ATRAC vs Rear Locker?

Begs for details... Was it snow? Because my snow experience is very limited here in San Diego County. When I did test it in snow, I added the locker with A-TRAC so there wasn't the hesitation issue.

 

It’s all from wheeling pretty hard. Getting turtled on obstacles, 33s not big enough to climb ledges but can’t backdown, longer wheel base on short obstacles, unexpecting depth of mud.

Framed out in mud. It had grass on the top and I just sunk as soon as I hit it. KO2 aren’t great in the mud either.


I was resting on my sliders. Front tires weren’t biting. Since I don’t have a high clearance rear bumper my bumper was resting on the ground not allowing me to backup without destroying it and it was taking a lot of weight off my rear axle.



This one was two three ft ledges and about a 3 1/2 ft ledge that’s pretty straight up. It had rocks stacked but I kicked them out and ended up on my front bumper. It wouldnt climb and back tires were over the second ledge. I got the truck backup enough to re stack rocks high enough to be able to winch to start the climb on the front end. (Stock skid is destroyed and long gone)


I’ve been in tons of snow, mud, sand, mountains, woods, swamp, desert, slick rock and for the most part rear locker and MTS has gotten me out of whatever I was doing.

Front locker, 35s and high clearance rear are coming soon though.

I ran websters pass in the deep snow and the truck did great

 

Ugh, so sorry!
I hate mud... avoid it at all cost... but, in my Tacoma was never stuck in it. A-TRAC + Rear Locker seems to plow through it fine. Being hung up on rock ledges is a real physical limiter, for sure. The long rear overhang of a Tacoma is the real toe of the truck!

 

I’m gonna be pedantic, but this isn’t exactly true. I know what you mean and it’s often described this way. But the power isn’t split 50/50. Image you have the locker on and are in a situation where one wheel is lifted in the air and the other is still on the ground. Common offroad situation. If the engine output 200 ft-lbs of torque it isn’t split 100 ft-lbs to the wheel in the air and 100 ft-lbs to the wheel on the ground. That would actually suck since you’d have on 50% of the torque going to the wheel on the ground to help you get moving. The only 50% what just be wasted (to what?).

In reality the torque applied is application based. The wheels use the torque that they can handle without slipping. So if one wheel is in the air, it is not applying any torque. The wheel on the ground will apply significantly more torque. The sum of the torque will be the same as the engine output.

The extreme situation is going up a vertical wall with only one wheel on the ground. Let’s say your engine max torque of 200 ft-lbs isn’t enough to lift the truck up the hill (purely stalled). Then all 200 ft-lbs (100%) will go to the wheel on the ground and 0 to the wheel in the air.

The 50/50 split only happens if both tires have equal amounts of traction.

 

No worries that’s the name of the game. I also hate mud and avoid it with a passion. It’s such a pain to clean.

The high clearance rear will help but I know I’ll always be hitting it on ledges and what not.