Off road driving technique

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Originally Posted by TroutNut

Im not trying to be the smartest bloke here, but the hand throttle is for dealing with stalls or forced stops on steep uphill inclines, when you have to restart and it's too dangerous to take your foot off the brake to flick it over to the throttle. Even pressing the clutch in when in this predicament can be dangerous in case you lose the machine backward. Best suited to the torque of a diesel for this, but can be done with petrol. Hand throttle is not for driving with, and would be even harder to control when you're getting bounced around. I can't believe what im reading! Have you guys been out bush yet or bloody what!

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He could be right about the driving bit as the GQ owners manual on page 4-11 : Do Not Drive with the throttle knob pulled out, (Twice). On page 4-12 it states: Avoid driving with the throttle/ idling knob pulled out.

I've only ever used it to bump up the revs marginally anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TroutNut

Hand throttle is not for driving with, and would be even harder to control when you're getting bounced around. I can't believe what im reading! Have you guys been out bush yet or bloody what!

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You don't use the hand throttle like you would the accelerator. You set it up so you're covered when your foot bounces off the throttle helping preventing a stall and keeping some sort of control

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TroutNut

Im not trying to be the smartest bloke here, but the hand throttle is for dealing with stalls or forced stops on steep uphill inclines, when you have to restart and it's too dangerous to take your foot off the brake to flick it over to the throttle. Even pressing the clutch in when in this predicament can be dangerous in case you lose the machine backward. Best suited to the torque of a diesel for this, but can be done with petrol. Hand throttle is not for driving with, and would be even harder to control when you're getting bounced around. I can't believe what im reading! Have you guys been out bush yet or bloody what!

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So would you not use the handbrake before removing foot from brake pedal to stop yourself from rolling back?

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Originally Posted by Clunk

So would you not use the handbrake before removing foot from brake pedal to stop yourself from rolling back?

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I only used my hand throttle on my 4.2 to make it idle properly ...... don't need that sort of gear on a 3 Litre tech whizzo - it just always works ( maybe I shouldn't have said that ... touch wood somewhere .... :Yahoo!: )


Handbrakes are for girls, and not real 4wdrivers.....:p

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Originally Posted by happygu

I only used my hand throttle on my 4.2 to make it idle properly ...... don't need that sort of gear on a 3 Litre tech whizzo - it just always works ( maybe I shouldn't have said that ... touch wood somewhere .... :Yahoo!: )


Handbrakes are for girls, and not real 4wdrivers.....:p

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Yeah util your wheezing 4 potter goes kaaboom bwahahahaha

I only use the handrake for doing 360s in Woolies carparks ;)

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Originally Posted by mudnut

He could be right about the driving bit as the GQ owners manual on page 4-11 : Do Not Drive with the throttle knob pulled out, (Twice). On page 4-12 it states: Avoid driving with the throttle/ idling knob pulled out.

I've only ever used it to bump up the revs marginally anyway.

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So if you've got an owners manual, why haven't you scanned it in and posted it up on the forum?

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Originally Posted by Clunk

So would you not use the handbrake before removing foot from brake pedal to stop yourself from rolling back?

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That's suited to general driving around town, doing hill-starts. The handbrake is a set of shoes in a single drum, im looking at situations where you're stuck stationary on dangerous slopes when you need the grip of four calipers on the disc/drums.



For the doubtful, take a 4wding course and you'll learn that the hand throttle is for one purpose and one only, and that's to gain immediate rpm at the turn of the ignition key to gain forward momentum up massive inclines. Takes practice with the brake control to get it right without stalling again, especially without diesel, but it's for situations where engaging the clutch is for those with a death wish, and letting go of the brake pedal is too dangerous.
Telling someone to use the hand throttle when they're bouncing around means taking they right hand off the steering.

The defence force 4wd course that I did a few years ago in hiluxes and landrovers had us doing stalled hill starts on ridiculously steep and rough tracks using the torque from the starter motor to get moving again. They would get us to put it into first gear, release the park brake, foot off brake (which was a bit of an uncomfortable feeling), then hit the key and away you went. It worked really well on both types of vehicles for everyone over the three or four days and seemed like a way of getting mobile back up hill while removing the risk of rolling backwards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TroutNut

That's suited to general driving around town, doing hill-starts. The handbrake is a set of shoes in a single drum, im looking at situations where you're stuck stationary on dangerous slopes when you need the grip of four calipers on the disc/drums.



For the doubtful, take a 4wding course and you'll learn that the hand throttle is for one purpose and one only, and that's to gain immediate rpm at the turn of the ignition key to gain forward momentum up massive inclines. Takes practice with the brake control to get it right without stalling again, especially without diesel, but it's for situations where engaging the clutch is for those with a death wish, and letting go of the brake pedal is too dangerous.
Telling someone to use the hand throttle when they're bouncing around means taking they right hand off the steering.

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I dont doubt what you're saying but im not sure if you're getting what others are saying...... and yes I have been on a 4wding course, no mention was ever made about the use of hand throttle. It may or may not have had something to do with most new vehicles not having them any more, so controlling hill starts were done with use of handbrake...... unless of course you have a Toyota

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TroutNut

That's suited to general driving around town, doing hill-starts. The handbrake is a set of shoes in a single drum, im looking at situations where you're stuck stationary on dangerous slopes when you need the grip of four calipers on the disc/drums.
For the doubtful, take a 4wding course and you'll learn that the hand throttle is for one purpose and one only, and that's to gain immediate rpm at the turn of the ignition key to gain forward momentum up massive inclines. Takes practice with the brake control to get it right without stalling again, especially without diesel, but it's for situations where engaging the clutch is for those with a death wish, and letting go of the brake pedal is too dangerous.
Telling someone to use the hand throttle when they're bouncing around means taking they right hand off the steering.

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hhhhmmmmmmmmm
dunno who taught you that - For the doubtful, take a 4wding course and you'll learn that the hand throttle is for one purpose and one only, and that's to gain immediate rpm at the turn of the ignition key to gain forward momentum up massive inclines. - but I personally think their full of it.........

hand throttle was NOT designed to get you to "gain forward momentum up massive inclines"
it was designed to give you the ability to use the throttle WITHOUT using your feet - ever heard of the old Capstan Winch - or a PTO........??? you use a hand throttle for those

same thoughts, but from a different angle
looking at situations where you're stuck stationary on dangerous slopes when you need the grip of four calipers on the disc/drums.
mate, if your in THIS situation, you have OTHER things to worry about - like just HOW did you get in this predicament......

I have done this once - within the first 6 months of having a 4wd. 30 yrs ago on a bitch of a hill down south that was 35-40% and it was wet and muddy and had ruts in the track - and no flaming hand throttle, but the hand brake worked well, thank duck


if driving off road on some tracks, I now drive with the hand throttle pulled out and locked (turn the knob, it locks at whatever setting you pull it out to) at say - 1500 / 2000 RPM maybe even 2500RPM depending on the situation and have my foot OFF the accelerator, and you have an easy "non bouncing" constant feed to the engine

BTW Clunky, I also used to use my hand throttle as a cheap cruise control on my GQ on long distances........... hahhahahahahaha