Our LC Rocked It While Trailering in the Snow (1 Viewer)

[Robert B]

Last weekend, we took our new Lance 2285 up to Idyllwild, CA, where it snowed pretty hard. Our 200 Series performed impeccably. The RV park had steep and narrow roads leading in and out, and the roads did not get plowed. We saw Jeep Wranglers, Ford F-150s and F-250s struggle to get around and those without chains got stuck. Our LC just soldiered on. At one point, the park "ranger" was assisting RVers get unstuck and was patrolling in the park with an F-150 4x4 with chains. He told us we would get stuck too without chains. Well, with the LC in 4Lo and the traction control set, we proceeded go around the stuck RVers through the deep snow and ice.

I was most impressed when we towed our trailer out of the park. I was concerned about going down the steep icy road with 6,000 lb plus in tow. We put chains on the trailer, the LC in 4low and let the crawl control do its magic. The crawl control was noisy and busy, letting us know it was working its magic. It did get a little hairy when we had to stop on the steepest part of the slope because an F-250 was stuck on the road. The trailer wanted to jack knife but we got the rig stopped. (I think I should have been more aggressive with the trailer brake to keep the trailer in line.) After the F250 got towed out of the way, we made it down from there without any issues with the crawl control doing a great job of controlling our speed and keeping our rig on the road.

We were very impressed.

 

[TLC2013]

Nicely done, curious what terrain setting you used in 4 low while driving in snow. Did you try out the different terrain options and see which one responded best?

 

[Robert B]

I put it in Mogul, which worked. Loose rock seemed to be another option, but didn't need to try it.

 

[bloc]

Questions or those more experienced with terrain select mode: the mud setting allows more wheel spin, obviously. But does the stability control still intervene when it senses yaw/pitch/direction it doesn’t like?

 

[FerzLC]

Last weekend, we took our new Lance 2285 up to Idyllwild, CA, where it snowed pretty hard. Our 200 Series performed impeccably. The RV park had steep and narrow roads leading in and out, and the roads did not get plowed. We saw Jeep Wranglers, Ford F-150s and F-250s struggle to get around and those without chains got stuck. Our LC just soldiered on. At one point, the park "ranger" was assisting RVers get unstuck and was patrolling in the park with an F-150 4x4 with chains. He told us we would get stuck too without chains. Well, with the LC in 4Lo and the traction control set, we proceeded go around the stuck RVers through the deep snow and ice.

I was most impressed when we towed our trailer out of the park. I was concerned about going down the steep icy road with 6,000 lb plus in tow. We put chains on the trailer, the LC in 4low and let the crawl control do its magic. The crawl control was noisy and busy, letting us know it was working its magic. It did get a little hairy when we had to stop on the steepest part of the slope because an F-250 was stuck on the road. The trailer wanted to jack knife but we got the rig stopped. (I think I should have been more aggressive with the trailer brake to keep the trailer in line.) After the F250 got towed out of the way, we made it down from there without any issues with the crawl control doing a great job of controlling our speed and keeping our rig on the road.

We were very impressed.View attachment 2494150View attachment 2494161

Very reassuring. As I pull a 6K Airstream. Is your Lance dual axels? If so where did you
Install your chains?

 

[Sandroad]

Wow, real winter camping! Glad to hear the LC did good. Smart to put chains on the trailer brakes. That probably saved a full jackknife.

 

[kcjaz]

I put it in Mogul, which worked. Loose rock seemed to be another option, but didn't need to try it.

You said you used "crawl" but it I think you mean MTS where you have the terrain select. But then you also mentioned the noise so maybe you did use crawl. I have always understood that you do not want to use crawl for too long as it will heat up your ABS breaks. Use it like a locker, in when you need it, out when you don't. Also, the MTS terrain select really just varies the amount of slip the system allows. "Rock" is minimum slip and "Mud & Sand" is max slip. I think of it as a "variable speed" locker with crawl being closest to actual diff lockers. While crawl is a pretty cool feature, I personally have yet to find a real situation where I needed it to get out or over something. MTS is pretty amazing by itself. I also have never really played with the MTS settings in snow but would think that "mud & sand" would be a good choice. I think that you want a little slip on ice and snow up and to the time you get stuck. I have heard that care must be taken using true lockers on ice so that is why I am saying the max slip setting on MTS might be generally best and dial it down based on conditions. Just speculation on my part though.

 

[Dan Higgins]

Wow! This is impressive AND encouraging as we have a Lance 2020.5 1995 (and a ProPride hitch and Redarc controller). Ours even has the mountain graphics just like yours! (The had a 2285 which was a great trailer but downsized this year as we just didn't need the space). Oh, and we also have a white LC with a Gobi rack and ladder. I almost went out to the garage to see if my LC was still there. LOL!

We have been wondering if we would want to take the trailer out this winter but I think you have answered that question. We aren't likely to camp in the snow (thought the Lance trailers are plenty capable) but if we want to go over the mountain passes there is certainly a chance we would run into snow. I, too, would be interested as to which wheels on the trailer had the chains (if not both axles).

