A frozen waterfall collapsed into big chuncks of solid ice accross the road. Good thing was driving a 4th gen.



ATRAC in action



just to clarify: this is along an established trail/road for motorized vehicles (all laws and tread lightly ethics were followed).

Nice videos man! Looks like a pretty good trail you were on. Are those stock tires?

Ya a stock tire, Michelin Cross Terrains.

Great videos! They totally highlight how capable the ATRAC makes these 4Runners, even when they're wearing very tame tires.

Hear, hear great video! Now dumb question time. Can anyone give a quick tutorial on how the ATRAC was in play and so capable here? I've read many of the threads on the ATRAC subject, but unfortunately it doesn't feel like the light bulb has turned on yet.

Read the links here, look at the first two under the bold "Off-roading info". 4Runner FAQ - everything you always wanted to know about T4R (but were afraid to ask)

The short answer is ATRAC uses the ABS braking system to provide "limited-slip like" performance. When using a gentle, smooth power application the T4R does a great job of sending the power to the wheel with traction. Essentially it's truly 4wd. Old school, open diff 4wd's could get stuck if one side of the vehicle was on ice and the other side was on dry pavement. Limited-slip or locking Front and/or Rear differentials remedy this. ATRAC is a high tech iteration of limited-slip.

Nice Drivin Will 4R !!

Awesome videos! the truck doesn't even look like its working hard at all

Very cool, I just got back from a cabin of mine in North Arkansas. Coming out w/ a 4wheeler on a trailer and a full load in the back, my 05' didn't miss a beat. On the steep, wet, muddy hill, I went slow and steady and the atrac did it's thing. I would have been spinning my 32" mud tire on my old tacoma to get up the same hill! Love my Runner, great vids!

this may be a noob comment but why were you aiming left in the mud video? if you pointed straight you would have followed the exact same track but faster

when you are in deep mud rutted trails with a stock or non mud tire and you become stuck, you have to turn the wheel left and right to gain traction. if he kept the tires straight he would have dug himself in.

Thank you flyer...I think reading the threads was trying to take in too much info, and ending up on overload. You're synopsis boils it down to the basics.

ah okay! see i wouldnt have ever thought of that.

ATRAC: One tires spins one or two revolutions, the computer senses the slip, applies the brake to the slipping wheel, tricking the differential to send power to the wheel with traction, and forward I go. I need to get the RPMs to about 2000 for ATRAC to kick in. That is why at first I wasn't going anywhere. If you look closely I only have one wheel spinning on each axle. As soon as ATRAC starts working, it works well and keeps working till I am on solid ground.

In the first video, ATRAC was working most of the way as well. There certainly was uneven traction left to right, which would have made that crossing way harder with open diffs and no traction control. If you look closely it looks like hte rear tires with chains on them are doing almost all the work. Not much traction up front.

I know the 4th gen has worse angles and less clearance than previous generations, but the ATRAC more than makes up for it offroad. Although it looks less "offroad truck-like" than older 4Runners it's added strength and power combined with ATRAC makes it a real beast offroad.

why did you not just turn your wheels straight in that mud?