Electronic locker?

Hey guys i am new to the forum, just wanted to get few things answered before i make the big purchase. Is the electronic locker worth getting the TRD off road for? The only thing that holds me back from getting the TRD sport is that it doesn have the locker and a couple other off road options. Perticulary i dont off road that much but do have some steap snowy drive ways the crawl up from time to time and some fields to go through while hunting. I thought the locker would really come in handy. Do you have to be in 4 wheel low to engage the locker? The reason i want the sport sooo bad is bc of the hood scoop and painted bumber handles mirrors and grille, i just love that look more than anything. The question is which do i sacrifice the locker and off road stuff or the looks? The dealer told me i can not get the locker in the sport and cant get the hood scoop and painted accents on the off road.


Sorry for the long question but any help would be ablidged. Also should i be aware of any pros or cons on a 2011 tacoma double cab?

 

Offroad has a locker and sorta better traction system then Sport. So out of factory in theory you are better off when traveling OFF the pavement. However, thats in theory. In practicaly smaller TRD offroad diff tends to explode and Traction system itself is useless for snow and super slippery condition.
Now if you going to use that truck for hunting and driving offroad I would rather get SR5 (Sport in your case) and install proper locker that will not explode in the middle of nowhere. But that just me.

 

Thanks man appreciate the help

 

imho the sports are reliable as long as you arent too harsh, but you can get an sr5 like mine and either spend about 1k for an arb air locker and have a locker plus on board air, or put in a cheap lockrite

 

Locker is there and is old school, but awesome... I have had 3 Tacomas with the rear locker, and wouldn't have it any other way. What the Off Road TRD has that none of the others have is the A-TRAC (2009+ models)! That gives the Tacoma the traction of almost the same as front and rear lockers.

 

I would not agree with this statement. A-TRAC does NOT give you the same abilities (or even that close...) to a front locker. Yes, I have a 2009 OR with A-TRAC. Yes, I've driven vehicles with a front locker. They're not even comparable.

But I personally wanted the rear locker for wheelin. Never heard of them blowing up... I'd assume that would be because people who misuse them. Like enabling it when wheels are spinning etc.

To the OP - you have to be in 4lo and going less than 5mph to engage the locker. I wouldn't run it all the time, but it's nice to be able to push a button and lock in the rear end. With the sport's LSD, it'll lock in... but you kinda have to force it. Not so good for serious off-roading - but honestly from the sounds of it you won't be doing real serious off-roading, so the sport edition would probably be just fine for you.

 

Sorry yours hasn't worked out for you. I did go on a trip with three other vehicles that had the front locker... and the A-TRAC amazed us all. One of them (ARB front and rear lockers) said the A-TRAC was BETTER than the lockers. At least on a tight trail, where they either couldn't use their front lockers or had to repeatedly turn it off and on just to make turns on the mountain trail we were on. The A-TRAC is automatic and only 'locks' tire rotation when one tire on the axle slips.

Sure, A-TRAC makes noise and isn't 'smooth' say some... but it does work at moving the truck over impossible terrain and with just one tire on firm ground (a front tire even), it will pull your truck free. There are plenty of videos of A-TRAC Toyotas and Lexus doing Moab stuff that the front locker trucks only could climb before.

 

AMEN BROTHER!

 

thanks for the input again guys, yeah not too seruose off roading will be done, and i absolutely love the looks of the sports, i think i will have to go with that over the locker. Anything else to tell me ( never owned a yota before) about these trucks, pro's and con's? Im probably purchasing this week and want to make sure im doing the right decision. My last 2 trucks have been duramax diesels with minor work done to them, so i am use to having some seriouse hp and tourque, still might be looking at a getting a duramax again but for the same price range i have to buy one that is 6 years old and has 50-100k on it.

 

You will love the Tacoma... even the Sport, I am sure. There is a 4-Low Trac Mod (Yellow Wire Mod.) that will give you TRAC in low range, and many reported a great improvement doing that. Otherwise, in 4WD-HIGH you do have TRAC and it provides the best traction if you find yourself stuck in low range.

 

Start reading. There are more people with blown rear diffs that had never end up on that list.
After Toyota went to 3.73 gears and bigger truck, old e-locker can't keep up.

 

Based on that thread, only the '05's were effected. Everyone was saying 06+ is fine...

Whatever. Stuff breaks, but I don't think a 4-year-old thread with only 10 pages is going to convince me there's "a lot" of these breaking. I know many people with the same or similar truck as me with the e-locker and a lot more miles. No problems. These guys mostly had less miles than I have on my truck now - some breaking at 10k.

Enough gloom and doom guys.

 

Seriously!

I had a 2005 and put 102,000 miles on it in 4 1/4 years... lots in Baja and the desert four wheeling... using the rear locker... never a driveline problem. Soft rear springs, ABS brake issues and noise, and the spiral cable/ air bag light failure were it.

 

In this video, the vehicle has three tires on rollers and one front tire on solid ground (and blocked). Without A-TRAC, tires in back and the tire on the roller in front spin and the truck goes nowhere.

If you locked the rear, the truck would still go nowhere. But, with A-TRAC (or a front locker) the truck powers easily off the three rollers and over the block!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MOEZYAv5Q&feature=player_embedded

 

I never said it was useless. I just said ATRAC != a front locker.

Cool vid tho. I'm sure it does help.

 

May be a stupid question but does the sport come with A-TRAC? and is it something that is on a switch or is it always on once in four wheel?

 

No. And it's switched separately.