Question for the technically minded experts, keep it simple though. :think:

Arrived on a small caravan site (5 van site), still waterlogged with very soft ground, the owner suggested a pitch which was firm and instructed me to start the reverse then to pull forward to strengthen out to reverse in, simple.

I started the reverse turn, then he said pull forward now and told me to keep going, this area was very soft ground and already churned up.

Far enough now, start reversing, which I did and basically, the rear wheels were spinning and the front wheels were not moving at all.

Pulled forward and started the reverse again, same thing no drive to front, only rear wheels spinning, deeper into the ground.

Tried another couple of times, and then the owner asked if traction control was on, yes by default, he suggested I try with it turned it off, (why did I not think of that?) which I did.

Pulled forward and again started the reverse, front and rear wheels now started to spin with gradual movement backwards, out of the ruts and soft ground, then forward again and into reverse and turned into the pitch

So, traction in the mud with traction control off, what am I missing?

I was on the understanding that traction control only works on the front wheels?

It cuts the power to wheels that have lost grip. As your front wheels had lost grip the traction control cut in, hence no power to the front wheels.

As you have a 4x4 only the rears were receiving power.

Turning off the tracion control restored power to the front wheels.

My Scout works the same. When I got stuck in the snow a few years ago turning off the traction control got me out.

With the haldex you can't lose power to the front wheel and keep the back turning. The fronts are always driving, but one side can be spinning and not the other (but unlikely with TC).

I haven't had mine in mud yet, but in a wheel-lift situation the TC on would keep cutting engine power. Turning it off appears to disable the power-cut.

TC is a bit of a mare in these sorts of situation; slip is sensed so the car will start to cut power and its this that usually gets you stuck. With TC off you will get no power cuts so got more chance of getting out than with ir on; unless you end up digging yourself in!