Uphill in Reverse

4LO and GO!

 

Speechless. It’s beautiful, this post.

 

Around my part of the woods the really nice, big, expensive homes are all build up the side of the mountain, and we call driveways like the OP's Californian driveways. Because, Californian's come to town in the spring, buy a nice house in the hills, with a crazy driveway, and don't have a clue what a pain in the ass that driveway is going to be all winter long. (and then they complain all winter long about what a pain their driveway is. )

OP if that were my driveway, I'd just put the truck in 4wd and drive up it if that's possible. If it won't do it going forward, then turn around and try backward. IMHO People get WAY, WAY too worried about using 4wd. I've seen stock Tacomas do crazy things off-road and shake off heavy handed abuse without missing a beat. Backing up a driveway isn't going to hurt a thing. Even if you turn the wheels, even if you get a bind in the driveline, eventually a tire will slip and the bind will be relieved. Will that shorten the life of the truck? Yeah, a little bit of wear on the tires, but what's the point of having a 4wd truck if you don't use it?

And, speaking of tire wear you are the poster child of someone that could really use a set of dedicated ice tires. My favorites are the Blizacks.

 

Psh, 4lo and I bet its like driving on flat ground.

 

Have you ever lost handle of a trash can on your way down?

 

I had a similar driveway and garbage day sucked. If it was remotely sketchy outside I would put the cans in the back of the Land Cruiser I had at the time and drive it down.

I almost always drove them back up empty as I would just grab them on my way in after pickup.

We also had a wood stove used as the primary heat source and getting cord deliveries of heavy oak was a pain in the ass.

 

Another reason for a winch mounted in the garage. Hook up cable to trash and lower away.

I grew up with a driveway almost this steep, but it had a major turn in the middle. My dad had to winch himself out more than he would like to admit, or me to talk about.

As a kid, they were so much fun to let toy cars roll down them, setup little ramps at the bottom.

As an EMS worker.... I hate these driveways with the passion of a thousands suns.

 

Yep. My snow blower too. It's pure hell in the winter - even sent me to the emergency room once when I face planted on the ice and nearly landed in my neighbor's living room across the street.

But it deters missionaries, door-to-door salesmen, and thieves. The view from the deck is amazing and we practically stole the place, so I guess it's a trade off.

 

That reminds me of a story. A buddy of mine bought a house with a crappy steep driveway but had an awesome deck overlooking the front. We used to gather there frequently and drink beers and look out over the deck. The house opposite of his had one of those above ground pools and we used to joke that somebody's truck was going to roll down his driveway and into the pool.

Fast forward a few years I lost track of him and drove up to the house to see if he still lived there, he did, we grabbed a beer and walked out to the deck. I said "hey, look, your neighbor finally got rid of that pool he had."

"Yeah, I let a buddy of mine borrow my truck and he returned it at night, I woke up the next morning w/ it sitting in his pool".

 

Thats horrible haha I am so sorry to hear that and glad you are okay. Any chance you've got cameras and caught that on video?

 

Just in general, a ring and pinion is weakest in reverse. Personally, I would go up in lo and back down in reverse. Less of an issue in the later model trucks - the earlier E-Locker sucked in my opinion - I much prefer the 8.4 for the iron truss used to ensure the backlash remains more constant under load.

 

We didn't then but we do now. The next one will be on YouTube. Give me a couple of weeks.

 

Can't wait. Love your truck btw, just lost my 2nd gen in an accident looking at the quicksand 3rd gen!

 

Holy shit that is steep lol!!

 

On the prowl already?! You haven't even buried your truck yet.

 

This only happened when we took our trucks well past 30°. Shouldnt be any issue with the op's driveway.

 

For real?

 

So he claims, but I think it's BS.

 

I was gonna say, I've taken my GTI (That burnt oil) up past 30 degree inclines and I was never blowing white and blue smoke. You'd think they'd consider trucks would need the ability to take steep inclines.... :\

 

I took my truck up a skid trail last hunting season to get a moose my wife shot. The clutch wasnt too happy but the rear-end is fine.