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H2 traction control

Scarsman

Sponsor
Messages
1,561
Location
Monroe, WA
What is everyone's experience with the H2's TCS? I have not been impressed, really. Has anyone found it to be beneficial in any situations/circumstances? The Hummer propeganda makes it sound like it is almost a replacement for lockers, but I have not found this to be anywhere near the case. This is an excerpt from something I saved. I think it is from Tustin's site:

The Single Wheel traction control system provides additional capability under certain operating conditions. The system detects a slipping wheel and applies brake pressure to it to slow it down, transferring torque across the differential to provide traction for the wheel on the opposite side. The system senses any slipping wheels and applies the brakes to them individually, while the driveline and differentials transfer torque to the wheel with the high traction for added traction. A driver could have as many as three wheels on a slippery surface with virtually no traction and still get enough torque out of the fourth wheel to propel the truck up a 10 percent grade.

I did some playing around with it the other day, and it did not even come close to this claim. I blocked one front and one rear so they were just off the ground, and then put it in drive. Almost immediately the "traction active" notice came on the display, and you could hear the sytem activate, and even feel it braking the two wheels, but it never stopped them from spinning, and you could feel that the truck never even seem to be trying to drive off the blocks. Now, this was on flat concrete, and the blocks were not all that solid. In fact, at the conclusion of the test I put it in low-lock and locked the rear diff, and when I put it in drive then it just drove right off at an idle. Didn't even have to give it any throttle. Also did it with whole rear raised and just in 4-high. Again, no help. Once I put it in high-lock, it drove off the block easily. In both of these situations I only had 2 wheels with "virtually no traction," yet the truck did not move.

In "real world" driving, I have not noticed it being any help. In fact, it usually is a hinderance. On hill climbs in sand dunes, as soon as the system comes on it is just like taking your foot off the gas. Same thing in deep snow, as soon as it comes on you just bog right down.

I have heard you guys with H3s say that it works well with your trucks, so I wonder if there is something different, or if something is not working right with mine?

Anyway, I was just curious if anyone else has had a different experience with it. I am kind of planning when I have a custom tune made for my truck to have him disable the TCS.
 

Big2dabank

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,216
Location
Central Florida
I'm not a big fan of traction control either and prefer BTM over TC. I feel I have more control using BTM. I do hit the TC2 button when I get in some deeper mud, this lets the traction control system allow the wheels to spin more and not apply the brakes as much, but I tend to ride the brake a little to keep the system from engaging.
 

[__--MUD--__]

Well-Known Member
Messages
125
Location
South West Michigan
Anyway, I was just curious if anyone else has had a different experience with it. I am kind of planning when I have a custom tune made for my truck to have him disable the TCS.

Its been 10 years since i've played around w/ tuning...but I do know the TCS is a function of the body control module not the engine control. I'm curious if you can actually do this.
 

LagunaH1

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,703
Location
Lake Forest, CA
I don't know if the systems in the H3's and H2's are similar at all, but in my H3 I had to give the system 1 - 2 seconds of wheel spin before it engaged. Until I realized this, I didn't ever really like the way the system worked. Once I figured it out, I loved it.

I never thought if it as a replacement for lockers for the wheeling I did / do, more of a helping hand when I forgot to switch the locker on. I did climb witches' steps on Steel Bender in Moab with just TCS and worn AT tires and it also worked great entering 2N17x with no lockers on.

I guess, to me the bottom line is: Once I figured out that I needed to let it do it's own thing for a few seconds and saw the results I started liking it a lot more
 
Last edited:

Scarsman

Sponsor
Messages
1,561
Location
Monroe, WA
I don't know if the systems in the H3's and H2's are similar at all, but in my H3 I had to give the system 1 - 2 seconds of wheel spin before it engaged. Until I realized this, I didn't ever really like the way the system worked. Once I figured it out, I loved it.

I never thought if it as a replacement for lockers for the wheeling I did / do, more of a helping hand when I forgot to switch the locker on. I did climb witches' steps on Steel Bender in Moab with just TCS and worn AT tires and it also worked great entering 2N17x with no lockers on.

I guess, to me the bottom line is: Once I figured out that I needed to let it do it's own thing for a few seconds and saw the results I started liking it a lot more


Yeah, that is pretty much how I have heard that it will work. I'll have to do some more "tests" and video them. Good excuse to play wth the truck!
 

[__--MUD--__]

Well-Known Member
Messages
125
Location
South West Michigan
there's a video on youtube of a hummer dealerships test track that has a alternating roller patchs setup where only 1 wheel is off the rollers at a time - showing wheel slip controlled on 3 wheels w/ power going to the 4th. I tried finding it...no luck.
 

Big2dabank

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,216
Location
Central Florida
This thread is pretty old and since adding my front locker back several years back, I rarely give traction control a chance. The H2 traction control definitely works, but you have to give it time to kick in, sometimes it feels like it takes forever to engage. Here is the downfall as far as I can tell, when your on relatively flat ground TC does a great job as long as your not stuck in mud and have the truck framed out or high centered. When you are heading up an incline on loose gravel or slick dirt/mud and you loose traction, thats where the fun begins, because it hard to resist the urge to hit the brakes and use BTM to control your rate of ascent and RPMs, which overrides traction control, but if you don't hit the brakes, there is a chance you can stall the truck if you don't keep the rpms up. If you can resist the urge to hit the brakes and also keep the rpms up and let traction control do its job, it still has a hard time finding traction as all wheels will continue to slip on the surface, this is where I find having the front and rear locker engaged just makes it easy and you don't have to do this ridiculous dance with traction control. So I default to the lockers to save the drama and make it easy. The downfall is I break a lot of halfshafts with the front end locked. I replaced one this weekend, but it was completely my fault, I was playing and used lots of skinny pedal on a steep clay/sand hill, with a pretty sharp break over at the top. Good thing is halfshafts are really cheap and super easy to change on trail, Autozone gives a lifetime warranty with free replacement and they swap them with no questions. I always keep a spare and they can be changed without taking of the wheel or dropping the spindle out of the control arm.

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autumn walker

Well-Known Member
Messages
707
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
Interesting thread. I never did any "scientific" testing, but in real world "seat of pants" testing I found the H3 TC to be MUCH better than that on the H2. I also really liked that you could disable the TC on the H3 if you so choose whereas it is not possible on the H2.

My H3 was open front and rear and I was able to navigate terrain that the H2 requires the rear locker engaged. Now - this is not even close to apples to apples - different track widths, wheel bases, weight, power curves, tire sizes, etc.
 
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