A-Trac vs MTS vs rear locker?

Oh yeah excellent point. Forgot about that. Especially the sand and mud. Good call.

 

No, the ORP comes with an open rear (and front) differential. What the ORP features is a locking rear
differential. What really bothers me about the 5th gen 4R's and why I have put off buying one till now
is the fact that Toyota deleted the MultiMode transfer case. The MMTC has a center differential that can
be locked. It was introduced on the '99 Limited, continued on the '00 and became standard on all 4x4
4runners until 2009. Starting with the 5th gen in 2010, Toyota deleted the center differential on all 4x4
except the Limited which came with full time 4X4.
I would gladly pay extra to have the option of a MMTC and have been actively searching for a way to
put one in my '24. I still have my 00 Limited and prefer driving it in snowy conditions where I can use
the all wheel drive instead of having to constantly switch in and out 4WD on my '24 as road conditions
change.

 

I meant to say rear locker.

 

I totally agree. I had the opportunity to use ATRAC for the first time on a week long trip in the Utah back country and I wasn't very impressed. Particularly since many have professed that you don't need a locker when you have ATRAC. I was crossing deep ruts that crossed the trail at an angle (on a slight incline). The right front and left rear were both fully extended and barely touching. I intentionally drove into the ruts without any traction devices and off course I came to a stop. I backed off about three feet, engaged ATRAC and eased forward only to come to a stop again. I let the ATRAC try to work it out for about ten seconds before I couldn't stand the noises any more. Once again I backed off, turned ATRAC off and engaged the rear locker. With the rear locker engaged I rolled through the ruts effortlessly and noise free. A perfect demonstration that no computer controlled traction technology is better than a full locker.

 

If one is constantly in the types of situations that merits use of both front and rear lockers, then I agree that there is no substitute for an actual locker up front. But for 98.5% of people out there off-roading, having a locked rear diff and locked transfer case will get them out of the situation they’re in and especially if they activate the synthetic front locker (via ATRAC). Other than the weird noises and the lag that it takes for the computer and wheel slip sensors to “lock” the slipping wheel via brakes, it works pretty well. It just would not be recommended for constant use vs a front locker since it wears a lot on the brakes and rotors vs just having both left and right physically locked together.

 

Guys, can you use ATRAC and the locker at the same time? I guess you can right? Or does it matter....

 

Yes, you can and that essentially creates a front locker via brake actuation which is why it doesn’t really need a front locker.

 

I have done dozens of trails so far in mutiple states and in multiple conditions, and never got stuck. I follow these 3 steps.

1. I air down to 15 psi
2. I switch to 4Lo
3. I turn on A-Trac

 

This is a dormant thread but I will kick up more dust since it was fun to read through the a-ha moments you were having in the posts. Now ponder this, with all the talk about drive-train bind and consequences of fixing wheels together using diff locks and or ATRAC, think about how in many low speed off-roading situations, these systems are being activated when there is next to no wheel slip/spin or precisely to prevent that.... like when you are off-roading in Moab for instance on gritty slickrock or similar surfaces. Hahahaha.