A video to help show the difference between open differentials and air lockers. If you're looking to purchase lockers and wonder if the price is worth it, this video may help you decide.
I'm still trying to learn about all the ins and outs of vehicles and this was great to demo how effective a locking differential is in comparison to an open differential.
Great demo of differences of open vs locked. By far the best mod you can do to an off roader. My 4Runner is locked front and rear. Love the capability.
William Davidson What kind of front locker do you have? Any issues with the IFS? My buddy has an 04 Tacoma and he is gonna start making it more trail worthy now that he has 2 other cars and doesn't drive his truck much anymore.
I have a 2001 4Runner SR5. What I have done in such situations is lock the center differential in 4WD, usually in low and just crawl out of just about any situation.
Interesting. I have a 2019 Tacoma Sport with no lockers and have been on much harder trails than this. In about 4 years of offroading this has never happened to me. I'll try to find a similar spot soon , record and see if I have the same behavior, because I've never had this problem.
He had a 2000 and the driver was driving his son's 4Runner. He may not have had traction control or if he did, he may not have known how to activate it. This wasn't intended to be a Toyota vs. Nissan video. The Australians have put out enough of those. It was intended to be a locked versus unlocked.
Michael O'grady It's also known as left foot braking. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but you slowly and smoothly start applying the brakes as you keep the throttle between 1500-2000 rpm. It will slow down the wheel that is spinning in the air and start to send power to the other tire again. Do a search on youtube left foot braking offroad. It's only meant for getting over obstacles like the moguls, as always driving like that would damage your vehicle.
Actually left-foot braking is a term that applies to multiple disciplines. In slow offroading and rock crawling, it is what you say. But the term stems from racing, since it allows no lag between accelerating and braking (and viceversa), weight-shift control and torque or power control (even more important with turbo-lagging cars). In rally driving it is a very important technique, allowing you to control wheel spin but especially the weight transfer, affecting the turning and rotation of the car and combining its effect to that of steering angle. Therefore, videos about the topic might refer to totally different things. But yes, in 4-wheeling off road it can be a very handy technique for open-diffed cars. As a matter of fact, older tractors would have independent braking pedals to accomplish similar effects
Giacomo Chizzola I know the difference but when I looked up brake throttle technique off road, was left foot braking videos. That's why I called it that in my comment.
great video , but you don't take into consideration the size of the vehicles .The smaller and narrower has advantage in these paths. To be completely honest someone has to compare the same vehicle with and without locked differential in the same path
The 2001 Xterra and 2000 4Runner have an almost identical width, wheel base, horse power and torque. See for yourself. www.iseecars.com/car/2001-nissan-xterra-specs#styleId=11972 www.iseecars.com/car/2000-toyota-4runner-specs#styleId=5533
I’d rather have a 2wd w/ rear locker than 4wd open diff. I’ve seen just a rear locker alone proves more capable than 4wd open diff with the exception of snow and ice
I don't believe the 4Runner has any lockers. The Xterra is my 4x4. It had no lockers either. I paid ~$1,500 USD to have them added. They are ARB air lockers and well worth the money.
What the heck does center diff lock do? People try to explain the mechanic side of it but no one has ever told me how it affects performance. I have a button for center diff lock in my 3rd gen, 2002 stock 4runner.
Here's my understanding. Traditional part-time 4WD uses a transfer case. Both trucks in the video have these. They allow the front diff to be engaged and you to shift into low range. Power goes 50/50 to the front and back wheels and there is at least a doubling of the gear ratio. A center diff came into play when the started offering full-time 4WD and other options that use the anti-lock brake sensor to identify wheel slippage. If the ABS says the front right has lost traction the system can compensate and send power to the other three wheels. Off road most of us want this off and power to go 50/50 front and rear axles. Lockers take this to the next level and give you 25% of power on reach of the four wheels. When you lock your center diff, I believe you're turning off the more complicated anti-slip options and just doing a 50/50 split, like the traditional transfer case.
