A question for those multi-4WD owners who include a Trac Control (4th gen Runner) in their stables. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being open diffs, 10 being lockers) how would you rate your Trac Control-equiped vehicle's offroading performance based on your actual experiences? Any specific comments on how did it compared to your other rigs, or any other open/LSD/locked rigs you were trailriding with? I know one of you even has a video on your web site showing how you eased through a crossup, where a LSD-equiped Liberty did it less gracefully (albeit the Lib is much smaller).

 

I have wheeled with a couple of other rigs, which includes rear locker, front and rear locker, lsd and ATRAC. My favorite rig I have wheeled myself is a FJ40 with front and rear ARB lockers and 35" MT tires on the Rubicon. That was a pretty mean rig.
SO my perspective is:

So if front and rear locked is a 10.
Rear locked is a 6-7 (pendng on rig)
ATRAC is probably a 5-8 (pending on surface rock 5 mud closer to 8)
LSD is pretty useless 1-2, from the examples I have seen, for wheeling

However remember clearance, articulation and tires are also big facters to consider. You can be locked as much as you want, but with crappy tires you will still just slip.

The 4th Gen ATRAC works pretty well, but you still need a bit of wheelspin to get it to work properly. The good thing is that it swtches off once you go over 3000RPM I think, which saves your drivetrain a bit.

 

So . . . would a locked (front and rear) rig with good tires work in the snow as good as an electronically/computer controlled system?

 

I haven't wheeled in snow, so ask the snow guys. But I have driven on roads with ice and snow, there I would definitely prefer the VSC and TRAC by a mile. That is just my experience, I'm sure guys with much more snow and ice experience will chime in.

 

I really liked my front TrueTrac (LSD) in the snow. I now have ARBs and they are fine in deep snow, being able to turn them on and off is good. But I rarely use them on compact snow and ice on pavement, preferring the control with them off. The torque sensing limited slip is the best thing I've driven in the snow, I have one in my FWD VW. The nice thing with the tor-sen LSDs is that you don't have to spin a wheel before before they do anything. They sense the traction on each tire and adjust torque to each side as needed. As long as you are easy enough on the gas pedal to not overpower the tires, it gives very good control, both straight ahead and in turns.

 

If you are talking about deep snow, being double locked blows the traction control system out of the water. That would still usually be the case with just the rear locked.

 

Being locked sucks in the snow, the TRACtion control is the way to go, my mom has a 2000 runner and the TRAC control is wicked, except you can't do nuts in it, lol i'd throw the locker on which disables the TRAC control and then spin some nuts, also my experience with lockers on a rainy highway can be pretty scary, the back end always wants to push the car and it always goes too the side out of control
cody

 

Darren may very well be the authority on this. He has A-trac and two lockers.

I have seen Jims front True-Trac spank when climbing, but get owned when the wheel lifts.

I have seen captain computer spin and bounce with only A-trac and now he has a rear locker.

I have two ARB's and would not have it any other way. I like them in the snow because I can open or lock at will. On the way to Bill Moore Lake, there was a snowy off camber section. I could use open diffs and cruise rather than having the locker buck me off going open and locked.

I would rather have A-trac than open diffs, Front LSD's over open diffs or A-trac and ARB's over everything.

 

I was sure glad I could turn off my lockers the one time I've been in the snow since getting them.

There have been a quite a few snow threads lately on the various forums I visit and some people say air up, some say air down...some say skinny tires, others say wide tires...etc etc. But I think what some people are missing is that there are different kinds of snow which require different strategies.

For instance, are you talking about snow on the street or on the trail? Is the snow 10 feet high, or 10 inches high? Is it icy or powdery?

(This all from a guy who grew up in southern california)

 

I am talking about snow on the trail.

If someone needs to talk strategy about when to use lockers for snow on the road, that is pretty rough.

 

I'm pretty much talking deepish (6-12 inches) snow on rural gravel roads with 6-10% grades. Sounds like going slow with locked diffs is at least as good as vsc and traction control, but that on faster highway driving the computers win (makes sense). Around here the logic is skinny tires for our snow.