 

[Robert B]

It appeared that both axels are braked so I put the chains (cables, actually) on the front axel because it was easiest. (BTW Dan - your comments here and on the Lance owners' site led us to the ProPride hitch and have been very helpful for us. So, thank you for your contributions.)

Our Lance has the 4 Seasons option and it was plenty warm and, at times, too warm. This was only our third trip with the trailer and the first in the snow, and we learned some lessons -- like retract the awning if snow is expected (I thought it would keep the snow off our stuff; instead, it nearly collapsed); fill your water tank and disconnect your fresh water hose (the hose froze, leaving us with no water); and put away the trailer mat before it snows to avoid shoveling lots of snow (I did climb on top of the trailer before leaving to shovel all of the snow off the top).

As to the MTS (thank you for the correction), we only used it in the deep snow. Without the trailer, we did not use the crawl feature. I put the MTS in Mogul and was able to go wherever we needed.

I opted to use crawl going down the hill with the trailer to give me maximum assistance to avoid locking the brakes and sliding down the hill on the ice. In that regard, it worked great, not withstanding all the noise it made doing its job. I put the transmission in S1 and then used the dial to modulate the downhill speed without touching the brake or accelerator until we came upon the stuck Ford. Then, I squeezed the brakes to try to stop us, but, as I feared would happen without the electronic assists, the trailer had other ideas and pushed the rear of the LC to the right, which was fortunate because that was upslope, back into the mountain rather than the left which could have had us tumbling down the hill. I slowly steered us to too the right to keep us away from the down hill slope and with the hope of regaining some control. Fortunately, the deeper snow and the upslope allowed us to come to a stop before a complete jack knife or worse. Then, with the road clear, I let the crawl do its job until we got to the bottom and the plowed roads.

 

[TeCKis300]

We were very impressed.

So are we. Wow.

That's a lot of snow for Idyllwild from that last rainstorm.

 

[Dan Higgins]

It appeared that both axels are braked so I put the chains (cables, actually) on the front axel because it was easiest. (BTW Dan - your comments here and on the Lance owners' site led us to the ProPride hitch and have been very helpful for us. So, thank you for your contributions.)

Thanks. And thanks for sharing your experience. The only problem is that I showed it to my wife and after reading it her response was, "No way will you ever attempt this!" LOL!

As for CRAWL, I have had to use it a couple of time to get up boulder-strewn trails. (I'm not as proficient with the brake and gas as some people are). It worked very well. Yes, it is noisy. But for the minute or two that you use it not an issue.

I am curious, though. When the vehicle is pulsing the brakes for CRAWL, etc. does this transfer to the trailer brakes? Do they get a "braking signal" from the brake controller?

 

[TeCKis300]

I am curious, though. When the vehicle is pulsing the brakes for CRAWL, etc. does this transfer to the trailer brakes? Do they get a "braking signal" from the brake controller?

I was wondering this too. I think it would depend on whatever brake controller one is using.

Most brake controllers use proportional logic - meaning they have internal accelerometers to detect the rate of deceleration and apply a relative amount of braking. With low to no inertial changes with crawl, it would be questionable weather the brake controller has the resolution or ability to sense and apply proportional brake at all. I'm thinking not or very little.

There's also the brake lamp wire. Some controllers may depend on this in their logic to initiate braking. I'm not sure CRAWL enables the brake lamp signal.

Only way to know is to look at the controller itself to see if it's outputting braking voltage. I'm not sure how to see that on the RedArc (maybe it changes color?). With the Tekonsha P3 readout, it should be readily visible if braking is being applied.

Best in this situation is likely to use manual trailer braking in some form.

Still, good job to the OP for making his tools work for him.

 

[Robert B]

As we drove down, I checked the Redarc and saw that it pulsed purple and red, indicating that it was working with the Crawl control. And, I did learn from the near jack knife to push the Redarc button to more aggressively brake the trailer after the Ford was moved out of the way. I think if I had done that when I first started braking, I could have stopped without incident. This was a great trip for learning new lessons (including, the lid on my cast iron Dutch oven will melt snow gloves and burn your thumb, but that is a lesson for another forum).

 

[Dan Higgins]

That is actually quite interesting that the Redarc is "pulsing" with the ABS. I believe that is a good things. Of course you can influence how much braking is occurring with the dial. And you can always press the button. And then there is "user mode" but I don't think I would use this. I suspect I wouldn't get it right. Since I don't go off road with a trailer, I always leave it in "proportional" mode but I will increase the general pressure when I towing a heavier trailer and vice versa. I also tend to turn it up a notch or two when descending a steep mountain pass with lost of curves. So in the situation with the snow/ice I would probably dial it up to a 5 or maybe a 6 when descending. (I normally run about 4 - 4.5 on our Lance trailer. I turn it to a 3 when towing the lighter utility trailers for the charity I work with.)