| Author | Message | ||
     No_rice |
so as some of you know i bought a new tow rig not long ago. 2004 tahoe mostly loaded. lowered on 20's   i put the stock wheels back on for the winter. tried to put my 15x10 american racing wheels with 325/60/15 bfg all terrains. whats funny is the front fit, but the rear wouldnt fit over the damn big brake calipers. wouldnt have thought they rear brakes were bigger than the ones that were on my 97 half ton anyway... well we finally got a couple of inches of snow to play around in the last couple days. i have had many chevy 4x4's over the years ranging from 75-97, but all of them were actual 4x4. as in 2 hi, 4 hi and 4 lo. this tahoe is full time 4wd with the stabilitrak. so far im not to fond of the way its working. i figured out how to turn off the stabilitrak by pushing the top button on the left side of the cluster. easy enough. the "stability system disabled" shows up on the info at the bottom of the cluster and the tc with a slash over it shows up near the top right. which means to me the traction control is off and so is the stabilitrak. ok so far so good. now my problem comes when i stand on the gas. in my regular 4x4's, if i stand on the gas all 4 wheels start to spin and stay spinning and of course the first thing it would do on slick ground is slide completely sideways against the curb if you dont let up. now try that in my tahoe, and all the wheels start to spin for a second, and then the rearend steps way out as if i was in 2wheel drive and the front is barely going. it still looks as if its moving, but just not with much power. now i have looked through the owners manual(ya, a rare occasion) and it says when the system is turned off, the traction off light and the stability sys disabled will show up on the cluster, and are there to warn the driver that both the stability system and PART of the traction control system are disabled. ok... so then after that it says, your vehicle will still have brake traction control with stabilitrak disabled. now the way i read that is not in "antilock brake" sense but more in the "traction control" sense even though it should be turned off. so i guess im trying to find out how an AWD tahoe should behave in the snow like this. and has anyone figured out how to COMPLETELY get rid of the traction control and stabilitrak. i have been looking through the fuse block and found the one for the stability control but havent messed with that yet. havent found anything to shut down the brake traction control(although maybe that is all part of the same thing if i pull that fuse. im not a big fan of the vehicle controling its self and even over ruling what i am trying to get it to do. i guess when i stand on the gas i expect all the wheels to spin until i let off the gas. so, does anyone have one of these things and played in the snow much with it. it irritates me enough if i cant figure out whats going on i will probably just get rid of the thing and by an actual 4x4. i mean the front wheels do get power so the trasnfer case is sending power up front. and there are no clunks or anything that doesnt sound right. (Message edited by no_rice on December 01, 2008) | ||
| Jb2 |
No_rice, Hey we work on these critters all the time. Everything... TCS, Stabilitrac and anitlock brakes are fed information from the four wheel sensors. It is my understanding that to turn the feature off completely may disable other functions. The antilock brakes have their own computer and the traction control has its own computer. Stabilitrac is part of the TCS. AWD is your best bet on snow. I will ask our GM tech person tomorrow if there is a way to turn it off but I think you're outta luck. Traction control is a standard feature on all GM vehicles now. You oughta seen Alex Prior trying to do a burn out in a rental HHR this spring. It couldn't be done, even with a pro at the wheel!  JB2 (Message edited by jb2 on December 01, 2008) | ||
| Froggy |
Yes if you lose one, you lose all. On my 02 Monte Carlo, I had an issue with some road salt gunked up a speed sensor, and after a few minutes of driving, the car would randomly kick in the traction control because it thinks one of the wheels stopped. After a minute of fighting me the whole thing craps out, no TCS and no ABS either. Don't have AWD so I don't know how it would affect that on your truck. (Message edited by froggy on December 01, 2008) | ||
| Etennuly |
I had mine stuck on some wet grass pulling a trailer up a hill. It sure doesn't work like a regular 4X4 in that situation. The brake lock for traction control just made it bog down and it seemed like the front was getting about half of what would be normal 4wd power. It seems to work great on the highway at speed in snow though. I agree about this sissy AWD crap. I would rather have an older style with a low range also. But then, I really like the look and comfort of my Denali, and I can no longer live without heated seats. I believe the AWD system was made for soccer moms, who in their infinite wisdom wouldn't know to take a truck out of 4 wheel lock on the Interstate at 70 mph and or slow the hell down when the conditions are bad.  If you want a manly 4WD that you can work, this ain't it. I've been seriously thinking about removing all of the related 'semi' 4WD parts to see if I can get the beast over 20 mpg. For how I use it, the posi in the rear will suffice. I don't know if that idea would choke the computers though. | ||
| No_rice |
jb2, that would be appreciated. let me know what you find out. i honestly dont care if the anti lock brakes work or not. ive never been that fond of them either. my moms old bravadas anti lock brakes were just spooky. plenty of times(and she had 3 bravadas) the pedal would just go to the floor once the anti locks kicked in and you could swear that there was no slowing down going on even though the anti locks were making racket. that wasnt even in snow or ice. just daily gravel driving. plus my plymouth doesnt have anti locks, my blazers have never kicked on so i figure they dont work, and the gf's beretta's anti locks dont work either. i grew up driving cars without them why would i have a problem doing it now. i will probably yank the fuse for the stabilitrak depending on what jim finds out. see what happens when i do that. maybe even the fuse for the anti locks. this thing has a fuse for almost every damn thing on it. doesnt seem like many of those fuses run multiple things they all seem to run one. i took my blazer out off roading last night though. it may not compare to my old 75-79 4x4's for off roading, but atleast its willing to tear some $hit up before it is willing to say its stuck! (Message edited by no_rice on December 02, 2008) | ||
| Jb2 |
No_rice, We'll I've made about a dozen calls to the best GM techs in the area and they are all of the mind that you'd be playing in Pandora's box to pull a fuse. All of the systems that are tied to the four wheel sensors are read, processed and controlled by the main chassis computer. Breaking a link in the chain of information could result in the failure of other components. GM has no published procedures or recommendations for your request. BUT, they did say to try the forums because Americans are always figuring out a way around systems and they're sure someone has already done it. The problem is with our business is that we return vehicles to pre-crash condition for safety and warranty reasons. We don't really get to step outside of the box very often. In one of the conversations a tech offered up a customer/tech hotline number for GM and thought they might be able to tell you what you need to know. 800-222-1020 JB2 | ||
| No_rice |
ok, thanks. i have been on a tahoe/escalade/denali forum and have yet to get a response to basically the same post i made there a couple days ago. maybe i'll try that number when i get a chance. what can it hurt to ask. |
