i wanted to ask if anyone has ever had a problem with the motor bogging down when the nose of your truck is pointed toward the sky.

on a recent day trip i was doing some climbs and my motor acted funky twice. each time was during a steep climb. basicly, i had no power, and the rpm's were jumping from 500 to 1500 over and over. the tires were spinning, but didn't seem to have the torque behind them that they should have with the crawler gears.

i was in 4low with the front and rear locked, gas tank was 3/4 full. this was a steady climb on loose dirt with a couple steps of rocks at the top that made the climb steeper. did this twice in the same scenario.
i was able to back the truck up and try again and it went away.

the truck was not running rich, nor was it backfiring. no ses light, or any other indications of problems. ever run into a problem like this?

02 n/a v6 with auto tranny.

edit:
i doubt it was steeper than the pic below. i didn't have any problems with the motor choking in this pic though.

I am thinking loose connection. A harness may be messing up as it swings rearward.

Could also be a distributor cap/rotor problem. That stuff manifests itself under load.

At elevation >5k seen it happen. Mostly due to not enough low gears and/or tranny, tcase slippage.

I would check your MAS (air flow sensor) seen those loose or shorting connections giving some problems also.

interesting. i'm not sure what the elevation was, but if i had to guess, i would say 2500-3500.
tranny was acting funky a few months back... i typically have it in "drive" when wheeling. should i keep it in first when actually crawling?

maybe a valvebody "makeover" is in your future.
http://www.levelten.com/hydrosystem_import.htm

I haven't had any problems with the engine choking on steep hill climbs.

It happened to me once a few weekends back, but I attributed it to the fuel sensor that went bad..........hasnt happened prior or since.

Roast, I had almost the exact same thing happen during almost the exact same circumstances. Hard long climb, higher altitude (4000ft), hot out (id say 95-98F), truck hick-up'd twice, in twenty feet did it again. It really had me freaking out but I never could find a problem (didnt know where to begin honestly) The only thing we could guess is the truck was getting to hot (just over center on the gauge). So Ive since replaced the fan clutch and will soon change the thermostat. Keep us posted if you find anything.

it was cooler, probably about 65*f. and probably a little less altitude.
i have an efan, so the truck doesn't get warm when crawling. the choking pissed me off though. really impacted performance.

i posted on ronin and one of the guys had the answer. very logical:

"Yep, auto trans issue.

Unless someone comes up with a deep pan and a filter block to keep the pickup immersed (as well as add more fluid capacity) it will continue to be an issue.

I also run into the issue on longer steep climbs. If you were just starting up it, or had been on it for only a short amount of time, I'd double check your fluid level. Make sure it's not overfull as well, as foaming can also cause it's own problems. Insure that you're at the full mark for hot, when then engine and trans are at full operating temp, and it will help."

i'm really stoked i probably don't have a problem!

Hmm. Sound like maybe a good thing...I guess. I wonder if putting a baffle of some sort in the tranny pan would help..?

No idea how feasible this would be but creating a "sump" in the pan and moving the oil pump pickup into the sump would work great, just like on the engine oil pan.

i have a spare tranny i'm going to pull apart with a friend to see if we can find a solution to this problem. possibly create a pan that relocates the pickup and also has those cooler tubes in the bottom. haven't pulled the pan yet though.

Not sure how I missed this thread. It's your auto trans starving for fluid at the extreme angle. Our X does this too on steep climbs.

Then again, that's already been posted now, so I'm not providing any new news.

Still good to hear it confirmed