Snow in the Tacoma

Once when I lived in IN, I was leaving a friend house with enough snow on the ground and the first length out was "uphill". I watched a RWD Mustang rev-up at-distance then carefully hope the backing-down was not into the ditch after he failed to make it ... repeatedly. I was in my FWD Corolla ... reved-up at distance and ONLY JUST BY THE SKIN OF THE SKIN OF MY TEETH got over the top when I was finally losing most of the grip. Drove the rest of the way home happy I had made it.

 

Ahahaha.

Hey man, be careful.

It happens so fast… Especially when ice is involved.

 

2nd gen best gen

 

I mean it makes sense. There is weight in front of vehicle and much less weight in the rear.

Less weight = less traction at tires

 

I've never locked the rear with ATRAC disabled. I leave ATRAC on all the time and use the locker in special cases, e.g. when I know I will lift wheels off the ground. I think I could live without the locker, but not without ATRAC. ATRAC will often get me through those situations, but there is a slight delay before it kicks in and I can lose momentum. I would like to compare ATRAC vs front and rear lockers, because it might be a fairer comparison.

EDIT: reading your post again I think I missed your question. There is no problem using both ATRAC and the rear locker together. When the locker is engaged, ATRAC and ABS are disabled on the rear axle. You have a locked rear axle and a quasi-locked front axle that is still capable of steering normally.

 

You must leave now sir.

 

Sadly I have to agree with this I had 3 of 'em
...
That 4.0...

 

Oh, and for the record...
The minute I hit slush I stop, long press Trac and turn all that nanny shit off, it does more harm than good...
Usually wheeling it's a contest of who can make it further in 2wd..
4hi for donuts and general fuckery
4lo for really deep powder fuckery
4lo+locker if I get stuck, and by that point the locker is probably irrelevant.

 

The 4.0 is a fantastic engine but no top end. It runs out of breath at 5k.

The 3.5 is not proven like the 4.0 just yet but it’s a joy to drive. With a premium SFOB tune running 94E0 it’s got decent low end and great top end. Bitch is a beast on the highways, i surprised a lot of folks.

 

Still would take the 4.0 as it's ready to go stock and just works well with no mods

 

You know I’ve driven the 4.0 multiple times so never actually owned one.

So far, this 3.5 has done everything I asked it to and more, so I can’t complain.

 

NJ got some bad flooding and I’ll admit I hit some black ice “mall crawling” when I went to go see a movie today

not fun in my AT tires

 

Man, shit goes from great to terrible in second. Ice is fucking dangerous.

I use a 6x12 enclosed trailer for work in winter months and man, when your truck and trailer start to slide a bit… Not a pleasant feeling for sure.

 

But I will say I'd take the 3.5L EcoBoost over the 4.0L

 

Tons more power yes. And the fuckers are actually pretty efficient.

Im not sure on reliability though.