I was driving back from breakfast in Portland to a hotel before my sister and I were preparing to fly out to HI. I use a large following distance due to the armor and gear I carry, since I am still running stock brakes. traffic was average, moving well. I glanced at my GPS to see if this was my exit, and my sister yelled "BRAKES!". I looked up to find the car in front of me at a full stop and about 25 yards and closing. I hit the brakes hard, but knew there was no way the 100 was going to stop anywhere near in time. I took evasive maneuvers and swerved onto the paved shoulder toward the drop off into the forest. My sister screamed again, certain that we were going to go off the shoulder and roll into the forest at 30+ MPH. I stayed on the brakes, but didn't engage the ABS. I corrected, got a tire chirp, but the new studded Duratracs (less than 500 miles) held and we whipped back toward traffic. Body rolled and I worried about fish tailing with the over correction, but she straightened right out and settled down. We drove safely to our exit just a few hundred yards ahead.
I attribute not having a severe accident to several things. The half second I gained from having my passenger get my attention back on the road, the heavy duty OME suspension (less than 10k miles on it), the new shoes and the FULL time 4WD. Honestly, I think it was the 4WD that kept me from losing control in a fish tail, as I was very conscious, in the moment, that I likely over-corrected in both directions. But the 100 settled right back down and apart from that tire chirp, that is all I got.
PS- If you were directly in front of me that day, send me the dry cleaning bill for your pants. I can't imagine how scary it would be see a lifted 100 with full ARB bumper barreling down on you when you are at a full stop. Had I hit that car straight on, the occupants would have been severely injured or killed.
Well maintained rigs and quick reflexes save lives! I also need to get a dash top mounted GPS!
I attribute not having a severe accident to several things. The half second I gained from having my passenger get my attention back on the road, the heavy duty OME suspension (less than 10k miles on it), the new shoes and the FULL time 4WD. Honestly, I think it was the 4WD that kept me from losing control in a fish tail, as I was very conscious, in the moment, that I likely over-corrected in both directions. But the 100 settled right back down and apart from that tire chirp, that is all I got.
PS- If you were directly in front of me that day, send me the dry cleaning bill for your pants. I can't imagine how scary it would be see a lifted 100 with full ARB bumper barreling down on you when you are at a full stop. Had I hit that car straight on, the occupants would have been severely injured or killed.
Well maintained rigs and quick reflexes save lives! I also need to get a dash top mounted GPS!
) I was very concerned about losing control due to body roll and counter-steer. I think stock suspension with 250k on it (my rig has 275k now) would have led to disaster. The stout springs on the OME HD lift, really controlled the roll. Was amazed that I didn't either plow back into traffic or roll it into the ditch. 
. My question was more in terms of trying to find out if "not" having VSC had any effect on the successful maneuver. I believe many opt to go '00+ in order to have that added safety feature, but was just wondering if in this case if it would have helped or not.
