My first KJ--My first problem--Wheels spin on wet pavement

[smarkham]

Hi,

I was driving home yesterday evening and it had been raining. The pavement was wet but no flooding--nothing too serious. After a few stop signs I noticed the front right wheel (I think it was the rt frnt one) spin. It took a second for the KJ to go forward. I then put it on 4hi (part time) and it didn't happen again. This morning it happened once--pavement was still wet. It doesn't do it after all the stop signs...about every 6th one or so.

Do I really need to put it on 4 hi every time the pavement is wet or do I just need better tires.?

I bought my jeep liberty 2005 automatic 2 weeks ago. The tires look pretty good--they are Good Year.


THANKS for your help

 

[hyde]

Front right wheel? KJ is not FWD, it must be rear wheels spinning, and yes this is normal. Goodyears that come with KJ stock are known to be inferior tires, and have problems gripping on wet pavement. I would suggest replacing them. How many miles do you have them? I could only put around 40k on my Wrangler HPs and those are supposed to be better ones, If you have SR/A's I am surprised at people driving over 20k with those.

Be safe.

 

[smarkham]

Back wheels...makes sense I told you guys in an earlier posting that this is my first car and theferore first 4wd so I'm going to be asking some dumb questions I feel a bit dumb but it's the only way to learn

Since I bougth it used I don't know how many miles they have on them. I compared the threading to other tires and they look pretty good.

So until I get new tires I need to shift to 4hi whenever the pavement is wet?

THANKS!!

 

[Vtolds]

Sounds pretty normal too me.

 

[2003KJ]

NOOO!....never ever drive in 4hi on black top, not even when it's raining!

Unless you have FULL TIME! (easy to tell, there's 2 times 4HI on the little shift lever)

Your tranfer case will explode if you do! See this...

Try going more easy on the throttle to prevent wheels spinning.

Precisely....never never never never NEVER use 4 part time on black top (dry surfaces or even in the rain). You will ultimately destroy your transfer case, and they're not cheap to replace.

 

[AbsoluteRenegade]

NOOO!....never ever drive in 4hi on black top, not even when it's raining!

Unless you have FULL TIME! (easy to tell, there's 2 times 4HI on the little shift lever)

Your tranfer case will explode if you do! See this...

Try going more easy on the throttle to prevent wheels spinning.

try not to give too much wrong information... you can use 4 hi as long as your tires arent on dry pavement etc, and you arent turning your wheels too much,that's what causes them to bind. Most use 4 Hi in dirt/gravel and dont need to either, this is almost as severe.

 

[tommudd]

just get rid of the junk stock tires, they do not do well at all esp. in the rain, new tires no more problems, these tires are dangerous!

 

[tjkj2002]

try not to give too much wrong information... you can use 4 hi as long as your tires arent on dry pavement etc, and you arent turning your wheels too much,that's what causes them to bind. Most use 4 Hi in dirt/gravel and dont need to either, this is almost as severe.

Even if you only drive in a straight line on pavement there still will be driveline bind.The F/R diffs do not have the exact same gear ratio,they may state it but they are not,they are slightly different.And when in part time where the F/R driveshafts are locked toghether it will cause binding even if you only drive in a strait line.

I'll use my gears for a example,my front diff houses 4.09:1 ratio and my rear diff is the true 4.10:1 ratio.All 4x4's are like this,the front turns slightly faster to help maintain controm in slippery surfaces,otherwise you'd be fishtailing all the time and it would be nearly impossible to maitain control in 4wd.

 

[Atrus]

Everyone's said it, but I'll post jsut to agree.

Rear tire spinning
Get new tires or take it easy
NEVER Part Time 4wd unless it's very slippery out, not hard packed.

Does your transfer case shifter go : 2Hi-PT4Hi-FT4Hi-N-4Lo or 2Hi-PT4Hi-N-4Lo...basically, does it have 5 options, or 4 options? If there are 5 settings, there IS a setting you can use (full time 4wd) anytime - on a 90* sunny day on pavement is even fine. I have this, I used Full Time 4Hi all the time when it was raining before I got new tires. I now don't need it.

