I have 2006 Rubicon. I love this beast with one or two exceptions. I love being able to flip in and out of 4 wheel drive. I love the power that it has in ow range.

I HATE that when I am in 4wheel drive, if I touch any brake, it makes all the brakes work. It would be nice when going down hill to NOT have my front brakes working.

Anyone got a detailed way to bypass this little pain in my butt? My wife was going down a pretty steep one and did not know any brake worked all and she touched the foot brake. Thank God she was right at the bottom. It stood straight up on the front bumper and literally balanced without flipping.

Help me save my silly wife from doing this again!

 

The warning tag on my Rancher states that operating either brake on the machine will result in braking at all wheels. This is due to the 4wd setup. In 2wd, the front is "disconnected" and applying brakes to front or rear will just apply brakes to whichever one you are using.

No way around it other than going downhill in 2wd. I have a Warn 424 on my Rancher and drive in 2wd 90% of the time. Where we ride, there are a couple of hills and I have no problems going down them in 2wd or going up them for that matter.

 

That is the way I do it too. My wife just can not seem to grasp remembering to switch the darn thing back to 2wd. I think she is more hard headed than anything and of course I get the dirty looks if I try to ask as a gentle reminder. :-)

Maybe someone will come up with something for me.

 

Isnt the engine braking strong on a Rubi? On my foreman, i dont even use the brakes going downhill, just shut the throttle, and it slows way down.
The reason the front and back are linked in 4wd, is because there isnt a differential between front and back...its all solid and 3 tires are locked together (both back and one front). The only way to get around the braking issue is to add a differential.