A-Trac is for real

I was trying to climb a hill today. Muddy on the bottom and more sandy steeper the high you go up. I was rear locked and in 4lo. Got about half way up and started spinning rears and front. I thought I would have to back down and give up but then I thought lemme try this A-Trac thingie. Pushed the magic button and gave it a decent amount of throttle. Wow impereesed as hell it was like having front lockers. Climbed right up no problem. So I left it on and did a few more even more aggressive hill climbs crawled up like a mountain goat. I'm sold on Toyota's A-Trac tech for sure. Trd off road 3" lift 33" m/t. Thanks Toyota.

 

Got any pictures of the custom mud-stripes that you gave your truck?

 

Rear locker and A Trac is a good system. Unless your crawling boulders, it's good for most obstacles.

 

Here's some mud.

 

It is impressive unlocked as well

 

I don't think I would rock crawl in pretty much anything factory produced even with mods. I'd do a purposely built buggy or a full on custom fab type rig. It's so extreme that I always wonder when I see folks rock crawling in brand new 100k Rubicon and the like.

 

I took my SR5 here. There was a bit of rock crawling involved. A-Trac is a wonderful thing. I do
not have a locker.

 

I’ve climbed several steep sections with loose rock and dirt in 4hi and never had a slippage problem. I can’t imagine what type of extreme trail it would take to need locker and ATRAC?

 

Mud and sand with no rocks for little if any grip. Off camber wash outs too. Not punishing terrain just soft and not too grippy.

 

I've only used ATRAC during a course, where the instructor intentionally got us hung up diagonal to exercise traction control.

 

Ever seen videos of them good ole boys on 37"+ super swampers hitting rev limiter going like 1 mph. Like that but up hill. Lol.

 

The terrain just needs to be rutted enough for the suspension to be flexed out.

 

That’s probably why I haven’t experienced it. As far as I can tell, my tires stay planted, escape maybe a tire spin here or there.

 

I wish I could do some different terrain.. Closest place is probably north GA in the mountains. I am thinking about heading maybe to TN to try a little bit of off roading in hills and such. A-Trac really impressed me though, well hell my trd impresses me with how capable it is.

 

This.

I’ve been staring up at the sky, basically having to have a spotter tell me whether I was pointing in the right direction, and have had it kick in.

Isn’t instantaneous, in fact spotter was about about to tell me to back down, but then it goes and up I go - and I’m over before the look of surprise is off their face.

Just remember that with the rear locked, you lose the ability of A-TRAC to work the rear. This means that you have more uphill pushing power, but that power isn’t smart/flexible - I wouldn’t use the locker I a situation where stepping the rear out could be a problem.

 

Around 12min mark I am coming up Dickey Bell Trail @ Uhwarrie. Video shows Atrac working along with rear locker. My buddy right in front of me is in a V8 Titan swapped Frontier with front & rear lockers on 35's.

https://youtu.be/r6N4OLG31hI?si=pkZa9DGcHM2nRrqI

 

Nice footage.

Great example of why going with a full bumper or viper cut is really useful with that one big rock early on.

Seems like a fun climb, and a good example of when a locker is going to make sense.

Around the 16 min mark, it looks like you got just that tiny bit of rear step out in case anyone wants to see what that looks like. It’s a blink and you miss it sort of thing in dry terrain with the right tires, and it clearly doesn’t cause even the slightest of issues here.

On really slippery stuff like mud, it can be a different story, or if someone doesn’t have enough clearance between them and an obstacle.

 

@Stoney Ranger made me a fan of A-TRAC. I was all about the locker until mine stopped working. I have barely missed having the locker at all since I started using A-TRAC more.

 

A-TRAC is as needed, where the rear locker is for longer runs.

 

Wasn't aware A-Trac worked on the rear if not locked. I thought it was front only. Good to know, that info will prove useful to me in the future.

 

A-TRAC can modulate left and right on the rear, but only up to a certain power level and speed.

Locking diff is…locked. Also, at 10mph, it’ll still do its thing, for better or worse.

MTS and Crawl Control both can be thought of the A-TRAC concept applied in different ways.

MTS is like different levels of A-TRAC with different levels of throttle response. Set it for the terrain, and go.

Crawl control is like slow speed cruise control with A-TRAC baked in. Set it and steer…and brake when you want to stop.

A-TRAC is great for a turn it on when you have an issue type situation, you can’t decide what MTS setting to use, the terrain type you need to deal with changes rapidly over a very short stretch, you are worried about your rear diff locker being too aggressive, etc.

It’s going to do a really good job, except for those times when something else would do a better job.

Much like everything else in life.

 

A-Trac is the locker from what I was told

 

A-Trac is the 50-75% locker substitute. Good enough for many situations, but not a full replacement for when you need / want a locker.

A lot less likely to break shit, though.

 

A-Trac worked on this pretty easily.

 

That's what I have been told. I guess Trac controls rear wheel spin making it act like a limited slip. I guess it's external limited slip

 

ATRAC uses the ABS to grab whichever wheels are spinning, allowing power to go the opposite wheel (front and/or rear). It will get you out of being hung up diagonal (opposite corners in the air) without lockers.

 

nice, Atrac and a steady 1000-1500 rpm will get you out of a lot of things.

 

I'm grateful... can't get mine to lock. Needs wrenched on. Will get to it eventually.

 

Ain't for wimps and pussies- You've been to Moab enough times, you should start a guide service! Good on ya' Dave!!

 

Glad to hear the reports of ATRAC success. I have not yet been in a off camber situation that required it’s use, but knowing I have the option is reassuring.