Brakes/Neutral Downhill with Auto Tranny

JoeB-JKURX

JoeB-JKURX

New member
A fellow in one of my Jeep clubs was complaining that, on his 2015 Rubi, his brakes seemed to be weak when trying to crawl down a steep hill/ledge. Another fellow (very experienced) said that in Lo-Lo (auto tranny) that there was enough thrust from the engine to overcome the brakes and make it difficult to stay slow enough going down. He said that the proper technique was to put the tranny in neutral and just use the brakes to control your descent (I guess you could use Hill Descent Control as an alternative though this is activated through the brakes as well). This seemed counter-intuitive to me when he first said because I had expected engine compression would slow you some but, I guess if you need to go really slow, the engine compression doesn't help and the brakes are really the only thing you have. What do you all think on this?
 
NevadaZielmeister

NevadaZielmeister

Caught the Bug
JoeB-JKURX said:
A fellow in one of my Jeep clubs was complaining that, on his 2015 Rubi, his brakes seemed to be weak when trying to crawl down a steep hill/ledge. Another fellow (very experienced) said that in Lo-Lo (auto tranny) that there was enough thrust from the engine to overcome the brakes and make it difficult to stay slow enough going down. He said that the proper technique was to put the tranny in neutral and just use the brakes to control your descent (I guess you could use Hill Descent Control as an alternative though this is activated through the brakes as well). This seemed counter-intuitive to me when he first said because I had expected engine compression would slow you some but, I guess if you need to go really slow, the engine compression doesn't help and the brakes are really the only thing you have. What do you all think on this?
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I am not sure about the laws in New Mexico, but I understand that in most states "coasting", or leaving the vehicle in neutral, is against the law. I tend to agree with this law since you are removing another braking source should the primary source, your brakes, fail. The second something goes wrong with the primary brakes, you immediately will accelerate and it will be a very wild ride, I imagine.

I personally have always used 4-Lo while going down steep hills. I would never use neutral in these situations.

Curious, how slow are we talking about?
 
JoeB-JKURX

JoeB-JKURX

New member
The fellow with the 15 Rubi had just come back from Moab. He experienced brake fade going down some of the slick rock and ledges (going dead slow). Said he didn't feel like he could get it to go as slow as he needed for the situation (he does have 37's with stock brakes). I brought up the Progrips mentioned favorably on this forum and the experienced fellow (who actually sells and installs Dynatrac stuff) said in this situation that even with the Progrips, the engine thrust would be likely to overcome the brakes and argued that putting the tranny in neutral would eliminate that factor.
 
DWiggles

DWiggles

Caught the Bug
I dont really see any issue with putting the jeep in neutral when crawling... not something you should do at highway speeds obviously, but many many times when wheeling i'll clutch in, or hell, even put the jeep in neutral, clutch out and ride the brakes... if the hill is steep enough, in 4lo, I will roll in 1st gear... ive never had a problem with brake fade on a trail, but then again, I have a 6 speed jeep and 4lo and 1st is LOW. :thumb: the highway is a whole different story...
 
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jeff_in_rc

jeff_in_rc

New member
On my 04 Rubicon I6 with an auto I have experienced the torque of the motor overpowering the brakes many times mainly at Calico where you are barely moving and you end up with both feet on the brake pedal! Very scary.
I to end up putting it in neutral to coast as much as gravity will allow, sometimes you just have to or you end up going to fast. Then when needed I put it in low gear and to move forward, repeat as necessary.

I do not see a problem with doing this and I know most of you will not as well.
 
JoeB-JKURX

JoeB-JKURX

New member
Both Feet on the Brakes!!

That's exactly how the fellow with the 15 Rubi described his situation at Moab.
 
Speedy_RCW

Speedy_RCW

Hooked
Can't speak for the auto as I'm a 6-speed but I had the same issue in Moab. Needed to go slower down some of the ledges than the Jeep would allow in 1st and 4lo. Pretty tough to overcome that low gearing with the brakes. Just had to clutch in and use all brakes until I dropped off.
 
jeff_in_rc

jeff_in_rc

New member
93yjv8 said:
Only downside about throwing in neutral is the inability to "power out" if things get sticky.
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Very true but I tend to ride with my hand on the shift lever as a "just in case". Then I can quickly throw it in gear if needed. But hey that's me, don't know what anyone else might do.
 
DWiggles

DWiggles

Caught the Bug
93yjv8 said:
Only downside about throwing in neutral is the inability to "power out" if things get sticky.
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Why is that? Click down to "drive" and go? if that half a second gear shift is going to stop you in your tracks, you have bigger problems... and HOPEFULLY a winch :thumb:
 
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