I dont really think that the anti-spin really works in this scenario!! At least it did not Today in mine!!

 

Don't know what I'm doing correct but mine has been good in the mud this year hunting and camping a few weekends back it rained for 4 days in 5-6" of mud and was loaded 16500 lbs gross never had a problem... Must be in the tires going 60k on the stock tires and still pulling strong.
Jon

 

I think weight and how it's distributed plays the biggest factor in these trucks. I was stuck in a ditch about a week ago because all the weight was shifted to the passenger side and boy did it make that side SINK. I have a line down the side of my truck where the body was sitting in the mud, it was absolutely horrible. Safe to say at 11 o'clock at night I had to call in a favor with two friends because my buddies truck couldn't pull me out even though he was on pavement Everytime I've seen one of these trucks go through slop if the weight can be somewhat distributed evenly they do fine, but if not you have to find someone with a strap, lol.

 

Here in New Mexico we have CALECHI mud, it's truly slick and if you were walking in the stuff, with every step you would either slide like you were on ice or gain an inch of height. Sticks to you like glue/cement at times too. So one minute it's slick and the next it sticks, truly unpredictable stuff. You can jamb up your wheelwell with it too. The first time I had to use my truck in it I was worried about all kinds of things because I have seen all kinds of messes people have gotten into.

It had rained very heavy overnight and my truck sank up to the rim edges in it, so what's that 6"'s of sidewall or so? I put my xfer case in 4H, tranny into 2nd, and gently let out the clutch so the truck would kick into that idle change as not to stall feature we have (can't remember what it's called) anyway the truck walked out and kept creeping just fine with no throttle input from me. When I looked back at my tracks in the mirror they were as deep as the sidewalls, maybe a little more.

I realize that torque is torque, but applied torque in a little higher gear makes all the difference. I learned that technique from driving a 4WD farm tractor, they dig in very fast, in fact it was the tractor manual that suggested it as a means to get out of mud. It has saved my butt lots of times, you have to make it your first attempt at getting out before you spin or dig yourself in. If you do spin at first using it, hit your brakes and stop the spin, then try again. As someone before me said - this will lock in the anti-spin right from the get go. I recall reading something somewhere many years ago about how the rear end has to travel/rotate a few degrees before the anti-spin engages. I do not know if this is true in the AAM system we have now or not but it does make sense as I have seen trucks and jeeps start turning one wheel ahead of the other and then the 2nd wheel kicks in. The same thing applies to the front end as the shorter axle engages first. I have not watched a Dodge in this situation so I cannot tell you if this applies or not but it feels like it from the seat of the pants.

Driving a lot of years in the east with tons of snow and ice in the winter and then tons of mud in the spring thaw, I learned to use 2nd gear with my 4WD's in both my manual and auto trannys and had way less problems both on and off road. Not to say I did not get stuck on occasion, but I got stuck far less often, far less often.

CD

 

I know what type of Mud you are talking about-------not quite the same but alike in many ways. I have that here in NC with all of the Clay. I tried to use 2nd in High 4x4 and just spun. The braking I will try next time to see what she is doing. I can see where that would get the LSD to engage.

 

Dont know to much about mud, it doesn't rain here in phx. But my truck does not do well in the sand. Got stuck twice at the dunes 2 weeks ago. Never had a problem with any of my other trucks but they were gassers. I do still have the stock tires so I know they are only for pavement. Next time I think run the tires almost flat and see what that does. I had them down to 30psi and they looked like my other offroad tires at 10psi. Cant wait for the next trip to see if even lower air pressure helps.

 

Sometimes it can help to modulate the brake pedal slightly or even set the park brake a couple of clicks to get the limited to lock up or if its open to transfer power to the other wheel....

 

I was in Johnson Valley 4-wheeling when I broke the crawler. Got a ride to the lakebed to pick up the tow rig to go retrieve the crawler. Going by the dunes in sand, I got stuck. So I got out and did what any 4-wheeler does, aired my tires down. I was running towing PSI when I got stuck and aired down to 50 in the front and 45 in the rear, pulled right out.

Airing back up is no problem for me because I have OBA (on board air) and a CO2 tank on the crawler.

Whenever the wife and I go exploring in the mountains in the Dodge, I throw the CO2 setup in the truck, you never know when you may have to
air down.

 

what tires do you have on there? if you say factoroy Michelins, I'll laugh! if you say factory BFG's, I'll chuckle... these trucks are NOT offroad monsters, and the "anti-spin" diff is a joke...

some real tires and a rear locker, and you'd be surprised (now) what your truck would make it through!

 

Its called "chains". No matter gas or diesel if your going to be in mud or snow chains will save you. They have saved me several times cause I take the time to put them on. In the long run it saves time.

 

My 4x4 and anti spin works great....

 

All yall can ask Argo, when my 3/4 4x4 CTD gets stuck, THEY ARE STUCK. I had a 1997 CTD 4x4 that could "wheel" with the be of them.

So we are out having a good time mudding, mind you it is through a pond and the surrounding area is made up of cahleche (a slick **** type of soil) and I did fine. We would all go through it with water half way up our windshield in foreward and reverse time and time again.

Well the true fun is when the Ford F250 PSD that would drown and me and Argo (now he has a hass rig) would pull him out (at the time Argo had a Z71 with a lift and 35's) to laugh and hope it would start so we didnt have to tow him to a shop.

Heres where I got to know how heavy these rig are. Some friends and I are at a local honky tonk and decide beer and wheeling sounds better. Well we leave pick up enough beer to satisfy the masses and head off the beaten path. After some fun and some beers I think "Hell thoese cat tails cant be to rough. So I back into them and PLOP, my night over. One little chevy s10 trys but nope. So I call Argo, 3:45AM, and he off to help me. We head to WalMart to retrive another tow strap and head back to my sunk truck.

Once back at the the pond we go to, I go to hooking up the strap. Waist deep I hook em up, break, breaks again, S*** oot.

Time to go home.

Next day. I wake up with my girlfriend telling me an old bud of hers will help me, next call Argo (me and him have been buds wheeling for 13 years)and says ok let get to etting your truck out of there.

The site, my stock 1997 4x4 CTD 2500 sitting door deep in a never ending bottomless pond. We, I, hook up Argo's lifted z71 with 35's AND a lifted Dodge 1500 with 35's. So once the 50,000 Lbs under ground electricity pulling ropes are conneted the Dodge and chevy and connected to my CTD its go time. The 2, 1/2 tons aswell as my 3/4 are throwing awsome rustertails and Im going nowhere. After a few breaks of he 50,000 Lbs line puller Im out, with a passenger side rear flat (I still blame that as the reason I was stuck, 1st time in the CTD).

Bottom line if you drive em right and have good friends (Thanks J) the 4x4 is just fine.

 

This was the most recent "stuck" in my CTD.........it was but goooood. No amount of anything was gonig to save this but a tow strap. That is a muskeg hole......there is no bottom. I'm resting on logs under my skid plate......


Wooops

 

Yep factory Michelins

Been working for me

 

I would definately agree with not enough tire, and way too much low end power. I had a 1974 Jeep CJ-5, "built" 304 V-8 (dyno at 325 to the rear) running 38x12.50.15 super swampers. I remember trying to pull out of my driveway in an inch of snow. Figured no problem. Tires just sat there and spun. Too much power, No weight in the rear.