traction controll

[TOOLPUSHER]

I have a 2008 jk the problem i am haveing is when i turn at med speed the traction controll light comes on an applys the brakes .... not a big deal but it sucks when you are trying to get on the fwy on ramp an getting up to speed with out getting in the way of a trucker... any ideas on how to fix my problem.. thanks Allen

[vwtipeii]

under warranty still? Take that one to the dealer. Sounds like an electrical issue of some sort.

[Jeeperator]

Typical when you change gearing and/or put bigger tires on. Take to the dealer and have them reprogram the traction control unit or computer.

[daniel_buck]

Can you not turn off the traction control? My friend has an 08 Rubi (2 door) and I seem to recall that he was able to turn off traction/stability control or whatever it is.

[TOOLPUSHER]

no warranty,do you think it had anything to do with lifting the jeep .....I did the lift and gears at the same time...I talked to a guy on the trail and he seems to think it might sense the body roll of the jeep... and ya, there is a switch but it does not seem to help....

[Jeeperator]

It works with the abs system and the wheel speed sensors and I believe driveshaft output speed. Changing the gears screw with it and make the brakes apply on one side when turning.

[Ol Man]

I have an '08 and I do not have that issue. I put 5.13 gears in my Rubicon. I use a Superchips to change the gear ratio and tire size (35s). I set my speedo by a GPS. I have a 1 3/4 lift. I run the 87 tune also. Do you have a tuner hooked up?

[TOOLPUSHER]

No tuner , tire size 35 and gear ratio is 4.88 and my speedo not off by much... does the tuner make a big performace gain???

[RAT]

This is why I will always stick to the older Jeeps. I like my OLD 2002 TJ. None of this crap to deal with. Good luck finding the fix...

[mkjeepers]

My 2007 with a 3" lift and stock gearing and tire size used to come on all the time. Your steering wheel NEEDS to be straight. The higher center of gravity makes the ESP more sensitive on turns. I had a front track bar relocator that I had to take off because of the ESP being activated and just used the rear relocator only. That pretty much cured the problem.

The best fix is to have the ESP deactivated. It's a simple procedure that the dealer can tell you how to do or ask them for the recall notice that has been sent out by Jeep and do it yourself.

My 2012 JK dosen't have any issues at all with the same setup as the 2007. So they must have addressed the issue...finally. The button on the dash dosen't deactivate the ESP, only the traction control....for snow, sand or mud to allow the wheels to spin with out applying the brakes.

You may also ask any 4x4 shop how to deal with the problem...they have figured out how to keep it from activating.

[Mike]

Why does a Jeep have an electronic traction control? :dunno: Isn't that called "tires and lockers"? Unfortunately Jeep has missed the mark with the new ones IMO. Too much Land Rover and not enough roving over land. After all JK stands for 'Just Kidding', right?

I know that this doesn't help your problem, but I think that the problem is deeper than just a lift and re-gearing. It is a misconceived vision.

I hope that you can find an easy fix. I am definitely interested in how this develops. I want to learn.

[Jeeperator]

Personally I think the traction control is a good idea and the obviously the future. It will make a open diff jk a pretty capable rig. I am thinking that setup coupled with a some detroit truetrac would be just as good to one with full lockers. Truetracs are known to have issues when one tires in the air and riding the brake a bit can remedy this by sending more power to the wheel with more traction. With traction control it automatically does this. So it seems like it would be the ultimate setup to me. It would have awesome on road manors beacuse trutracs are a limited slip (when the above issue is fiigured out of course) and be great offroad. No more arb failures like air lines, soleniods and pumps, no more quirky feeling you get when driving on the street with a detriot automatic locker in the rear. IMO it could be the ultimate setup. Not sure how good it would work but in theory it should work awesome. The only issue I see is wheel speed might be higher than desired in order to activate the traction control. My buddy was doing John bull with open diffs in his JK and it seem to do pretty good but he had to spin the tire abit with least amount of traction in order to get the TC to activate and give power to the tire with more traction. I am not sure with the speed we crawl at would be enough for the TC computer to activate.

[mkjeepers]

Personally I think the traction control is a good idea and the obviously the future. It will make a open diff jk a pretty capable rig. I am thinking that setup coupled with a some detroit truetrac would be just as good to one with full lockers. Truetracs are known to have issues when one tires in the air and riding the brake a bit can remedy this by sending more power to the wheel with more traction. With traction control it automatically does this. So it seems like it would be the ultimate setup to me. It would have awesome on road manors beacuse trutracs are a limited slip (when the above issue is fiigured out of course) and be great offroad. No more arb failures like air lines, soleniods and pumps, no more quirky feeling you get when driving on the street with a detriot automatic locker in the rear. IMO it could be the ultimate setup. Not sure how good it would work but in theory it should work awesome. The only issue I see is wheel speed might be higher than desired in order to activate the traction control. My buddy was doing John bull with open diffs in his JK and it seem to do pretty good but he had to spin the tire abit with least amount of traction in order to get the TC to activate and give power to the tire with more traction. I am not sure with the speed we crawl at would be enough for the TC computer to activate.

