Question about my first 4x4

Ok, so I appologize in advance if this is a noob question, but I'm a total noob to 4x4. I have always wanted it and regretted not having it in some sticky situations, so with my new Taco purchase I made sure I only looked at those with 4x4.

On further examination, I don't have a "RR Diff Lock" button on my TRD Sport. Does this mean I don't have the option to lock the rear diff? or is that just a 2wd only button that I'm missing?

On page 200-201 of the manual it says I have two options if I become stuck in snow: Press the VSC button quickly and release to turn off TRAC. If that doesn't work, press and hold for more than 3 seconds to turn off Trac, VSC, and Trailer sway control.

Does that mean that in these modes it is engaging some type of diff-lock to apply power to all 4 wheels regardless of slip?

Please explain if you can!

Thanks!

 

Rear diff lock is on the off road package the sport has an auto slip diff and atrac is off road package as well

 

Ok, I figured that out and it makes sense that the off-road version would have the more intense off-road features.

So is the auto slip diff not effected by either the first or second push of the vsc button?

Sorry, I'm asking for a lot of info because I want to know if this is a super basic 4x4 system or if it's respectable. I'm not planning on getting a big lift kit and giant tires to go rock crawling, but I'd like to know what my vehicle is capable of doing if I were so inclined.

 

With the sport the diff is stronger than the off road version. Look into putting your own like Detroit or arb.

 

Not all these modes will pertain to your truck, but a good read. Used to be a sticky I think. There was a ton before here in 2nd gen...
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/te...uto-lsd-explained-easy-understand-i-hope.html

 

The vsc if off will just putt your rear diff into auto LSD

 

I'll lay it out like I wish someone did when I was getting my truck. I got my without 4x4 and I wish so much that I had gotten 4x4.

I assume you have a TRD Sport by whats said above.

This means that you have 2 traction aids essentially. 4 wheel drive and a LSD in your rear differential.

I assume you know what a differential is but I will explain it anyway. When you drive in a circle, your inside wheel goes less distance than your outside wheel. These means that if they are given an equal amount of power, they will skid around because. To solve this, we have differentials. The differential gives power to the wheel with the least resistance. That causes a problem when off road and in other low traction situations. If one of your wheels is spinning and the other has traction, the one with the least resistance (the spinning one) continues to get power and you won't move anywhere because you're wheel with traction isn't getting any of the power. To get past that, you can engage 4 wheel drive. This will send 50% of your power to the front diff and 50% to the rear diff. The respective differentials then chose which wheel gets the power. Generally this will get you out of sticky spots because if you have a wheel spinning in the back, both your front wheels will have traction and the differential will give power to one of them ( the one with the least resistance ). Now if you are in snow, that may not work because if one of your front wheels is spinning and one of your back wheels is spinning, the wheel with the least traction gets the power and therefore they keep slipping. (Even if one of your front wheels and one of your rear wheels has traction, they won't get power because they have more resistance than the slipping wheels). Your last resort would be to engage your LSD. To do this, press your traction control button to the left of the steering wheel once (quickly). You'll see a red "auto LSD" light come on on your dash and a yellow light will come on to. A LSD, sends power to the wheel with the most traction (It does this by engaging the breaks on the wheel that is slipping so that the slipping wheel has the most resistance and therefore the wheel with traction actually has less resistance than the wheel without traction.) Note: if you stop the your truck, put it in Park, and hold the traction control button down for about 6 seconds, you will see a yellow light come on on your dash and the red "auto LSD" light will go away. This means that your traction control is off. Good for sliding around in the mud, but bad if you are stuck. At any time, press the traction control button once to reset it back to normal.

You had asked if your truck had a respectable 4x4 system. It has a respectable 4x4 system, but I wouldn't go rock crawling with it. That said, you can upgrade to an ARB air locker, which is much better than the locking differential that the Off Road model's have. And you could upgrade to an ARB locker up front, something that the Off Road models do not have. With a 4x4 system with front and rear lockers, you would be sending 25% of your power to each wheel and then if any of them have traction, you are good to go.

A-TRAC – this is only available and 4x4 Off Road model Tacomas and there really is no way of getting an aftermarket version of this, though you really don't need it. It is an electronic system that sends power to whichever wheels have traction. I'm not sure how it works though because I don't think that Tacomas have torque vectoring differentials.

I could go into all wheel drive, but that is completely different.

To wrap it all up, you a completely respectable system because as long as 2 of your wheels have traction, you aren't stuck. Plus, you have a cool hood scoop, painted bumpers door handles and a painted grill as well as 17 inch Alloy wheels.

 

Thanks everyone, the links and info are much appreciated. There is a whole world unto the 4wd systems and it really helps to understand what they do and what situations they are appropriate for.

As for the rock crawling, it's unlikely I'll ever do it but It's nice to know there are upgrades like the ARB/detroit and it sounds fun. I doubt I have the sphincter-fortitude to take my daily driver out and possibly roll it doing something silly but maybe one day when the brand new truck syndrome wears off.

Special thanks to Jack, that made PERFECT sense to me and just what I needed to know. I have borrowed and driven other Toyota 4wd models in the past such as the Land Cruiser, 4Runner and Tundra and didn't understand the wheel binding thing on all of them in H4 (part time 4wd) vs the audi and subarus (AWD) that didn't have that problem until doing a lot of research.

 

Also, Don't go locking it in 4WD on dry pavement.

It's good to take it down a dirt road or somewhere with less traction to lock it in and lubricate the system.

Nate

 

Thats good advice, I put it into 4H for the first time during a big rain storm the day after I got the truck. There was still way too much traction. I'm planning to hit some fire roads in the next weekend or two.