Hi everyone,

I've been over the last few days removing a tree from my front garden. After many hours of chainsawing, digging and picking i decided that enough was enough.

i went into the garage, got my towing strop and shackles out, wrapped the strop around the tree stump, attached it to the back of the RRS, selected mud and ruts and drove forward gently.

My wife was watching the stump for me so i knew what was happening. i could feel the rear of the car pulling down, but kept the pressure on and bobs your uncle out she came!! it was like an iceberg three times as much underneath as on top!!

Anyway when i reversed to slacken the strop off and undo the shackles, the dash said i had gone into extended mode. I've never seen this before and man it is high!! the wheels were towing massively. My question is why did it go into extended mode? The only thing i can think of is due to the pressure on the rear suspension it thought it was stuck on a rut. Any thoughts please.

No matter what it ended up as Green Oval 1 Tree stump 0...  Current: 2010 RRS 3.6 TDV8 HSE
Past: 2012 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
2007 3.6 TDV8 Vogue
2005 3.0 TD6 Vogue
2007 D3 Commercial
2001 D2 4.0 V8 ES
1998 D1 3.9 V8 ES
1988 3.5 V8 EFI Vogue
Others: 2007 VW Touareg 3.0 V6
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0
1990 Mitsubishi Shogun 2.6

No idea on the suspension .. but I feel like I need to go find the video of someone doing that with a pickup in the US (with no sense of mechanical sympathy) - the stump comes flying out and straight through the back window of the truck  2014 BMW 530d Touring, 2006 BMW 650i, 2018 Mini Cooper S

You were likely sat with all four wheels spinning and no forward movement at some point. There is a set of conditions that if met cause this response. The systems will have thought you were bottomed out and so raised the suspension to give you clearance. I've seen it off road once or twice.

Most people only see extended mode when they have a suspension fault preventing lowering of the suspension, so you're in rarefied company.

Oh, and if you're in extended mode, you can put your foot on the brake pedal and press the suspension raise button for a few seconds. It'll take you in to super-extended mode, which is basically whatever height is left in the airbags. Often you can gain another inch on extended mode. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

some modes will automatically change the height for you I believe.

I'm pleased that i am special for seeing extended mode without having a fault..

Just to clarify the wheels didn't so much as slip an inch, no movement other than steady pressure on the tree stump with gentle throttle to keep that pressur on.

i've seen the video before i think it's Australian for Toyota pickups. The guy keeps saying "Oh " after every cock up..  Current: 2010 RRS 3.6 TDV8 HSE
Past: 2012 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
2007 3.6 TDV8 Vogue
2005 3.0 TD6 Vogue
2007 D3 Commercial
2001 D2 4.0 V8 ES
1998 D1 3.9 V8 ES
1988 3.5 V8 EFI Vogue
Others: 2007 VW Touareg 3.0 V6
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0
1990 Mitsubishi Shogun 2.6