4WD system differences

Yep. Locker is overrated unless rock crawling with a wheel off the ground.

 

I'll take a wild guess that you are somewhere in the NE. We don't have a lot of public OHV areas in Minnesota that allow ORVSs (trucks/jeeps), but it is slowly increasing. 30 years ago we didn't much stuff for even ORMs and ATVs, but now there are lots of places. I think the reasons for this have also been driven politics. One non-political reason is that the state is mostly flat and flat can be boring without mud, snow, or man-made obstacles. There are also a lot of wetlands that are completely impassable with anything short of a Sherp.

 

or a bad neighbor's muddy lawn

 

guys out West are spoiled with all their BLM/public lands. too many dang people on the east coast

 

The locker is/was a huge advantage over just 4WD. A next level up in traction assist. When A-Trac was introduced to Tacomas in 2009 then that was the new, highest level of traction assist as it controls both the back and front. When climbing steep, uneven grades that requires the rear locker on my older Tacomas, the A-Trac Tacoma climbed easier without using the locker. Great to have both! Options are important and I have never needed to be pulled but I have pulled others! See the video of me pulling James...

 

Poor James

 

This would be nice, 4x4 lo helps me as long as it's a straight line when backing up on grades with heavy shit

 

I installed a Posi-Lock on my 96 Ram years ago and allowed me to engage low range without engaging the front wheels. It was a manual trans and that 2WD low was so handy for backing my boat into our narrow driveway. With an auto you don't really need it though.

 

This is my little one,


The only real weight is in the back so it definitely helps going backwards.
If I used it more then might consider doing something along those lines

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m1u1pba4Ps

 

Was he broken down?

I had a similar pull one time. A friend found out the hard way his 4wd system wasn't engaging. At the bottom of a steep loose river rock climb. I hooked on and pulled him out... dragged him is more like it. I had a 1991 Explorer with a 5.0L conversion, wide ratio custom transmission and a Torsen Limited Slip diff in back. He had a lifted Tracker.

 

No, he was stuck in a sand dune. He failed at climbing the grade, so he backed up for a bigger run, and was stuck in the dune he backed into. His Taco was a 2WD.

He showed up another time when one other TWer and I went to do a snow run near Pine Valley... Got stuck just a few dozen feet from the pavement. Was pulled out by some 4x4s heading out, so I didn't need to pull him again. LOL

 

That right there

Is that you pulling in that video? Nicely executed

 

Yes, my silver 2010 Off Road TRD 4-door. Awesome truck! My last new vehicle, I believe!

 

Honestly I think that may be all that it is.
2WD seems to be the only drive mode where VSC throttle intervention (for traction purposes) is active... If I had to guess, Toyota was trying to give a fancier name for turning off VSC than just simply calling it "VSC-OFF" mode. But in the process, failed to make it clear that the system also works similarly in 4WD, and is probably why all the confusion (don't know if on purpose, or if it was an oversight).

The TRAC system can get pretty aggressive I've found... It's gotten me up a few steep hills with deep moguls that I'm sure would've otherwise required a fully-locked vehicle to get up (traditional LSDs probably wouldn't have made it either).

Back when Ford made great stuff... And hardly anyone realized it at the time too (well, maybe excepting for the A4LD auto trans and the crackhead-inspired cooling setup lol... The manual ones were quite solid though).

 

I agree with you about the name Auto-LSD. I think it might have been better if Toyota had never used the name Auto-LSD and instead just said it was a TRAC ON VSC OFF mode. I think they were trying to emphasize that Auto-LSD is for getting unstuck whereas TRAC/VSC is more for keeping you safe and moving forward during normal driving. Or maybe someone from marketing just thought it sounded cooler.

VSC is most definitely active in 4hi (less sure about throttle intervention). I call it the "fun police". If I want to drift in 4hi, I have to turn everything off with the long push, otherwise it intervenes the second I break the rear end loose. On the flip side, I have appreciated it a couple times when I've gotten squirrely after hitting black ice in rush hour going 60 mph with other cars on all sides. It can do things that are not possible with the steering wheel, brake, and gas pedal. I leave it on when I'm at speed in traffic just trying to get from point a to point b.

I don't find TRAC useful much at all compared to Auto-LSD and A-TRAC for staying unstuck. I see it as more of a daily driving safety/nanny device. I'm also only using it in 2hi/4hi on the road because I have an off-road. If I didn't have A-TRAC/MTS, I could see some value. However, I did own a 2016 SR5 and I always did the long push in 4hi and 4lo to turn it all off.

I'm rambling. Nite nite.

 

There is no question about the names Toyota uses, and that alone is more than half of the confusion here!

Take for instance the name TRAC OFF; That mode is not TRAC turned off, but is TRAC with the engine regulation turned off. In other words, a stronger TRAC (just the opposite of TRAC turned off).

For us with the 2009-2011 Tacomas, even more weirdness since we did not get the TRAC OFF dash light or button push option. However, the wise techs at Toyota did make TRAC in H4 the same as TRAC OFF, in other words, no engine regulation (throttle cut).

I really do not know why they added the button push for TRAC OFF, in 2012? I never would want a weaker TRAC in H4. Maybe too many yahoos were spinning the tires in H4 so they made H4 normally with the throttle cut and require the button push for TRAC OFF... Same as needed in H2 to get AUTO LSD.

Too many names for the same function! AUTO LSD (H2) and TRAC OFF (H4) are limited slip systems without enginge regulation, in other words, brake action only on the tires that spin... balancing power with tires having traction.

I am still not clear, for certain, if the Third Gens have any of this in L4, other than A-TRAC or MTS (in Off Road TRDs)? The Second Gens have no traction systems in L4 (low range 4x4) unless they are Off Road TRDs with lockers and A-TRAC. Yes, I know of the wire mod to fool the truck into thinking it is in H4 while in L4, so it has TRAC/TRAC OFF.

 

I completely agree, too many names for essentially the same function that’s why I started this thread. All I care is that my truck is capable on and off road.