First "serious" use of my 2015 4x4 TRD

Took my new 2015 TRD Off Road out pig hunting on Ft Stewart this passed evening. It rained pretty heavily all afternoon which made for some nasty dirt roads/tank trails. I went down this one trail which had some ugly muddy rut sections. I made it through first section and thought boy I hope it doesn't get worse because I can't turn around and doubt I could do the trail in reverse. Of course around the next bend was a narly mud whole with deep clay ruts and plenty of standing water. I popped my new girl into 4low, locked the rear end, and hit it at about 15 mph. Once I got to the deep part, she started to slow way down and I was starting to think it was going to be a long night in the woods but I kept a steady throttle and to my amazement we made it to the other side. At the worst part of it the truck was leaned about 20-30 degrees to the passenger side and the water was up to the door handle. I couldn't believe she didn't suck water into the air box! I love this truck sooooo much and I don't plan to do that to her again soon but I was really impressed. On the rained out muddy dirt roads though she did want to track sideways a bit and often took a lot of over steering to keep straight. Would the a-trac system have helped if I had the thought of hitting that button? What does A-trac do? Second question is how much does a snorkel cost and what are the draw backs?

 

How much he weigh?

 

Haven't you learned anything from action movies? Don't you know the villain always feigns death until you're not looking, then gets up and grabs whatever weapon's ready to hand?

But seriously. Glad you made it through. You should probably rinse off the undercarriage and the engine with a non-pressurized hose.

If you're gonna go through deep puddles like that you want to do the diff-breather relocate. You may have sucked water into your rear differential, in which case a differential oil change would be called for.

You might think about a lift and oversized tires. That'll get the engine and air intake about 4" further out of the water.

Snorkels are a few hundred bucks - but they won't solve all your ills. In a deep crossing you can kill the engine by drowning the alternator. At least with a snorkel it won't lead to hydro lock.

 

"She" weighed about 160-220lbs if I had to guess but I am bad at estimating. She was fat though and the biggest in her sounder.

 

Cool.

 

Diff breather locate you say. Initiating my googler now. I did hose her off (top and bottom) when I got back as there was hog blood all over and that gets funky with a quickness here in the south!

 

Your problem with the steering part is your stock tires. Other than that it's very capable.

 

Congrats on your truck and the hog.

What caliber and brand AR?

 

Thanks! That is a Daniel Defense DDM4v3 chambered in 6.8spc. Incredibly accurate (sub MOA) and reliable. My favorite hunting caliber for the ar platform.

 

X2 way cool

 

Hosing or not. The breather mod should be done from the looks of your picks. Search in the forums here for differential breather mod

 

Snorkels are ugly, lifts are pretty. If you have the means for sure get a nice lift their are no real draw backs to a good lift! Cool gun, cool truck! And tires are the reason you slide, basically your tires were giving up and sliding but the TRD systems kept you moving!

 

You got me paranoid so I went out side and washed the under carage again with the hose. I may do that mod and drain and refill the dig this weekend.

 

Nice hog. Glad you didn't get stuck. These trucks are amazing. I have a 2we, and have gone through some pretty muddy spots with street tires.

 

You have excellent taste in firearms and trucks! The 6.8 is a very good choice for hogs or white tails.

Congratulations.

 

Bad ass pics bud!

Best change yer diff fluid asap

 

breather mod link: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diff-breather-mod-for-dummies-pics.15686/

Basically, there's a vent on top of the rear differential. If you drive through water deeper than the hubs, that vent goes underwater.

You "probably" didn't suck water into the differential. But changing the oil at this point is cheap insurance, since if you did, the gears and bearings will fail early, and that's an expensive repair that the warranty won't cover if they find water in the differential.

This writeup above relocates the vent into the gas filler which is cool. I personally just zip tied it up the bedside next to/above the bedside pockets.

 

[QUOTE="Stinger Flinger, post: 10355613, member: 155781 [/QUOTE]

Sick picture!

 

a-trac gives you LSD action via brake control computer
---front and back --- whereas without a-trac you only have LSD rear or locker reaer

when in 4lo. so, that is the
mode to be in, a-trac, when headed into slippy clay and mud like you posted

 

I knew that was Daniel Defense at first sight! Nice gun and very cool.