A-Trac is a must for our IFS

No, it really is a made up number. Upgrading from an SR5 to a TRD Off Road isn’t $10k like you said. Barely a third of that.

 

Oh yes! The car rental companies LOVE when their vehicles are taken off road LOL Just make sure you don't get stuck anywhere. Good luck!

TimG

 

I'll be sure to wash the dirt off of it

 

I rented a nice F150 one time. I drove a lot of gravel, sand/dirt, backcountry road road and trail. I thought I had washed it pretty spotless. When I returned it I popped the tailgate to look under the bad cap and it was covered with dust back there. The rental company never made anything of it.

 

I had KDSS and felt like it made ride a little more firm harsh. I had DrKDSS and it helped a little, can always just unplug the KDSS plug and see how it feels, its under the dash to right of steering wheel..

saw a post recently with someone saying his limited with better AT tires and bilstein 6100 helped a lot on washboards. Although Bistein are digressive shocks so id imagine they would be firm on washboards. Im wanting progressive Dobinsons IMS, i think this would make washboards a tad better.

 

I can't find a good shop that can do the Dr. KDSS thing. Don't want a rookie to mess up the system.

 

I mean, you don't have to buy one with all the extra options...only option mine had was the moonroof so $630 over base...

 

TRD Offroad is the biggest option itself.

 

I haven't seen a regular TRD Off Road for sale since I started looking in 2021.
There all TRD Off Road Premiums here...

 

In my area they all have sticker price over 50 grand. And 8 out of 10 have KDSS. The little things add up. So if you want just a rear locker, you need to spend more than 50 grand.

 

was the 4runner in 4wd or 2wd initially when it couldn’t make it?

 

Same here in Texas. Lowest amount I've seen a TRD ORP leave a dealership was at 55k.
White, none KDSS.

 

Passenger wheel is spinning, front axle is active, that's four wheel drive

 

Digressive means the valving is firm at low shaft speeds and soft at high shaft speeds.

Vehicle motion like body roll and dive/squat are at low shaft speeds.

Washboards (and on-road things like potholes and railroad crossings) are at high shaft speeds.

 

Dealer mark ups are wild.
Luckily when I bout mine they paid me wayy over KBB for my trade in. During the covid used car fiasco....
So the up in price hike was essentially a wash for me. Covered by the trade in. And at 3% interest

Reaaally wanted that locker lol

 

These two videos do a better comparison. Again, same trail, same spot

4Runner(A-Trac only)

https://youtu.be/nAcZjXjYHrs?si=gxYpOdD0zT7DcE_e

Jeep(Flex only)


https://youtu.be/AedbgiDPGJM?si=S2D3V4bgnhfNTTys

 

Indeed. Mine here also add on a mandatory $1,300 dealership package that is worthless wax job and door edge gaurds or something

 

Its hard to tell on camera, but might this also have been a situation where just picking a different line gave you more of a chance to keep all 4 wheels planted and pull yourself up without ATRAC/lockers?

But yeah, thats why we have atrac.... no reason not to use it

 

I don't even wait, I press the A-Trac button after I switch to low range.
You don't have many choices when it comes to that spot on the trail, one wheel has to go in the air.

 

Ok, that's crazy. Almost none that I've seen at dealers up here have KDSS and most dealers are at MSRP (and under $50k). Only thing my dealer won't sell is a 2wd, every time one is allocated to them, he trades it to a dealer in Maryland (I think).

 

Why not use the rear locker instead? When I come to a sketchy spot the rear locker goes on. Why wait for the computer to modulate the brakes to find traction when the rear locker effortlessly pushes you through it?

 

I like A-Trac more, it is instant and gets the job done.

 

That says a lot about A-Trac. You have front and rear locker and prefer electronic traction control.

 

It works, I am too lazy for lockers. Lockers when A-Trac fails me, which I highly doubt will ever happen with the kind of offroading I do.

 

I think in the new Tacoma and 4Runner A-Trac is not manual anymore, it is active all the time

 

Not instant in some situations. I rolled up to a hill with some deep ruts crossing at about a 30 degree angle. Of course I gave it a go without any assistance devices and immediately came to a stop because the right front and left rear had no traction. I rolled back, engaged Atrac and tried it again. Again it came to a stop but I waited for the computer to do it's thing but after about 10 seconds I gave up. Lots of noise and lurching but no progress. Backed up, turned Atrac off, turned locker on and it crawled through without any hesitation. This was my first real experience with Atrac and was not impressed. Looking forward to testing it out some more since my experience is very limited right now.

 

Small, probably pedantic clarification, digressive doesn't soften with high shaft speeds, it just has a much softer dampening increase relative to lower shaft speeds compared to progressive. Most digressive shocks will dampen at least as firmly as progressive on big hits, the difference is in low speed stuff like you said and is a trade-off of handling vs washboard.

 

Atrac impressed me the first time I used it, in a previous generation 4R. It works well, and I think it works better than the Jeep version of braking to transfer torque; however, the taller the tire, the less effective it is, and I think that's one of the reasons it works better than the Jeep version. Most people are putting larger tires on their Jeep than on their 4R. What my experience has shown me is it's much more effective and efficient to "engage" the tools before you need them. If you have Atrac or a locker engaged you likely won't get stuck. Getting stuck and then engaging Atrac or a locker means you've already lost traction and tore up the surface you're driving on, making it more difficult even with Atrac or the locker. Best not to dig the hole in the first place.

Again, you don't have traction at whatever corner the tire isn't contacting the ground. Having better articulation means you spin a tire less often.

 

Give it more time, you will master it and love it eventually. Momentum doesn't work with a A-Trac, just enough wheel spin to let things going. Flooring it doesn't help.

Just enough wheel spin

https://youtu.be/1q0FyR1FV9U?feature=shared