Jim McClain
Full Access Member
Learned something new about my KJ today. I got into some loose, heavy gravel and rock near a river bank and actually feared rolling over on its side toward the river. I decided to back up, instead of continuing ahead to turn up to higher ground. I was in Full-Time 4WD, put it in reverse and it almost felt like the rear brakes were on. I couldn't even get enough RPM to spin the tires in that loose ground. I would inch forward and try reverse again and got the same result. It just groaoaoaned and acted like it wanted to stall out. Granted, it was a steepish incline, but not that steep, I didn't think.
My choices were to wait for the stars to align so I could get a cell signal to call a tow truck, or throw caution to the wind and try to power into a sharp forward turn and hope like hell the Jeep didn't roll over or I didn't run into a tree that I thought would prevent me from making the full radius. Guess what I did? Here's a hint: I did not have to reach for my AAA card.
I worried too much about a roll-over, but I did come within inches of the tree. Still, the KJ came out on the dirt road and I celebrated with a couple squirts of albuterol. WHEW!
So, I do some research on the problem to see if it might have been discussed here before. That's when I discovered that this is actually a pretty common problem with the 42RLE ******. Gears too tall for reverse in sketchy terrain. I found several good posts on the subject, including this one:
I'd like to find the best solution. Not getting into situations I will need reverse in rugged terrain is not one of them. And for those who may ask, I did recently get a complete ****** flush and am using ATF+4 fluid and the levels were good my last oil & lube about a week ago. Also, there have been no error codes, except one warning occasionally: "Check TPMS System."
Got any sage advice?
My choices were to wait for the stars to align so I could get a cell signal to call a tow truck, or throw caution to the wind and try to power into a sharp forward turn and hope like hell the Jeep didn't roll over or I didn't run into a tree that I thought would prevent me from making the full radius. Guess what I did? Here's a hint: I did not have to reach for my AAA card.
I worried too much about a roll-over, but I did come within inches of the tree. Still, the KJ came out on the dirt road and I celebrated with a couple squirts of albuterol. WHEW!
So, I do some research on the problem to see if it might have been discussed here before. That's when I discovered that this is actually a pretty common problem with the 42RLE ******. Gears too tall for reverse in sketchy terrain. I found several good posts on the subject, including this one:
Okay, so I already have bigger tires (245/75R-16). Does that mean even after a re-gear, the loss of power in reverse will still be an issue? Would regearing AND a transmission computer flash be an effective solution? Or maybe this could help alleviate the problem: LibertyTC illustrates and explains how to clean the IAC...I did out line a "fix" to the problem maybe you missed it. knowing that you can not regear the transmission and the gears are not low enough then you need to change some thing out. the only thing that can be changed is the gears in the diff's. put the 4.10 gears in there and it will pull just fine until you put bigger tires on
I'd like to find the best solution. Not getting into situations I will need reverse in rugged terrain is not one of them. And for those who may ask, I did recently get a complete ****** flush and am using ATF+4 fluid and the levels were good my last oil & lube about a week ago. Also, there have been no error codes, except one warning occasionally: "Check TPMS System."
Got any sage advice?