Is TRAC as good as a locker?

And your all wrong, I used to believe the same thing but it’s just not the case. An open diff cannot direct torque to one wheel only, all it can do it supply equal torque to both wheels all the time. http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php/42950-Open-Diff-Torque-Split

And if anyone can prove otherwise I’d be open to read about it.

 

The point of a diff is to spin the outside wheel faster so it doesn’t drag around turns. So no, it’s not equal torque all the time. It’s just the opposite.

 

Spinning faster doesn’t mean more torque is being applied. How exactly would an open diff send more power to one wheel? There is nothing in the diff either mechanically or electronic that can do that.

 

Well an open diff allows the wheels to spin at different speeds. Maybe torque wasn’t the right word. Any engineers here that care to explain?

 

I linked a site that explains everything. Also Wikipedia has the same on their site as well. It doesn’t make sense until you really start to think about and someone explains it. I always said there’s no way it’s equal, what if one wheel in the air or on snow, that one spins and the other sits. But what really happens is the wheel thats in the air needs almost no torque to move it, because it’s 50/50 there’s almost no torque on the wheel on the ground so you don’t move. When your truck then applies the brakes to the wheel in the air then it takes more torque to move it, which in turn applies more torque to the other wheel and you have traction.

 

A friend left his locker engadged driving on pavement in a CJ-5 with 40's on it. Took a couple of weeks to destroy the differencial and crack an axle shaft. There is alot of force on the diff and axle shafts doing things like trying to pull into or back out of a narrow parking space. So it can ruin more than your tires.

 

I never thought about it this way. I thought that by applying the brake to the wheel with the least traction (i.e. the one in the air), it was tricking the diff to send power to the stuck wheel (because now the one in the air is getting the sense that it has traction). That is just what I assumed, I never read up on it, I’ll check out the article.

 

I looked into doing the same thing for my 06 trail rig (I have a 14 trd or too) and it's possible but damn is it expensive and complex. You would have to completely retrofit your brake system, install a new brake controller, and its an absolute hassle. I have a couple buddies at my local Toyota dealership and we actually all did research and in the end it was about 4 times cheaper to buy an ARB locker.

So it's possible, but not practical.

 

My Lexus RX had the AWD option, the TRAC option and ECT. Id bring it camping. Light duty stuff, like climbing a flat, almost strait up surface or ESPECIALLY in sand it performed excellent! Looked like a cat placing its paus for traction. But , for wheeling, locker works better. Stuck in mud, the RX was about worthless. Trying to climb steep hills that were not smooth just didnt happen, even with ECT set to equal split power.

 

FYI, E-Lock is on Off-Road package. Off-Road package can not also have a LSD differencial.

 

Lol, since we are talking about open diff's too. here is a fun fact, he dissengadged the locker, (which was shredded) leaving the rear as an open diff. With the cracked axle shaft free spinning in the tube, and bits of the locker floating around in the diff it wouldnt move, just jolt and bang alot. He put it in 4WD and drug/limped it back home. So for sure, no, an open diff will not ever gain traction if an axle shaft is free to spin.

Also, when i was in my teens, a friend had an old Bronco. On a trail the u-joint on the front right axle shaft broke, so because the shaft was free spinning he had no 4WD. We lodged a piece of metal through the ends of the axle shaft where the u-joint was to bind it up, to force the left front wheel to engadge and start pulling.

 

What? No @David K yet? Heh heh

 

Lol, do i even want to know who or what 'David K' is?

 

He normally always comments on Trac and atrac threads.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/a-trac-trac-auto-lsd-explained-easy-to-understand-i-hope.70551/

 

Oh, ok. Lol!

 

You guys are having fun... and not doing too bad.
I will monitor...

 

Lol, I thought i had some experience with diff's after dealing with so many jeeps, broncos and this Tacoma.

But apparently (not mocking, I went read some of your posts) you are pretty much an expert.

I know this is off topic, don't mean to hi-jack, but why on earth do members here think that a mechanical LSD on a 2005-2008 TRD Sport will not fully engadge and pull you out if one wheel is in the air free spinning?

Unless I have a 1 in a million 2005-2008 mechanical LSD rear diff on my Tacoma TRD Sport in which only having one rear wheel on the ground is required for full traction...

Only thing I can think of is peeps put too much addative in diff oil?

I have never had a problem with the rear diff 'spooling' when 1 wheel is free spinning?

Thoughts?

 

I don't know people who think that. Limiting slip is a good thing no matter how it's done. Toyota dropped the LSD differential in favor of brake/ electronic LSD, so that is what we need to learn about.
You can select what level of limited slip you want or need with the system.
In 4WD HIGH
No control=VSC OFF
Light control=TRAC
Medium control=TRAC OFF
In 4WD LOW
No Control=Standard mode
TRD OFF ROAD:
Strong control=A-TRAC/MTS

 

I have a 2006 TRD Sport Package #2, I have pushed this truck to its limits. I have acually never been in a situation where my OEM LSD did not fully engage and 'spool' the wheels when one had more traction than the other even with one wheel off the ground. (Except one time I put couple extra onces of additive in diff and started to slip)

I never owned an ATRAC, just a Lexus that had TRAC with ECT, but I have seen ATRAC in action.

So, i do understand how in certain specific situations computer/brake controlled traction is a positive (from experience, like in snow and sand) but off-road I never found that to be the case.

All that aside, can you put to rest the false rumor that if a 2005-2008 TRD Sport Package #2 Tacoma with OEM mechanical LSD rear diff is stuck with one rear wheel up in the air, free spinning, that the diff will not 'spool' and the other rear wheel will engage fully and pull.

In the real world, I have been in the situation a hundred times and had ZERO issues with the diff 'spooling' but members still state that, that is not how TRD Sport LSD works, and its 'impossible'.

Properly maintained, that is 100% exactly how the 2005-2008 TRD Sport Package LSD rear diff opperates!

Once a rear wheel on my truck starts free spinning, the other axle engadges and 'spools' until I let off of the gas.

Thoughts....

 

I'll just leave this here

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gIGvhvOhLHU