Snow Traction

(Sorry for the long post)

So last weekend I headed up to Skyline Drive in Bountiful, UT ( 40°54'11.74"N, 111°50'56.26"W). Now we have had 200%+ of normal snowfall and the temperature was a warm 15 degrees. There's 2-3 feet of snow but it's been packed down by ATVs, 4x4s, and snowmobiles. I probably shouldn't have been up as far as I went. That was just too stupid. I saw a few Jeeps half way up but then it was just me and snowmobiles. At one point I was above the clouds and so everything from the road to the edge was white. I had to pay strict attention to stay in the middle of the road. Those from the Wasatch Front in Utah that have been on this road know that if you get off the road that first step is a long way down. It's scary in the summer, let alone the winter.

I had a few pants-soiling events on this stupid trip. When I first entered the road I switched it into 4WD-Hi. I have read David K's post a few times (http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/te...uto-lsd-explained-easy-understand-i-hope.html) (Thank's Dave). I don't know why I did but I had pressed the VSC OFF switch. I have a '97 4Runner that has a simple open front and rear axles. I thought my Tacoma wasn't much better if any than my 4Runner on the snow.

Is that because I had the VSC OFF pressed? Would I have been better just switching it into 4WD and letting the truck do what the truck does best? What situation would I want open differentials like I think I had with VSC OFF mode selected?

Near the top where my brain synapses finally all joined for a triple digit IQ, I thought it was time to turn around. I found a large lookout area that was wide enough to turn around. It turned out that when I barely went off the packed road I sunk down and got stuck. I wasn't going anywhere front or backward. I calmly got out of the truck and surveyed my predicament. I then decided to put it in 4WD-Lo and use the A-Trac and locker. Wow. I had 2 snowmobile-rs stop to help push me out. They just watched as I popped right back out onto the packed road. Even my stupid friend (see below) was totally amazed. Going down this guy in a jeep pulled over to let me past. I once again got too close the the inside edge and slid down into a ditch. The locker and A-Trac barely got me out of that mess, but it did.

All said and done I made it back down. Now the stupid part: The reason I went up was to take my friend and his new 1927A-1 Lightweight Tommy Gun for a test fire. We got down to where we thought was a safe place to pull over and setup our shooting station. I fired a few rounds to sight in my new Eotech on my AR15 and noticed that my friend wasn't shooting at all. Guess who forgot his ammo? I put everything back into the truck and went to his home. He lives only 5 minutes from the trailhead. We then went back up and fired his new gun.

 

Cool...

Okay, lets review...

You should have gone into H4 as soon as you no longer saw blacktop, IMO.

However, maybe you wanted to see how the 2WD boys get along?

Okay... You press the VSC button once in 2WD and that puts you into AUTO LSD... which is kind of like posi-traction rear end. The best 2WD Tacomas (without a rear locker) can do for traction. If you wanted to turn off the traction control you need to stop the truck and then hold down the VSC button for a few seconds... then you will have open differentials like the older 4WDs have.

You got stuck, so you went right into L4 from 2WD?

Okay, that is how you get A-TRAC to work. It may have been interesting if you did not lock the rear end and used only the A-TRAC... which is close to lockers front and rear, but checks for slippage and allows for easy turning.

When you turn on the rear locker, the A-TRAC only works the front tires up to 3 mph... then on you are open differential in front...

Keep playing with your truck, and report back!

 

hahaha good story, the only thing worse than not having a gun is not having bullets for your gun!

i would have done the same thing (as far as you went) in the snow