place as to be honest, we just don't expect the temperatures to fall that far (and although I didn't look at the forecast that morning, unless you get a very specific localised forecast, both the local and national weather forecasts just plonk a weather/temperature symbol on the map and it is most definitely not "one size fits all" down here). Doesn't excuse irresponsible driving in cold weather, but then again, driving at any speed even if it's 5mph, if you hit a patch of ice you're going to lose control of your vehicle even if only for a moment.

We don't really get a lot of slippy stuff where I live as we are too close to the sea, and when it does freeze, it's frozen rain which usually melts again if it rains again. In February when we did have a little snow a neighbour tried putting salt and some coarse beach sand on his drive but it had washed away by morning and he still couldn't get out without the loan of a bit of carpet (which he's still got ).

I always reverse into our drive (also sloping - need to do a survey on who's got a sloping drive ) but that's because if I went in forwards and reversed out all I would be able to see would be sky until I felt the impact of an oncoming vehicle My Dad, whose drive is the same gradient as ours but longer, always reverses out - as BDC said, reverse gear usually gets you everywhere!!

Anyway, back to the "does 4WD work in reverse", it obviously does in the correct circumstances, so thank you, one and all.

I've had a pair of grip strips in the car for quite some time (pre-Bongo, and now in the Bongo) primarily to get me out of muddy gateways (again, usually avoiding buses) but have never, ever used them. I suppose they may have their uses on ice/snow but then again, the bottom surface would have nothing to grip on to.