2WD Prerunner got no traction.... ideas?

This is probably a lost cause, but I'm gonna ask anyway-

2014 2WD Prerunner, 2.7 4 cylinder, 111k miles on the clock, stock size tires, and 300 pounds of sand in the bed. Runs and drives like a charm, except.....off road, I got no traction at all. Spins like a mother.
This morning I got seriously stuck on level ground, in shallow mud.
Before anyone says "trade it for a 4WD," I'm a retired old fart on a fixed income, so money's tight. No new truck for me.

Any suggestions or insights? Love my truck, just wish I could take it off the pavement without having to call for a tow. Thanks guys

 

Mud isn't dirt, that's for sure. E-locker helps. Only other thing would be girthy tires (Mud terrain, coincidentally) but unless you're off-road all the time, its not worth it. You might actually have better luck without sand in the bed because you won't sink as quickly.

Do 2nd gens have rear sway bars? If so, remove it

 

I basically had the same truck as you to begin with. The 2.7 engines bog down really easily because they don't have much power. Low cost option that helped me was a good set of hybrid tires. I also added a winch and got a set of traction boards. Id recommend those first. If you really wanted to improve the truck in addition to those you could add a rear locker but then it starts to get pricey. Hope that helps.

 

What condition are your tires in? Even slicks will push you along on dry ground or pavement, but once you get into wet, and especially mud which has a VERY low coefficient of friction, if your tires are nearing the end of their life, you gonna have problems.

 

Original shocks on the corners?

 

What kind of tires are you running? Even a 4x4 won't have much traction offroad on street tires

 

1) Tires.

2) And care with the conditions you chose to attempt.

More #2

 

thanks for all the responses. Here's some answers to the questions:

no sway bars
original shocks all around
1 year old tires, so tread is great, but they're street tires
I've had the truck for 5 years, and it's always been this way. I tried the sand this year to see if it would help. Meh.....

Sounds like I need a set of mud tires on the back. I want to be able to pull by the river to fish, or go up in the mountains on forestry trails. Right now unless it's bone dry, I'm SOL. Traction boards sounds like a good idea too.

 

I have a factory lsd for sale for an 8.4 inch non elock rear end for cheap

 

I would get a good set of All Terrain tires, if you still need to drive it on the street a lot. Mud terrains will zap your MPGs, ride rougher and be much louder. They also don't tend to last long on pavement miles. A good set of ATs will provide better traction than street tires and still retain some road manners

 

if you could have seen where I got stuck this morning, it was ridiculous. Level ground, and what looked like a normal puddle.
It doesn't help that my last truck was a Frontier with V-6 and a locking back axle. That thing would go anywhere! Except it stayed in the shop a good bit of the time.....

 

Tires for sure. The only place I drive off road is on the beach. My cooper stts have saved me so many times from getting stuck. Stock tires I used to have to get pulled out.

 

I agree with this. I can get up 45degree (dirt) inclines with my 1st gen prerunner with just a set of deflated all-terrains no problem

 

that's good to know, thanks!

 

Also whenever you're offroad, air down your tires to 20psi, even lower if you're in sand. Lower psi gives you more contact with the ground and a lot more traction. Always good to carry a quality air compressor too so you can air back up when hitting the road

 

A must for driving off road in many different conditions.

 

Personally I go down to 12psi on 4lo and slow type crawling trails, with E rated ATs. But it's hard to recommend that to anyone without knowing what kind of tires they run. 12psi on a P or even C rated tire can be bad news. 20 should be safe for just about any tire though

 

Detroit locker and better tires

 

I usually go around 15 when I go out by our lakes on a C. I could be one bad rock away from a popped bead though

 

Probably fine, I know a lot of guys that run Cs. Depends on the tire too