Tinkerer Compares the 4th gen to the 3rd gen TRD off-road

I have had both 3rd gen and 4th gen Tacoma and Off road Tundra. Had to mod the hell out of the gutless 3rd gen taco and still was not happy with the drivability. My 24 OR is a better drive experience. The shocks suck, but I’m also coming from custom valved Kings on the Tundra. I have towed at least 20 x with my new taco and also have been off road with it. I wish the locker worked in any drive mod. I feel like crawl control was a waste of engineering.

 

"I feel like crawl control was a waste of engineering"
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I was wondering about all those expensive add-ons for off-roading. I've been wheeling over 50 years with none of these options and never thought I needed them. Do you guys that have these options use them and appreciate them or are they mostly selling factors?

 

When do you want to try one of my favorite routes in ID? Right north of hwy 12 and it won't be a graded dirt road.

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Is that road Lolo Motor Way? I'm in that part of ID occasionally and the road looks interesting.

 

For the 3rd gen, I've tested it.. out of curiosity. The only benefit I've found is when in the San Juan mountain range (southwestern CO) for descending thousands of feet in less than a mile on rough boulder strewn off-road trail as a speed control vs riding the brake pedal. Conversely my 1st and 2nd gen with a manual in 4L never had that problem. Low speed descent crawl was much more controlled with the manual in 4L with lower ratio gearing vs a 3rd gen 4L auto gear ratio.

The route you questioned does incorporate some of the "Lolo". This is just section #3.

 

I had it on my Third Gen OR and my new OR . I didn't find a valid use in Moab or in the Uinta mountains. Maybe its useful if you are stuck in Sand? I prefer lower gears and locker for wheeling that I've done starting with my dad as a kid for 45 years .

 

Exactly this and also a bolt on skid for the shock knuckle (which is the lowest point of that rear suspension). I took a quick look and it does look exactly like the FJ Cruiser rear suspension. That lower shock knuckle was where I had a lot of bent and mashed up brackets since it sits in front without any protection. And that was on green trails with my FJ.

 

Further on the Gen 4 rear suspension issues that were not discussed by Tinkerer. The lower rear shock and shock mount is extremely exposed/vulnerable and will drag in deep dried out tire ruts or in deep soft muddy terrain and potentially impede forward movement.

Potential also exists to damage the rear shock and/or the shock mount. Bascially anything deeper than tire sidewall height. One boulder under the mud impacted at speed while trying to make it thru some muddy tire ruts and you can kiss that rear shock good bye.




this type of offroad environment... nothing like where Tinkerer did his testing





a form of protection already exists for the 4 runner and includes rotor protection if changing wheel offsets with more exposure

 

Big Yes, the more offset tires in the rear, the more exposed the lower shock mounts are. A shock front skid only helps some when it is a straight impact. This is an FJ with -31 rears.

 

I've never used crawl control beyond trying it. I think it would be really helpful for someone who has no idea what they're doing but if I'm stuck enough to use it, I'm either too stuck or it'll be quicker to just get pulled out. Maybe if I'm alone it would be a last ditch effort but I'm rarely alone in the shit

 

Prior to this past spring I hadn’t wheeled for 30 years. Back in the 80's and 1st half of the 90's I wheeled with the 81, 87, 88, and 93 Toyota 4x4’s, all manual trannys …there were times back in the day where I wished and even prayed for a little grip. Fast forward to last spring, I picked up a 22 Pro with auto trans …muscle memory didn’t apply. The auto trans is a learning curve for me so I'm damn glad the grip tech is in the truck. As a previous poster noted the grip tech is nice going down hill. Bottom line for me is the grip tech is not wasted engineering. And the tech is supposed even be better with 4th gen.

 

Those concerned about crawl control/DAC. Used all the tools in the bag these past few days. Crawl control, especially DAC, can modulate your brake pedal way better than your foot can. In my case, I tend to oscillate from over brake to under brake. It is hard to get steady state brake pedal when your body is going every which way. Rotate that huge round knob and you can just enjoy the ride. And in the real ass pucker, feel your way over stuff, you can always over ride by just using your lump of a foot.

All these tools including the cameras make it stupid easy.

 

8 years of people bitching about every aspect of the 3rd gen and it somehow became the best truck ever made ever since the 4th gen was announced….for all the haters, drive a 4th gen and you’ll never look back

 

Nailed it…

 

you forgot about all the bitching about the 4th gen. here is an example from one of your bitching posts

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/official-tsb-for-automatic-trans-failure-from-toyota.842050/

 

First of all those are my photos and I’m the one who released to the tsb to the public…let’s see, 8 years of bitching vs, less then 1 year….

 

simple math

Less than 1 year of production vs 7 years of production.

The thread was about comparing off-road capabilities of the two two generations from a well known off-roader, not a salesman's best line "drive a 4th gen and you’ll never look back" Did you drive yours off-road to compare its virtues? Have you even had yours off pavement yet or is an exclusive "pavement pounder"?

Why don't you provide some off-road examples of how you used the 4th gen and how it was better than the 3rd gen for off-road?

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Thanks for sharing this. I had not thought of using crawl control as a lower gear than 1st in 4L for steep descent.
I don't use it otherwise.

 

Your talking about something completely different then what I’m referring too, I’m taking about 8 years of bitching about problem, quirks and shear frustration with the 3rd gen… since the 4th gen has come out, the 3rd gen is now hailed the greatest Tacoma to ever exist

 

"With all the problems with the Tacoma, no way I'm dumping my Chevy Citation."

 

The video reaffirmed that I finally get an exhaust pipe reroute around the transfer case for a flat skid plate, and get that extra 1.5" of clearance.