There are FJ Cruiser forums popping up all over, but this one seems to be a pretty good one.

Here was a thread I spied earlier, and the author tested both the rear locker and the A Trak system, and he says the A Trak worked better in the snow.
http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...ead.php?t=2288

 

I don't doubt that the a trac worked better, a locker is not made for good snow travel.
A trac is cool and sounds great for commuting, but personally, I think it takes away from the wheeling experience because rather than picking a good line, locking your diffs or one of them, deciding how much throttle you need, perhaps pulsing the throttle, utilizing the twin stick as necessary to unlock the front, etc, you instead point at the obstacle you want to drive over, press the gas and let the truck do it for you, while I wouldn't quite call it cheating, it certainly is not as fun as being able to say, "I drove over that obstacle" instead you have to say, "I rode along while my truck drove over that obstacle". Just my .02.

 

He he, your reply conjured up an old urban legend I heard many years ago of the guy who was driving his motorhome and put it on cruise control so he could go to the back and grab some coffee and food, and yea, crashed and burned.

I could just picture someone putting it in A Trak and pointing it at an obstacle then crawling over the front seat to get to the rear to grab a sandwich or something

Anyways, it sparked that old legend that has gone around for years.

Oh it will still take lots of skill picking the correct line and all.
I plan on trying lots of stuff with it all turned off first.
I already know a few old hills up where I go I would like to try that I can not get the traction with the 4Runner due to an open rear diff.

 

I found A-TRAC useful while "climbing objects" being rocks/logs/walls etc But when it comes to go uphill (>30 degrees) it sucks big time. It did help when 2 left side wheels where in mud and the 2 right side on dirt it stopped me from diggin' deeper and deeper into the mud. I really had no choice here it was either that or getting stuck for sure (about a foot worth of mud with the duelers H/T). So yeah, climbing stuff go with A-TRAC, everything else lock your diff.
No Scietific explanation for this. Just my experiences on the 2 off-roading trips I've made.

 

What about deep, soft sand like the routes into some river beach fishing holes nearby? Seems like the locker would be the better choice, right?

 

I have the Trac system in my Runner and I really like it. It has done really well off roading and really suprised a lot of people when I said I had no locker.

I can see that there are times I wish I could turn it off "andy mod" but Toyota has fixed that with the new FJ's switch. It is truely the best of both worlds.

 

The A-TRAC system is not even available unless your in 4L or 4LL in my 6 speed FJ. (4 wheel drive, center diff locked, or 4 LO center diff locked)

Its not for ON road use... AT ALL. (the VHC vehicle stability control IS for on road safety and is de-activated when vehicle is switched into 4L or 4 LO lock)

 

Did you notice that he has the Yakima rack on his FJ? I almost missed it the first time I looked at the snowey pics.

 

Interesting, I didn't know that.

As for the "cruise control" thing, obviously you still have to pick a line, I just mean that it does too much for you, letting a tire spin, slowing it down, transfering power, etc. I have seen it in used in a new 4runner owned by an ne4roc member, this past winter, on obstacles in the snow where the rear was locked and I was steering back and forth and pulsing the gas to try to get some traction and get through, he just drove right up and over. Obviously it works as intended, I just think that it does too much of the work for you. At what point does it stop being as fun, how much of the wheeling can the vehicle control before the challenge is gone?

 

Yes I did, but I think it sits up a little to high, plus it is a rack on top of another rack.

I would rather just mount mine to a set of crossbars.
Hopefully Yakima after seeing my thread elsewhere in this sectioin will design the mounts for the FJC.

 

A-TRAC just sucks in soft grounds, a locker seems like it would be the right choice because if one of your tires is just spinning like there's no tomorrow, the other one given that you have decent traction on it it's just gonna get the same torque that the tire with no traction is getting.
Though more important than a locker good mud tires ground clearance and power should be your priorites.

That's what should be true "theoretically". Though in my experience with the FJ.

I've come to the conclusion that, A-TRAC = awesome for logs/rock/short steep hills, and some minor mudholes (less than 6ft^2). Though if you are going up a big ass hill with some loose dirt >50 ft. A-TRAC just sucks because all you need is the tires to get that loose gravel out of the way to get traction and A-TRAC keeps you from doing that.

I tried every single combination up this one hill (45 degrees some dips on it loose gravel) HL = little slippage but made it up. H = made it up medium slippage though I had to gain some speed. LL (No locker no A-TRAC) made it up the hill with no problem. Little slippage when I went through the dips. LL + elocker went up there with no slippage at all. LL + A-TRAC got me stuck and had to back down the hill.

I was going steady 2-3mph on all the LL Attempts. 5-8 mph on the HL Attemp and 10-15 mph on the H attempt.

I think it's just going to get a little trial and error to be able to predict successfuly which feature is the best one to use.

 

Good info, thanks k_os.