Driving uphill in gravel - Update

    Got a bit of surprise when I pulled into my daughter's driveway with the Sling today for the first time. The driveway is a bit steep and loose gravel - didn't think I'd ever get up it and it wasn't pretty when I did! Any suggestions? Thought about getting something I could lay over the gravel?

    That's a LOT better than what Tripod would have said.


    There's really nothing that will help. Even backing up, you'll still either spin the wheel since you'll have weight being transferred to the front, or you'll run up against the Polaris ecu rev limiter in reverse.

    Nobody gets outta here ALIVE

    The best way to get up a steep incline on gravel with the sling is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,DON'T!


    OK, so now I'm in the same boat with @KayTwo. That said, the slingshot just isn't happy at all trying to get up a grade on gravel. @MWSlingshot and I learned that attempting to follow a certain unnamed young lady through the woods of NC in the dark. One hill was pretty steep and we spun out and had to back down and get a little run at it.


    The only serious suggestion that I can make in your situation is to try to steer to one edge or the other of the drive putting your rear tire more in the rut where a normal car's tires would be. Hopefully that area is a bit more packed and not so easy to spin out.


    Now if that fails you need to ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,never mind, @KayTwo you can take it from here! :thumbsup:


    Tim "Ghost" Ganey
    Winfield, Alabama
    205spam412spam2868

    If I recall correctly, @Painter Jim has that situation, but maybe not as steep or asuch gravel as your dealing with Anita...?


    Anyway, I spent time there, I just remember him saying to get some speed going (not fast, but decent) and just go... Otherwise going slow you do start to cause excess rock kicking...


    I also remember cringing when I first drove my freshly painted Sling up from the workshop... Hearing all the gravel hit underneath...


    But later I just spun out from hydroplaning and well we know that how went... :thumbsup:

    my driveway is half mile long,very steep and off camber,so I got a 45 foot sea train box and park it at the bottom of the property.When I need to work on the sling I get my girlfriend with her Subaru to pull me up.simple solution.

    @MiM the running start is what I need! Unfortunately, it's on a busy road and I had to wait for traffic! Getting a RV site around here is next to impossible for any length of time.


    @penrose I did think about turning the traction off and will try that.


    There is asphalt at the top, but found out rain has washed the lower part away. For whatever reason, no one would come to redo it.


    I appreciate the comments - even from you Smart A's!! :) This too shall pass.

    Best to get a bit of a run... not fast but steady... then maintain the pace. Stopping during a climb is not an option or you will be rolling back to try again!
    Never tried turning off traction control but that might be an option to try.

    Haven't tried what @Slingrazor said about 2nd gear. I've went up quite a few steep grades on gravel. It's a pain at best. But like @Ghost mentioned, if you can move over left or right of center and get the drive wheel on the packed area, that will help. The other thing I've done was to try to hit it rolling well. Think 1st gear and 2,000-2500 RPM. Try to maintain that speed, if you slow and then try to speed up it usually will spin. Like @Painter said, no stopping or you will likely be backing up to start over.