2 wheel drive capabilities?

Haha ^

 

I wheeled a pretty vicious trail this weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains (washed out fire road with lots o rocks/boulders). Definitely needed clearance for this trail and even dinged my ATO skid a few times, but never had to throw it into 4WD. If it wasn't dry I think I would have been screwed in 2WD though.

 

Haha I see, no I'm not going to be claiming I'm doing any glorious offroading. Trail riding is ultimately what I would like to do, I like camping and finding some obscure areas around here is not hard and the trails might have some small climbs like the video I posted. Jumping anything is out of the question, like I said, I'm wanting a leveling kit, one size up on tires, and some off road accessories. If this truck is more of a pavement pounder and not capable of the smallest hills I'd save my money and just continue to bum a ride with buddies to camping spots. I don't like to build a non functional ride, sort of like a V6 mustang with GT badging.

 

For that you will be fine. If that's what you are looking to do.

 

even though you might not have to use 4wd, if your going slow etc, id pop it in 4low, even with the tow package you would be surprised at how fast and high trans temps get when slow speed crawling in 2hi / 4hi.

 

I wheel my prerunner but you gotta know your limits or have the necessary equipment handy. I never planned on making my truck "off road capable" but after finding TW over a year ago, I've made due with what I have. I've thought about selling and buying a 4x4 but I've put too much sweat into this truck, which somehow turned to luv, aww.

 

Yeah, we only crawled a mile or so before setting up camp but the wife did ask why I wasn't in 4WD. My Icons were very warm to the touch. Wish I woulda gotten a pic, but that's just a reason to go back. The wife was about done with the jarring a mile into the 17 mile trail, so we stopped and setup camp.

 

I have no input here. All I want to say is OP, I tried to wipe that bug in your Sig off more than once. Evil trickery

 

LMAO I have had that bug in my signatures since 2003!

 

I had 80s 2wd S-10 (open diff or worn out lsd) before my 4x4 Tacoma and put a 2" or 3" lift and went from 26" tires to aggressive AT tires 30x9.5 in front and 31x10.5 in back. It did suprisingly well offroad & with chains on the rear and could handle about 18" of snow (I guess snow is not a concern though... ). I bought a few tow straps and a 10' 4-ton cable puller (all that stuff for well under $100) for when the ass-end got stuck or slide into the ditch; took a bit of time to set up but always worked to get me out. Started with the standard 2-ton puller, but found a 4-ton & it worked much better.

The skinny tires in front are so much easier to fit, cut through mud/snow great, and since they are dug-in they direct the vehicle you want to go even though they are not drive-wheels; floating on top can make steering unresponsive with 2wds.

Since there are no cv's you dont have to deal with the angle problems if you lift the front or you could do drop-spindles; not an option for 4x4s. You could do mild tires up you want up front for good handling, braking, & wear then have more aggressive larger tires in the rear. Like AT 33x10.5 up front and MT 33 or 35x12.5 for the back for great off-road traction. Dunno why I never see that set-up here.

If you have your cargo centered back of the rear axle; the cantilever effect makes the weight distribution more over the drive-wheels for greatly improved traction of a 2wd.

Locker would be best, but lsd is way better than the open diff I had... The only issue I is you would likely need to re-gear if you go really tall tires in the back. But I am less aware of 2nd gen ratios for the tranny & rear-end, so maybe not with 4.0L auto...dunno

One other cool thing with a pre-runner if you become a wheeling junkie, you can go hardcore straight to SASing it; that takes some serious cash & effort though...

I think you should go for it & will be suprised by what it can do without beating on it.

Just my thoughts to get the most out of a pre-runner for some impressive off roading and some advantages & alternate setups you cant do on 4x4 tacoma.
(if you don't want MTs for the rear, get chains; the do great for mild tires in mud as well as snow)

 

As a person with a 4WD TRD OR Taco...4WD can get stuck in mud too. It's just harder...

 

Lots of good off road trails in Alabama, I'm from there.
Like others have said, take it easy at first.
Take some recovery equipment with you.

A good shovel will get you out of many places.

 

I appreciate all the great info, I've got a lot of research to do on things like recovery equipment. That never crossed my mind, I will always be with someone if I'm out in the woods but being self sufficient is always nice! I'm looking forward to getting some decent tires and trying it out.

dm1215al I'm in lower Baldwin County, hit me up if your ever on a run this way.

 

X2
Winches are prerunners best friend

 

Get a good 32" AT tires and a 2" lift and truck will do much better... That's all I need here in WI I keep forgetting to use 4 wheel but don't need it. But there are some crazy trails out west and you need 35" and sliders...
Tires and ground clearance make a huge difference....
I have the cooper AT'3 great all around...
The good years are good, softer side wall and great in snow...

 

One more thing.

If it wasn't a pre-runner and the other kind of 2wd, I would say sell it and get a 4x4. Not that improvements can't be made, but there is far fewer options and so much more mods needed toget to the same sort of place.