Trail Boss earned it's badge in 4 Low today...

[Doolin-Dalton]

Went out for a drive on the old farm today, thinking I would take a few photos of the fall foliage.  It really didn't cross my mind that we had some torrential rains here last night and early this morning - until I came upon this low spot in the farm road that was completely filled with water and was obviously a mud bog.  Cruising along at 20mph, it was too late to stop as I approached the descent, so I figured I'd veer left, toward greener pastures.  That's when things got bad.

 

Before I knew it, I was stuck...and had sank about 1ft into the wet Virginia clay.  I put it into 4WD and tried rocking back and forth to get out of there, to no avail tires were spinning.  The truck was down deep and not going anywhere.  I started to worry and think I might have to make a phone call.  That's when I remembered Greg, the salesman who showed me the features on my truck when I had just purchased it at the dealership, Country Chevrolet.  Greg had pointed out "here is 4 Low, it's for when you get into trouble."  I was absolutely in trouble.    Long story short, I engaged the 4 Low (the computer reminded me it needs to be put in -N- before engaging in 4L, and next that it was shutting off the ESC traction control)  So as I engaged the 4L and put it into reverse, I took my hands off the steering wheel.  The truck eased back nice and steady,  the steering wheel turning until the tires were perfectly parallel with the truck, straight ahead (I let the wheels find a straight path b/c I couldn't see them and had been turning all over the place trying to get out of there up to that point)  So now in 4L, as I backed up 6-8 feet, I then put it into Drive and the Truck slowly, but smoothly, almost seeming with ease drove right through it all and I was outta there!!!   Time to clean up the mess.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Doolin-Dalton
added picture

[J-man67]

Niice! Glad you got it out without help! Always a good feeling!

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[Thomcat]

To see the angle of the front wheels from inside the truck, all you have to do is activate the load the pitch/yaw/front wheel angle graphic from the options menu and it will show a graphic of the truck, wheels, drive axles and angles in the dash cluster. Using that and once pointed correctly that, along with guidance from the rear camera the rear camera should be enough to retrace the tracks.

 

For non Zs with a single speed transfer case switching to the tranny's off road button (substituted in place of 4Lo button) will activate 4WD, deactivate the traction control and takeover engine/tranny control to simulates 4Lo gearing but without the same amount of torque. Should be enough to get out of the mud so long as its lower than the the pumpkin on the rear end.

[Thomcat]

.02 ......And better clean off the mud real soon getting under the front wheel area with a hose. Leave it on the engine and suspension too long and the VA clay and engine heat will bake on as hard as a brick and tear up the rubber accordion boots or cake on and throw a driveshaft or wheel out of balance. Also take care near electrical connectors.

Edited October 27, 2019 by Thomcat

[Doolin-Dalton]

3 hours ago, Thomcat said:

.02 ......And better clean off the mud real soon getting under the front wheel area with a hose. Leave it on the engine and suspension too long and the VA clay and engine heat will bake on as hard as a brick and tear up the rubber accordion boots or cake on and throw a driveshaft or wheel out of balance. Also take care near electrical connectors.

Yep, just coming inside for a shower now. Crawled up underneath, spent the last couple hours cleaning, mud and water splashing back in my face and I was soaked.  But crawling under the truck was necessary in this case.  There was mud in places I wouldn't have guessed was possible. Much better now....

[highbl00d]

Cool story bro !!

 

Seriously, cool story... great write up... felt like I was right there watching it go down !!

[mistaare]

Just curious, in 4 low did your rear locker engage? 

 

Could you feel it engage.

[Doolin-Dalton]

7 hours ago, mistaare said:

Just curious, in 4 low did your rear locker engage? 

 

Could you feel it engage.

This might sound funny, but YES. When I put it into 4Low, in addition to all the screen messages flashing on the DIC (Neutral, Turning ESC Off, etc) It felt like the truck started to get robotic, I could feel something happening in the suspension, it was subtle and just 1-2 seconds, but there was this "hunkering down" sorta effect, almost like something out of the Transformers movie! 

[Black02Silverado]

[L86 All Terrain]

Nice. That looks like some nasty stuff, almost thicker and stickier than most clay. It is clay in my part of Canada too but it is dark grey, it also turns to sticky soup when wet. Here is what happens when we venture into a wet hole. This stuck isn't even bad, I have photos of way worse. Just be thankful you bought a Z71 that actually has 4LO. If you had a standard 4x4, you might have been phoning some buddies. My 4x4 days are long gone, now we do it with heavy equipment that weighs 13.5 times more than a pick up. Go figure. 

 

 

[Wiggums]

I go four-wheeling every day and I find the 4L useful at times.

We have dumb asses here in the forum who think only amateurs use 4L. It has gotten me out of awkward situations. One was when I was parked with my front tires resting against a curb, a car an inch away from my rear bumper, and after the curb was a wall about a foot away from my front bumper.

I don't know how the fake 4L's would work, I had to crawl at 1 mph and I had to keep my foot on the brake. Having it at 4H meant a higher chance of overshooting and hitting the wall or failing to run over the curb and hitting the car behind me. With 4L, I was able to turn the truck and get out of the awkward situation.

So glad I have the Z71 package, I didn't know I needed it to have the 4L. It was $10k off the MSRP if I got the Z71 and it was priced identically to the ones without the Z71. I liked the Z71 badge without knowing about the two-speed transfer case.

 

Edited: Changed all 2L to 4L, I'm an idiot..

Edited November 2, 2019 by Wiggums

[MacLaren]

Hell yeah, OP!

Put that big Silverado in 4 low and crawl on outta there! 

that's a beauty of a trail boss. I have NorthSky Blue Silverado Z71 too.

Gotta have that 4 lo imo......a must have. 

[mistaare]

I have no experience with my Sierra 4 lo but the 4 lo in my 09 Tacoma sucked. It would just spin the front left and rear right tire! 

[Doolin-Dalton]

12 hours ago, L86 All Terrain said:

Nice. That looks like some nasty stuff, almost thicker and stickier than most clay. It is clay in my part of Canada too but it is dark grey, it also turns to sticky soup when wet. Here is what happens when we venture into a wet hole. This stuck isn't even bad, I have photos of way worse. Just be thankful you bought a Z71 that actually has 4LO. If you had a standard 4x4, you might have been phoning some buddies. My 4x4 days are long gone, now we do it with heavy equipment that weighs 13.5 times more than a pick up. Go figure. 

 

 

OMG!

[spizike9]

4 hours ago, mistaare said:

I have no experience with my Sierra 4 lo but the 4 lo in my 09 Tacoma sucked. It would just spin the front left and rear right tire! 

 

that’s what any 4 wheel drive system does. Z71 does have the G80 rear end which is an automatic locker. The 4 low just gives you lower gearing so you’re able to crawl better.