Thoughts on Crawl Control and self recovery

Theoretical situation: You're wheeling alone, as in just you and no passengers or other vehicles, and you get stuck. You could turn on Crawl Control and then get out of the truck to push it, put pressure or leverage on Maxtrax or reposition them, look to see which wheels need more traction, etc. all while the truck is applying power to the wheels in a very controlled manner. Sometimes all it takes is a little push or shoving a branch under a tire to get unstuck. Just a thought I had and one more trick in your toolbox if you're stuck alone. Just gotta make sure it doesn't run off without you.

 

Don't wheel alone. I thought I recall someone saying crawl control disengages when the door opens but I'm not 100%. Place rocks or branch under the tires when the truck is NOT moving. You really run the risk of hurting yourself and/or the vehicle otherwise.

 

I'll be honest I haven't tried it and it was just something I was thinking of after having a few beers (which means it's not necessarily a good idea at all) . It would make sense that Toyota would consider people ghost riding their whips and would put a safety on it.

As for wheeling alone I think it's perfectly fine as long as you are prepared. Sometimes you just gotta get out and go camping and exploring.

 

Off roading 101... never wheel alone.

 

ahhhh the days of wheeling alone. made that mistake once....once.

 

Off roading 101 never do stupid stuff when wheeling alone. There's nothing wrong with going out alone if you're prepared.

 

Ive gone alone before. As long as youre well prepared with a plan and gear you should be fine. Should.

 

Crawl control shuts off when you open the door. You'd have to climb out the window.

 

Can you start it with the door open?

 

That's a good question. I don't think so but I've give it a shot tomorrow if no one beats me to it first....(p.s. not recommending doing this as a recovery method...just curious)

 

Just ran outside and tried it. Crawl control doesn't work at all with the door open, but it wouldn't be too hard to put a clamp on the door frame to keep the plunger depressed that signals the door is open or closed.

 

Ahh ha! We're too smart for Toyota to stop us from being stupid! Nicely done.

 

Lol, the people that say this... Just can't get over how different they are than I. Couldn't imagine being so co-dependent, especially when it comes to something like wheeling, which I am usually doing to get away from people. Be prepared to self recover, be prepared to hike out, and you will be just fine.

Can't imagine not having experienced all the amazing trips I have had by myself. The one time I had to hike out I was actually with other people too.

 

Maybe we both have different definitions of wheeling. I have a jeep background and have tackled some of the most gnarly trails you could think of in my Cherokee (RIP). I would never have attempted those if I was alone. If you're definition of wheeling is dirt roads and a mud puddle, by all means... no problem going alone there.

 

youtube is full of videos of people ghost riding and ...someone ends up dead, or maimed
or at least the truck gets away and smashes into something

never, ever get out of the vehicle with the engine running and in gear. never.

 

Sound like lots of faves for the one who posts someone trying this on YouTube!

 

What if this happens?

Can I jump out before going over the cliff?

 

Nope! Captain must go down with the ship.

 

I've done it. I was stuck in snow, and was by my self I engaged traction control but needed some extra traction so I put some logs under the tiers and there goes my truck. it pulled himself out and started rolling so I had to catch him. however there is a safety feature to prevent ghosting, when you open the door it turns it self off so I jumped out the window.