The way the traction control works on the JK is the computer applies braking to the spinning wheel , the problem is each wheel that spins gets the brakes applied. When I'm in sand the computer adds breaking till the vehicle comes to a complete stop with the throttle to the floor - now your stuck. If you don't think ahead and shut it off you can get yourself in trouble especially in muddy conditions...you'll end up stuck.

In the snow on the highway - the same thing - if you're going up a hill the TC will bring you to a complete stop with the throttle to the floor - now you're stuck and have to back down an icy hill - if you don't get rear ended first.

The good news is that it is disabled in low range. On the 2007 the TC breaking application dosen't complement the lockers or tru-track. It's not satisfied till there is no wheel spin at all. Beau your friend was probably experiancing the tru-track activating by the break pedal, as the TC is deactivated in low range. My 2007 had the trac-lock limited slip in the back and it would activate with the break pedal - when it was new - then it wore out and didn't grab at all.

I think all in all it dosen't add anything to the vehicle at all - even at a decent speed in the snow the application of the TC causes the vehicle to loose speed, thus causing you to increase accelaration, which causes more breaking etc.

I think it may be more of a population control than traction control.

That said I like the ESP or anti roll system. When the vehicles wheels slide at highway speeds the computer activates the brakes to straighten out the vehicle - and that it does. If I'm flying down a gravel road and hit a sharp turn the ESP system straightens you right out - you don't even have to touch the brakes, it does it for you - the same on pavement.

The problem on the pre 2012 models is the ESP was way too sensitive. Mine would come on on the mountain when there was no reason to, thus slowing you down in traffic. It won't deactivate till you turn the steering wheel straight or come to a stop - which is not recommended on a busy highway.

It seems they finally fixted it on the 2012, they renamed it also. It is a pretty good safty feature when it works properly.

Now they have a new breaking feature on the new 2012 models.

It's for going down hill - it will apply the brakes for you all the way down the hill, the computer alternating the breaks according to wheel slippage - I'm not sure I like the idea. This feature is in the deactivated mode untill you activate it. It can get you into trouble if you don't think ahead.

Why they put all this automated breaking on a Jeep offroad vehicle?? who knows. It causes a lot of problems for sure.

[Jeeperator]

Hey Mike, obviously you have way more experience on how the tc works than me since you own both a 2007 and a 2012 jk. My buddy doesn't have a detroit trutrac in his JK either sorry if I made you think he did. I didnt realize the tc is deactivated in low range either. I assumed it was functioning because it seemed to be working in his JK when doing john bull a few years back but maybe I was mistaken and he has a limited slip in his JK instead. Tracloc limited slips activate with torque input, more torque the more the spider gears push the clutch plates and frictions together creating a locked condition like a typical LS. They do wear out over time and dont work as good when the plates and friction get more clearance. Sounds like Jeep really screwed up how thing were supposed to work in the earlier year JK's. My buddy just replace his rear brakes in his JK with only 40,000 miles on the clock, whats the deal with that? He still hasn't replace the front yet and they still have considerable life left. The rear should outlast the front by atleast double IMO. Like you said the esp sytem is too sensitive and applying them when turning normal corners instead of when he would be sliding. The traction control is supposed to limit wheel spin so if your going up a slippery road or mud hole in 2 wheel drive it makes sense the computer is going to limit the rears spinning to match to fronts. So I guess it would keep applying until the rear wheel spin matches the front wheels that are not spinning until your stoped. Thats sucks! Now what would happen if you were in 4wd hi? I would think it would work fine since the front spin matched the rear. Does it apply left and right side separatly to put more power to the wheel with more traction? I thought it did this in 4wd low but I guess not. Like you said you can make a front truetracs to work better by applying the brake when a front wheel is off the ground. I use to have a front truetrac and I have done this and does work. I was thinking if the tc worked in low range it would compliment the Truetrac limited slip setup but I guess its not possible unless some rewireing mods are done. It was just a un proven theory of mine that might work but then again it might not.

[mkjeepers]

On my 2007 the rear brakes wore out in less than 40,000 miles, while the fronts were just fine. In fact I still have a new set of fronts I bought when I replaced the rears. I'm sure they'll fit the 2012.

The TC works the same in 4 Hi. I just don't use 4 Hi enough to give aa lot of details if it applies the brakes till the vehicle stops. If I remember right I usually use the TC disarm button on the dash when I use 4 Hi.

BTW there is a button on the dash that disables the TC feature, but leaves the anti roll feature intact. Again if I remember correctly in the snow in 4 Hi you have to disable the TC, using the button, in order to let the wheels spin normally, in fact now that I think about it, I do disable it in the snow so I can spin all four wheel going up our driveway - snow flying everywhere - lots of fun - the TC brings you to a near stop.

As far as the sequence the breaks are applied, it feels like the computer applies the breaking to which ever wheel spins. It has a alternating feel when the TC deploys...and it slows you down pretty quickly. The mystery is that the TC dosen't apply traction to the slipping wheel, like an all wheel drive system, but it applies breaking.....what's the advantage......

I'll have to experiment a little more to verify all this more precisely, but my general responce has been....who needs this TC system.