I have heard the stories about some of the 1500's getting the linkage stuck in gear after driving in heavy slush and snow. I can only give my experience after a record breaking winter here in the Northeast. My Laramie is stock other than a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks snow tires (all season tires are for the uninformed). I commute 165 miles a day to work, and leave at 4am (read before they plow) I have driven through snow (one storm was 32" not counting drifts) deep enough that I was pushing it with my bumper and it was coming over the hood and freezing on the windshield, somtimes it was wet and heavy enough that the truck (chassis) would be riding on top of the snow, it got real fun,

The way I drive my truck in the heavy stuff is traction control OFF, trailer tow ON, 4X4 high locked in 3rd gear at 3500rpm about 45mph.


This truck kicked *** in the snow without a single problem, other than the wheels picking up snow and throwing them out of balance till I scraped it out.

I want to see if the dealer has a way to completly disable traction control. It comes on with every move, like going from AWD to 4x4 and that can cause problems when you drive into a 3' snow drift step on the gas and the TC kills the throttle. Other than that I am real happy with this rolling mortgage payment.

 

The only way to completely turn off the esp is to put your truck in 4wd and while stopped push and hold the esp off button for about 5 to 8 seconds and a message will come up in the evic that the esp is completely disabled. Dealer can not do anything other than tell you the same thing. Otherwise you can pull one of the wheel sensors and that will shut it off also along with your abs system.

 

I would think there is a way to bypass it or have it default off when starting the truck?

 

Jayman, thanks for that heads up. Thats all I wanted, no more TC.

 

and to turn it back on you follow the same procedure?

 

to turn it back on you just hit the esp button once and it should come right back on. I have talked to my dealer and we even got on the starscan and looked around for a place to change the esp setting but we couldn't find anything, and all the "fixes" around the net involve unplugging a wheel sensor or holding the key in the start position and both turn off the abs system which is not acceptable to me. But yeah the whole deal with holding the esp off button while in 4wd does work to turn it off 100%, its in the manual somewhere and I do it every time I put my truck in 4wd.

 

read your owners manual that will only partialy disable your traction control in 2wd or 4hi to be fully disabled you have to be in 4lo and under 40mph above 40 mph system automatically returns the esp/tc to the partial setting

 

It turns it off 100% in 4hi not just 4lo. Read the manual better. Page 341 is a good place to start. And yes it does automatically turn back on to the partial setting at 40mph but it will also turn off 100% again when the truck gets back below 35mph.

 

the manual clearly states "this is the only esp operating mode in 4wd low:full off."does not state hi or low.only in 4wd low,unless you have a different manual than i do

 

This is copied directly from the manual.....

Full Off
This mode is intended for off-road use when ESP stability
features could inhibit vehicle maneuverability due to trail
conditions. This mode is entered by pressing and holding
the ESP OFF switch for five seconds when the vehicle is
stopped and the engine is running. After five seconds, the
“ESP/TCS Indicator Light” will illuminate and the “ESP
Off” message will appear in the odometer. Press and
release the trip odometer button located on the instru-
ment cluster to clear this message.
NOTE: The “ESP OFF” message will display and the
audible chime will sound when the shift lever is placed
into the PARK position from any other position and then
moved out of the PARK position. This will occur even if
the message was previously cleared.
In this mode, ESP and TCS except for the “limited slip”
feature described in the TCS section are turned off until
the vehicle reaches a speed of 40 mph (64 km/h). At
40 mph (64 km/h) the system returns to “Partial Off”
mode, described above. When the vehicle speed drops
below 35 mph (56 km/h) the ESP system shuts off.
ESP is off at low vehicle speeds so that it will not interfere with
off-road driving but ESP function returns to provide the
stability feature at speeds above 40 mph (64 km/h). The
“ESP/TCS Indicator Light” will always be illuminated
when ESP is off. To turn ESP on again, momentarily press
the ESP OFF switch. This will restore the normal “ESP
On” mode of operation.