For example, if you're driving off-road (by this I mean you are using 4x4) on a mountain road with tight curves (hairpins....frequent here in the Alps) and you do NOT have a central diff or you do but keep it locked, you will have trouble managing the curve. No central diff or locked diff will impose the same rotational speed to all 4 wheels: this will make you plow straight and understeer especially if you are going uphill, all the while putting unduly stress on axles and joints. In such a situation you would want an (open) central differential. Furthermore (but I don't have experience DRIVING a lockable central differential, so I might be wrong) if you leave it open in rock-crawling and almost all of the weight of the vehicle is on the rear wheels (ex. very steep incline, steps..), having an equal distribution of power based on resisting torque may result in your front wheels spinning and rear wheels not having enough torque sent to them. In this case you would want to lock your center diff imposing the same angular velocity to wheels and conveying torque to the back.
I'm still trying to learn about all the ins and outs of vehicles and this was great to demo how effective a locking differential is in comparison to an open differential.
Great demo of differences of open vs locked. By far the best mod you can do to an off roader. My 4Runner is locked front and rear. Love the capability.
Ryno5150 I have a 99 4Runner limited and h@ve front and rear locks.
William Davidson What kind of front locker do you have? Any issues with the IFS? My buddy has an 04 Tacoma and he is gonna start making it more trail worthy now that he has 2 other cars and doesn't drive his truck much anymore.
I have a 2001 4Runner SR5. What I have done in such situations is lock the center differential in 4WD, usually in low and just crawl out of just about any situation.
How can you expect to traverse obstacles without any light bars.
Trucks behind him like *"Just GOOO ALREADY!!!"*
Interesting. I have a 2019 Tacoma Sport with no lockers and have been on much harder trails than this. In about 4 years of offroading this has never happened to me. I'll try to find a similar spot soon , record and see if I have the same behavior, because I've never had this problem.
He had a 2000 and the driver was driving his son's 4Runner. He may not have had traction control or if he did, he may not have known how to activate it. This wasn't intended to be a Toyota vs. Nissan video. The Australians have put out enough of those. It was intended to be a locked versus unlocked.
Good ol trail 11 at Rausch
Drivers behind him saying just pick the easy trail to your right
Good information, glad I got a rear locker on my 99t4r... just goes to show center diff sucks, lol!
Brake modulation technique may have helped.
Could have helped. Do you want to explain barke modulation to the new guys?
Michael O'grady It's also known as left foot braking. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but you slowly and smoothly start applying the brakes as you keep the throttle between 1500-2000 rpm. It will slow down the wheel that is spinning in the air and start to send power to the other tire again. Do a search on youtube left foot braking offroad. It's only meant for getting over obstacles like the moguls, as always driving like that would damage your vehicle.
Actually left-foot braking is a term that applies to multiple disciplines. In slow offroading and rock crawling, it is what you say. But the term stems from racing, since it allows no lag between accelerating and braking (and viceversa), weight-shift control and torque or power control (even more important with turbo-lagging cars). In rally driving it is a very important technique, allowing you to control wheel spin but especially the weight transfer, affecting the turning and rotation of the car and combining its effect to that of steering angle.
Therefore, videos about the topic might refer to totally different things. But yes, in 4-wheeling off road it can be a very handy technique for open-diffed cars. As a matter of fact, older tractors would have independent braking pedals to accomplish similar effects
Giacomo Chizzola I know the difference but when I looked up brake throttle technique off road, was left foot braking videos. That's why I called it that in my comment.
Oh yes, absolutely. Just felt like pointing it out since it started off with "new guys" audience. Have a nice day
My 2000 4runner has rear locker. 5 speed ....this would not have been a problem.
Same here. Just having the rear axle locked makes a huge difference.
