Downhill assist in 4low

[John P.]

Hello everyone, I'm currently on vacation...yay! I took my Jeep to Moab, UT and have been out on the trails with it. Overall, I have been impressed with its off road capabilities. I had a question about the downhill assist and proper usage. On Shafer trail in Canyonlands NP I used the downhill assist. Having never used it before it surprised me at first. I shifted to 4low and 2nd gear to begin my decent, as soon as I let off the throttle the abs system engaged and brought me to a stop. Okay, so I figured that you used the throttle as both brake and momentum and proceeded down the grade. This seemed quite effective however after awhile, about a mile, I could begin to smell my brakes getting hot. Is this the proper usage of downhill assist? Or was I doing it wrong? Any advice from those that have used it will be much appreciated.

 

[lfhoward]

The hill descent control does use the antilock brakes, so it sounds like it is working properly. I think it is not designed for going very far downhill because the brakes would get very hot after a while. Instead, it is probably most effective going over challenging downhill obstacles that you need additional driver control for. I usually stick to 1st gear and 4-Low if I am needing the Jeep to hold me back on a long downhill off road.

 

[John P.]

Thanks for the quick response, having never used it before I wasn't sure. I stopped a couple of times to let the brakes cool. We got down, it was a very steep long grade.

 

[lfhoward]

It sure is noisy! The first time I used it I wondered if something was going to blow up, lol.