Date:         Wed, 10 Apr 1996 15:17:57 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Tobin T. Copley" <tobin@vcn.bc.ca>
Subject:      Re: Real Cheap traction

On Wed, 10 Apr 1996 Sglw@aol.com wrote:

> In Uk in the 50's and 60's there was a form of sport called 
> auto-cross[...]  The key mod [...] is to have 2 handbrakes side by side. 
> [...] If traction is lost on one wheel the appropiate brake is applied 
> and voila out of the mud you go.

I use the parking brake (unmodified) fairly regularly to get our Westy 
unstuck when exploring off road in BC.  Just last weekend, in fact, I 
nearly got us dug in on the beach sand at Port Renfrew on the west coast 
of Vancouver Island, and applying the parking brake kept the "loose" 
drive wheel from spinning too easily and got us onto firm ground (and 
into an axle deep mud pit down the road, but that's another story).

It's kinda hard on the clutch forcing the drivetrain to work against 
itself like that, but I think it's better to stress it that way than dig 
in deep and have to start getting serious with the jacks, chains, and 
sand sheets, and whatnot.

For me, it's not worth it to go through the hassle and expense of that 
kind of mod, since the hand brake has gotten us out of most problems in 
the past.

Now what I'd REALLY like is a locking diff!  :-)

Tobin

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Tobin T. Copley              VW Busses to Inuvik!        =============  
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tobin@vcn.bc.ca                 July 22-Aug 14 96      O|   Insured!  | putta
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Circum-continental USA, Mexico, Canada 15,000 miles   '76 VW Camper! (Mango)