Was the centre diff locked in the toyota?
great video , but you don't take into consideration the size of the vehicles .The smaller and narrower has advantage in these paths. To be completely honest someone has to compare the same vehicle with and without locked differential in the same path
The 2001 Xterra and 2000 4Runner have an almost identical width, wheel base, horse power and torque. See for yourself. www.iseecars.com/car/2001-nissan-xterra-specs#styleId=11972 www.iseecars.com/car/2000-toyota-4runner-specs#styleId=5533
Guys, anyone with experience with the ATRAC systems, will that be enough for getting unstuck?
Yes if you know how to use it
Yes it will.
Gotta work on the left foot braking
I’d rather have a 2wd w/ rear locker than 4wd open diff. I’ve seen just a rear locker alone proves more capable than 4wd open diff with the exception of snow and ice
Nope, 4wd drive open is superior to 2wd locked. Trust me I have both and just being locked in the rear wont get me as far on the trail
Cna you reccomend one? I have an 01runner 2wd. Mild off roading not rock climbing, it's not my DD, I live in southern CA so snow isn't an issue.
I could clear that on my mountain bike with 1 wheel drive.
Well that’s cause it’s a bike
I could walk up that without a bike
Why does the 4runner has rear diff lock only?
I don't believe the 4Runner has any lockers. The Xterra is my 4x4. It had no lockers either. I paid ~$1,500 USD to have them added. They are ARB air lockers and well worth the money.
Did the 2000 models not have ATRAC? He would have made it over with it.
Good question. He was driving his son's rig, but his son was standing next to the cameraman, so I think we would had said something.
ATRAC wasn't in 4runners until the 4th generation. So no.
Does this 4runner have the ff button
Sorry, I don't know. I was driving the Xterra and the 4Runner driver died last year.
Michael O'grady okay sorry to hear about the driver
Michael O'grady what happened?
4runner 4x4 diff-locked lockers
What the heck does center diff lock do? People try to explain the mechanic side of it but no one has ever told me how it affects performance. I have a button for center diff lock in my 3rd gen, 2002 stock 4runner.
Here's my understanding. Traditional part-time 4WD uses a transfer case. Both trucks in the video have these. They allow the front diff to be engaged and you to shift into low range. Power goes 50/50 to the front and back wheels and there is at least a doubling of the gear ratio. A center diff came into play when the started offering full-time 4WD and other options that use the anti-lock brake sensor to identify wheel slippage. If the ABS says the front right has lost traction the system can compensate and send power to the other three wheels. Off road most of us want this off and power to go 50/50 front and rear axles. Lockers take this to the next level and give you 25% of power on reach of the four wheels. When you lock your center diff, I believe you're turning off the more complicated anti-slip options and just doing a 50/50 split, like the traditional transfer case.
Makes sense Michael. Thanks for your help.
For example, if you're driving off-road (by this I mean you are using 4x4) on a mountain road with tight curves (hairpins....frequent here in the Alps) and you do NOT have a central diff or you do but keep it locked, you will have trouble managing the curve. No central diff or locked diff will impose the same rotational speed to all 4 wheels: this will make you plow straight and understeer especially if you are going uphill, all the while putting unduly stress on axles and joints. In such a situation you would want an (open) central differential.
Furthermore (but I don't have experience DRIVING a lockable central differential, so I might be wrong) if you leave it open in rock-crawling and almost all of the weight of the vehicle is on the rear wheels (ex. very steep incline, steps..), having an equal distribution of power based on resisting torque may result in your front wheels spinning and rear wheels not having enough torque sent to them. In this case you would want to lock your center diff imposing the same angular velocity to wheels and conveying torque to the back.
A rear locker locks left and right wheel. Center lock locks front and rear shafts. Same idea just turn the image over in your head
1. Open diffs are for street driving, not off roading2. Not a fair comparison, nissans are just better
This is bs, lol. My 99 t4r with rear diff would eat that trail.....
here ya go ua-cam.com/video/un8caI1lLEc/v-deo.html
Locking the center diff on my 2005 4runner is unfair.
Please pronounce COMPARABLE CORRECTLY.