A-TRAC/TRAC/AUTO LSD Explained (Easy to understand, I hope!)

Well, since it has been brought up, I vote for a Monkeyproof / David K wheel off. And there must be video taken, so all can see and if need be we all vote on the video taken, to see who the winner is.

 

To make it fair, the each pick a trail.

 

Problem is you make good points followed by something crazy. Your first post that started this last forum war was spot on. Let me quote it

I ma gonna disregard the rest because you went into gibberish mode.
This is spot on. People may not like it but its the truth. When people "build" up truck they go for tires first then put tons of armor. However, in fact its more beneficial to go for traction improvements first. It does not matter how trail looks like. if you have enough traction you can negotiate least damage route and thats a fact. That does not mean there will be no damage its only means if you play smart amount of armor on the truck is less important.
Now going back to ATRAC. For people who lease trucks and want to go to hunting cabin, fishing expensive offroad package is probably the way to go.
For people who buy trucks to own it, its probably more cost effective to start with SR5 and just add dual lockers which on the end give much better traction control then ATRAC.
For me ATRAC is pretty much waste of money, but that's me and my opinion. My wife on the other hand thinks this is awesome system because Toyota rep told her to press traction button when she gets stuck in her Toyota mini bus and she will get magically unstuck. yeah right.
Thank God for Toyota putting call button next to it because I am on speed dial in wifes tank.

 

I lease my trucks because they are used for my business and also to have a payment I can afford, and the benefit is that I can get a new truck every 5 years with little or no money. Why don't you lease yours? Seriously though this Tacoma (my third) is the best one of all three and I would like to buy it.

About how you and Monkey see A-TRAC... What is gibberish, is the repeated ways you try to put it down, as in your comment about it being probably okay to drive to the hunting cabin... Really?

A-TRAC is a LOW RANGE traction system. Does anyone drive any distance in low range? My Toyota and hopefully all of yours can go about anywhere in high range 4WD, specially now that it has limited slip TRAC front and back. Low Range is for extreme situations that require very slow crawling or maximum torque pulling through deep stuff. The A-TRAC just prevents you from loosing traction, if one front and/ or one back tire start to spin. Like a locker, the spin is stopped so both tires on the axle rotate the same with even torque/power (50/50). Front lockers are not offered by Toyota for our trucks, making A-TRAC an excellent improvement over only having open differentials. How anyone can think an open differential without traction control is better, is beyond me.

 

When im in rockcrawling mode lol...ill be in low range the whole distance of the trail..sometimes for hours on end ...in low range. When im in my actual rockcrawler ill be in quadriple low range since I have a duel transfercase setup with one of the cases having a 4.70 ratio. Once again, your argument is invalid :rollseyes:

 

Toyota does not offer dual transfer cases, and are you going to a hunting cabin in low range? Is a stock Tacoma used for 'rock climbing'? Your reply is invalid... so let's focus on the topic: How the traction controls that come from Toyota on the TRD Off Road 4WD work.

You have an awesome, rock crawaling truck, Monkey (and BlueT)... but it has nothing to do with helping people understand the stock Tacoma traction controls.

 

Lmao...I Havnt laughed this hard in a long time at someones reply

 

Hey I also own VSC/TRAC/ATRAC ridden Toyota and I think I am entitled to complain about it
My biggest beef with it is in Winter that thing is not only useless but will get your blood boiling in few minutes.
So going along with ATRAC theme here, tell me DAvid K what can be done to make Toyota traction control to work in winter ?

 

This thread...

 

Yeah....I know. It doesn't have to because it only applies enough brake to the wheel that's slipping. With b/t modulation you have to work both pedals because you're braking on all four wheels. I don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence, but I'm not sure how many civilians use the technique. On HMMWVs there are no lockers or A-TRAC, so we have to use it.

 

JFYI.. just about anybody that wheels and have experience knows how to use B/T modulation, especially if equipped with an auto trans regardless if equipped with lockers or not.

 

I should've subbed pages ago. This will never end.

 

While it doesn't snow a lot around here, I have gone up a few times on dirt roads covered with snow and I found that by using the rear locker and A-TRAC together, you basically keep the A-TRAC from working when it doesn't need to.

With the rear locker on, the A-TRAC device is only going to activate if your speed drops to under 3 mph (ie. you are becoming stuck)... then the front end goes into 'heightened alert' and you have full traction on the front until you are again at 3 mph or more, and your front goes back to 'open differential mode'. While Toyota only recommends the rear locker for emergencies, in deep snow it sure kept my truck moving fine and when there were a few times I lost traction in the front and started to slide, the A-TRAC grunted (made the typical noises) and got me back on coarse.

 

Try driving in deeper snow with a frozen base...locker on in that condition can be devastating and can lead you over the edge or into a tree.

 

I wouldnt drive my truck in the snow with the lockers on. Like Tom said, can be devastating. Take it from the experts (Tom and I) who actually drive in the snow . We know what we are talking about

 

Lol , snow experts from Cali

 

OZ-T, pretty simple, shouldnt have the lockers on when negotiating deep snow, especially in a mountainous condition. Easy to hit an obstacle or drive off the side of a road. Better to have the diffs open and have independantly turning wheels for that. What do I know im just an Engineer

 

I understand why you wouldn't want a locker on for most snow driving

But what would I know about driving in snow , I live in Canada

 

Lol..most snow driving on paved highway or on trails

 

Derp herp, herpy derp.