Stephan:

That is an old technique, once upon a time widely known in the days of rear-wheel-drive dominance.   The Hyena managed to get itself stuck on the lawn, despite using the handbrake ... something that has never happened with my similarly rear-wheel driven '66 Westfalia or '74 Thing.
 
On 28-Aug-2014, at 12:24, Stephen Grisanti wrote:

> Regarding the lack of LSD on a given Vanagon, it has been suggested often here that you can improve your traction on slippery surfaces by applying a little of the emergency brake to help cut wheelspin on the spinning wheel.  I have not had occasion to try this myself. 
> 
> Stephen 
> 
> 
> On Thursday, August 28, 2014 10:13 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> I was just under my 84 5sp/inline powered Van last night, adding gear oil
> and checking things out.
> 
>    In my opinion, the 5sp manual tranny is an excellent unit in a
> Vanagon...The gear spacing adds a lot of driveability, it seems, when
> compared to what is written about 4sp manual or automatic Vanagons.
> 
> I find my very low first gear (essentially a granny gear)  handy for
> off-road or very steep situations and some help with the very poor traction
> that Vanagons seem to have.
> I usually skip using my first gear in every-day driving, except  when
> stopped on an uphill or on ice, snow or sand..
> .The spacing between the upper gears allows me to keep my highway momentum
> when I hit a long steep grade, by timely downshifting from 5th to 4th as my
> speed drops through around 65mph.   This brings my inline motor's rpms to a
> comfortable 4000 rpms (the upper limit that I choose for sustained high
> loads)...I rarely have to use my 3rd gear on hills, only when traffic or
> tight curves are encountered, and then I can  quickly get right back up to
> 55mph and ~4000 rpms in ,4th and hold that, comfortably at less than full
> throttle....
> 
>    The Net-rap on the 5sp is that it is "weaker"....Mine has shown no signs
> of weakness and I've driven a lot of very tough miles with heavy loading
> and  very rough terrain.(eg. 7 times down Hwy 395..Portland to San Diego
> with a weighed 4900lb vehicle)    .I did, when I first bought the van with
> the 5sp already installed, re-furbish all the shift linkages using a kit
> from one of our fine list vendors....  It's still, after 60k of my miles, a
> real pleasure to shift and drive.   I will, however, soon be replacing an
> axle oil seal..mine has recently begun slowly  leaking my expensive Swepco
> gear oil.
> 
>    I am also looking into some type of traction enhancing differential.
> If and when I do have to do major service on my transmission I will most
> assuredly include something to enhance the very poor traction these
> vanagons have.  Some will chime in and say..."heck, mine has Great
> traction"...but over the past few years, here on the list, getting stuck on
> grass has been mentioned numerous times....THAT is poor traction.....  I'd
> be happy with a 'locker' like a Syncro, but syncro parts are way out of my
> price range and rare.
> 
>   Once moving, I can usually 'drive around' the crappy traction I have, but
> when someone gets stuck in front of me or there's a long deep snow climb
> (like my driveway sometimes), forget it!   I also find my campsite
> selection  often is limited by my need to be conservative with the vanagon,
> to not get stuck... When that perfect (or empty) camp site is down in a
> depression, or perhaps on dirt with later predicted rain...maybe on a
> deserted beach somewhere....I have to pass on these, often negating the
> advantage a Vanagon has, being smaller and lighter, over real RVs and
> camping vans...
> 
>   I've had experience with various limited slip solutions on other vehicles
> but not vanagons.   They do work amazingly well.   Not a substitute for 4wd
> but good enough for a prudent driver to get through reasonable low traction
> situations without chaining up.  For my application, I think I'll be
> looking at modifying my own transaxle to make it lock, hopefully with some
> type of mechanical cable device activating the locking mechanism.   Then
> when I do get into a sticky situation I can lock the diff and get out or
> through, then go back to your basic one wheel drive...
> 
> 
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 8:19 PM, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
> 
>> All,
>> 
>> While I have not had time to fully hunt down the "new" surging idle issue
>> on the Hyena ('88 2.1l WBX Westy), I am slowly working through all the
>> suggestions given here last week and employing a copy of the Digifant Pro
>> manual.
>> 
>> Dennis raised the possibility of the 3/4 slider is moving with input shaft
>> as the cause of my shifter moving with throttle change.  I have since
>> inspected and checked the torque on the engine and tranny mounts and all
>> seem within spec.  I have also confirmed that I do not get this movement in
>> first or second gear.   Short of dropping the tranny, what other diagnostic
>> tests can be used to confirm/refute Dennis' rather expensive hypothesis?
>> 
>> Assuming Dennis is correct, I have the opportunity to acquire an ACW
>> tranny from a '91 with only 125K on it.  I was thinking about updating that
>> one then swapping out my current transmission  {I also have a line on a
>> 5-spd ASR transmission, but it has a diesel bell housing and would require
>> finding a 5-spd linkage.  However it does have a 40% LSD.  It is also
>> significantly more money).
>> 
>> One thing I have notice in my short time as a Vanagon owner is the Hyena
>> gets stuck much more easily than the '66 Westy.  I actually had to use the
>> TDi Jetta to pull the Vanagon out of the wilderness that is our lawn the
>> other day.  You would think such an undignified event would have shamed the
>> Hyena {or at least its owner} into not parking on wet surfaces, but less
>> than days later a similar event occurred climbing out a drive at a friends
>> cottage.   I have started investigating adding a limited slip or torque
>> biasing differential to the tranny when rebuilt, but the projected cost is
>> not encouraging .... I have only found one or two offerings (and suspect
>> they may both be manufactured by the same provider) and the cost is more
>> than what I would pay for the tranny itself.
>> 
>> Could someone with experience with a TBD/LSD weigh in on whether it is
>> really worth the cost?  Are their providers other than peloquin?  What
>> impact on my already pathetic fuel efficiency would it have?
>> 
>> Roy
>>