Also, not sure if the 2005 is this way, but my 2007 has indicator lights in the dash near where the parking brake warning light is (in the tach). Like I tell my wife - don't even use it if the 4wd light is amber, green is OK

 

[jeepkj02]

When I bought my KJ used @ 59K, it had the SR-A's (very bad shape), I drove it for another 5K, I did a few 180's and A LOT of spining tires. Now even with my Destinations A/T, sometimes my rear tires spin in 2wd in snow/rain (usually at a stoplight going uphill).

My recommendations:
-Use full time if you have it
-Get new tires ASAP
-Go easy on the skinny pedal

 

[JeepJeepster]

Youve got to remember that the Kj is a rear wheel drive so any tire will spin in the rain if you are in the right conditions. Usually at a red-light you may of noticed the black-top is packed down or has alot of oil/tar built up from cars constantly sitting there. This portion of the road will always be more slick than other parts of the road in rain which leads to tires spinning.

given that, the stock tires suck anyway so they need to be replaced.

 

[LibertyOrDeath]

To start get new tires try:
Tread Depot (Free Shipping Right Now)
Online Tires (50% off shipping on select tires)
Discount Tires (50% off shipping on select tires.)
[URL="http://www.discounttiredirect.com"]Discount Tire Chain Store.[/URL]
You might want to consider siping your tires if you can't afford new tires yet.
Les Schwab tire siping info.

 

[Jeepman56]

Just to reiterate, I got my '07 last summer, my first 4x4 and new vehicle. I replaced the Goodyear tires within 2 months of owning the Jeep for the reason of safety, for myself but mostly my newborn son. Don't put this off, start looking into new tires right away. Just as a warning though, this was my first addition to my new Jeep and the mods haven't stopped coming.

 

[LibertyOrDeath]

They are one of the few tires I have seen with a UTQG traction rating of B.

 

[indianrefining]

NOOO!....never ever drive in 4hi on black top, not even when it's raining!

Unless you have FULL TIME! (easy to tell, there's 2 times 4HI on the little shift lever)

Your tranfer case will explode if you do! See this...

Try going more easy on the throttle to prevent wheels spinning.

If she has a 2005, it would have SelecTrac, wouldn't it? Driving it in 4/Full Time would be fine. (Of course, her problem is probably her tires, though.)

 

[tjkj2002]

If she has a 2005, it would have SelecTrac, wouldn't it? Driving it in 4/Full Time would be fine. (Of course, her problem is probably her tires, though.)

Select trac is a option on all liberty's,not standard and not on any maunual ****** KJ's.

 

[Atrus]

Youve got to remember that the Kj is a rear wheel drive so any tire will spin in the rain if you are in the right conditions.

Coming from a decently powerful FWD, I think FWD is worse for wheel spin, even in the rain. of course, if you're in a 110 hp civic, no problem Weight transfer on RWD throws it on the rear axle. FWD, it lifts the weight off the axle as it's transferred to the rear. The 350-400 hp Prix's I hung out with had major issues launching at the track, took a ton of practice.

FWIW, like Jeepman, I changed out my 2007's tires soon - at 10k miles.

Additionally, yes, Select-Trac is optional. From my searching most sports did not have it, but it was common in limiteds.

 

[hyde]

It took a second for the KJ to go forward.

Only a second!? That was fast! Yesterday it rained, I floored after I backed up on that street, it sat there spinning at least 3-4 seconds while moving inch forward.. Add swerving to it, fun fun fun. (at expense of your tires)

You must be registered for see images

 

[Atrus]

Also, on Monday, I TRIED to spin mine on a rainy road off a light. Might have chirped a bit, but not even enough to set the TCS off. So, I'd say the AT2's were a good upgrade over SR-A's

 

[hyde]

Fun of 04, no traction control, no EBS.