Being in high range will gain you nothing but the need for a lot more throttle, especially when wheeling at elevation. Throttle is not your friend on ledge roads.
I'd say two things basic things here.
One, your rig is never just going to pitch off the edge on a relatively flat trail under consistent throttle. Ledge roads are scary, especially when you are new to wheeling, but they aren't inherently prone to catastrophic accidents, and to my knowledge there have been relatively few in Colorado, which has a predominance of ledge road trails. So the best thing to keep along is clean underwear, maybe two pairs
. You simply have to cut your teeth on these trails if you plan to run them regularly, and no amount of locker fiddling will change this. Just keep in mind that your post at its heart is about fear, not traction. Also remember that you have plenty of company, even among very experienced wheelers.
Second, you shouldn't ever, ever need lockers on a ledge road, and it doesn't take a thousand foot dropoff to kill you. There are a couple of dangerous spots I am aware of in places like Moab (think Rusty Nail) where an obstacle borders a huge dropoff, but any ledge road suitable for a stockish rig should not have these obstacles.
Keep in mind that a great many 4x4's don't have selectable lockers, but many of those do have automatic lockers, like a Detroit, front and rear, usually on a much shorter wheelbase (your long wheelbase is major insurance that both axles will not encounter the same washout conditions at the same time). Those people run these trails without pitching off the edge, or suddenly slipping towards the precipice. Mostly they just generally scare the wits out of passengers who often find themselves on the "oh sh$t" side of the trail.
The best suggestion I can give you is to stay away from situations that frigthen you while you are alone (and never do any serious wheeling alone...it magnifies your risks dramatically in every way). It is particulary helpful to be in the middle of a group watching those in front of you cruise right past a scary spot with no problem. You may encounter an actual off camber sidehill at some point where you risk fatality when that section is also slick (like you thought all the snow had melted on a trail...until you hit a shady spot on the North slope - classic situation). You do not want to attempt these sections alone, because fear, not traction, is often your worst enemy, and what you could idle across may become a serious situation under panic throttle. Plus, if you do get in a serious situation, your buddies can usually get you out.
Remember that your best weapon against side slip is tires, not differentials. I've done some huge tail wagging with crappy all season tires and open diffs, and almost none with a locked rear and tires with good lateral traction and good overall snow performance. Once you have tires with excellent lateral traction (think Interco) after having used tires without, your confidence will go up tenfold.
Nay
