Crawl Control Retrofit to SR5 Success!

[gilpinbrewer]

Hey Everyone, it has been a long time since I last posted, but I have some updates. Originally I posted about the possibility of doing a Crawl Control Retrofit and was ridiculed and told it was impossible so I deleted the thread.

That was not going to stop me from trying and even though it took longer than I wanted, I just finished it up and it is working 100%. I am actually working with Toyota Trucks Magazine on an article about it so stay tuned.

It is not difficult, but requires a few components and some wiring. You will need a new Body Control Module, Crawl Control Switch, the Trail Overhead Console to mount the switch and new Combination meter. You will also need a few various connector repair harnesses to put into some of the connectors.

I know it makes me mad that Toyota does not offer the 3rd row in the Trail so this is backdoor way to make your own trail and then add aftermarket lockers. Depending on where you get your parts, you should be able to do the whole retrofit for under 2K. I was able to work with a great dealer that cut me a heck of a deal on parts and will have more information on this soon.

Steve

 

[BLACK-FL4RUNNER]

$2K to add crawl control?

I'll just hold out for lockers...

op2:

 

[Jhalko]

That sounds cool, and I would commend you on the perseverance.

Seems pricy when that cost doesn't include the rear locker and hood scoop as well which is of interest to me (the locker that is) and plenty of folks that simply want the hood scoop.

 

[Jetboy]

Sounds cool. Maybe $2k could be more like $200 when some rolled trails start showing up at the salvage yards?

Do a KDSS swap next!

 

[Engineer]

Thanks for sharing, for anyone who wants to do this in the future you should post the part #'s and any relevant details to the install. Basically a very simple DIY.

I think most will not find this worth the cash but as mentioned once junk yards start filling up in the future it would be fun cheap thing to do

 

[TheWraith]

Awesome $#!+ !!! Congrats
I kinda wonder about this too... but glad to see it can be done.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Interesting... I would have assumed that the Skid Control Module would not have played will with the other dealings. But perhaps the majority of the Crawl Control programming is in the BCM and it just takes information from the SCM and outputs commands to it.

Either way, I don't doubt you can do the mod. It's more a matter of how much money do you have to spend? As you pointed out, you're swapping out 3 Modules, various connectors, and multiple switches to have the system function correctly. That's a lot of money and parts for a crawl control feature.

I commend you on your perseverance and determination, glad you got it working on your vehicle! It's nice to know it's possible and if someone does want that system on a non-Crawl Control equipped model it's great to be able to do it; though this seems like one of those cost prohibitive mods.

 

[wfo9]

Cool that you did it, but I can't imagine spending money to get crawl control. I've wheeled with so many 5th gens and have still never come across a situation where someone used it with success. I know it has a few narrow use cases, but I feel it is razor thin.

FWIW, the new Tacoma is suppose to have a new and improved crawl control system.

 

[gilpinbrewer]

Interesting... I would have assumed that the Skid Control Module would not have played will with the other dealings. But perhaps the majority of the Crawl Control programming is in the BCM and it just takes information from the SCM and outputs commands to it.

Either way, I don't doubt you can do the mod. It's more a matter of how much money do you have to spend? As you pointed out, you're swapping out 3 Modules, various connectors, and multiple switches to have the system function correctly. That's a lot of money and parts for a crawl control feature.

I commend you on your perseverance and determination, glad you got it working on your vehicle! It's nice to know it's possible and if someone does want that system on a non-Crawl Control equipped model it's great to be able to do it; though this seems like one of those cost prohibitive mods.

The brains for the Crawl Control are in the Crawl Control Switch itself. It communicates with the Combo meter to display and enable it. The body control module lets the crawl control switch communicate on CAN bus. There are no connectors or switches to swap out, just using repair harness parts to populate some connectors. The 2 most expensive parts are the combo meter ~750 and the overhead console, ~700. The crawl control switch is about ~120, and BCM is ~300 and I spent less than $50 on repair harness parts. If you can find any of this used, the price can be drastically cut. Cost wasnt a factor for me in this so to each his own on this point. There will be a full writeup in Toyota Trucks magazine with part numbers and such. I will be sure to post it once it is published.

 

[61hawk]

I'd just save up and buy a Trail Edition.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

The brains for the Crawl Control are in the Crawl Control Switch itself. It communicates with the Combo meter to display and enable it. The body control module lets the crawl control switch communicate on CAN bus. There are no connectors or switches to swap out, just using repair harness parts to populate some connectors. The 2 most expensive parts are the combo meter ~750 and the overhead console, ~700. The crawl control switch is about ~120, and BCM is ~300 and I spent less than $50 on repair harness parts. If you can find any of this used, the price can be drastically cut. Cost wasnt a factor for me in this so to each his own on this point. There will be a full writeup in Toyota Trucks magazine with part numbers and such. I will be sure to post it once it is published.

Ah okay, I haven't looked at the Crawl Control wiring in a while. I knew the switch was it's own module, but couldn't remember if it used the BCM as a gateway or whatnot. Well that's good to know; means the SCM is utilized by CAN vs. needing hard coding for Crawl Functions.

 

[Storm Runner]

I'd just save up and buy a Trail Edition.

Trail doesn't have the 3rd row, which is the whole reason he did this.

 

[Quentin]

I'd just save up and buy a Trail Edition.

Cheaper this than buying a trail and retrofitting 3rd row seating.

 

[gm350reratliff]

That is pretty cool and you are probably the only person to ever successfully add crawl control. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mo_mo]

Hey Everyone, it has been a long time since I last posted, but I have some updates. Originally I posted about the possibility of doing a Crawl Control Retrofit and was ridiculed and told it was impossible so I deleted the thread.

That was not going to stop me from trying and even though it took longer than I wanted, I just finished it up and it is working 100%. I am actually working with Toyota Trucks Magazine on an article about it so stay tuned.

It is not difficult, but requires a few components and some wiring. You will need a new Body Control Module, Crawl Control Switch, the Trail Overhead Console to mount the switch and new Combination meter. You will also need a few various connector repair harnesses to put into some of the connectors. During this I also found that for those of you with the Trail version and wondering about a DAC switch, well you can add it in to your Trail version if you can find a spot for the switch. It is very simple to add it back in.

I know it makes me mad that Toyota does not offer the 3rd row in the Trail so this is backdoor way to make your own trail and then add aftermarket lockers. Depending on where you get your parts, you should be able to do the whole retrofit for under 2K. I was able to work with a great dealer that cut me a heck of a deal on parts and will have more information on this soon.

Steve

Really cool that you did this. I'm not sure what the purpose of the DAC would be above crawl control since crawl control works in forward/reverse but adds the ability for the vehicle to apply gas automatically. I thought I had read that the SR5 had a slightly different alternator than the trail although I can't seem to track that down at the moment. I wonder if there are any other differences that would need to be addressed such as brake booster / throttle management items to prevent over working any components not designed for it. Did you also add multi-terrain select? How does this interact with the instrument cluster / center display?

 

[Jetboy]

On the '15/16 model years the only thing that displays when you turn on crawl control is a small dash light. Presumably you could do a "budget" version of crawl control where you mount the switch on the left kick panel in one of the blanks, mount the 5 position dial somewhere, and just use a small LED "on" lamp somewhere to bypass the dash. Maybe then the cost could be reduced to $500ish?

I'd be hard pressed to choose crawl over swapping in a "lefty" transfer case with 4.7 gears, but I already have it and I do think it has some useful applications.

My real curiosity is whether it's possible to use the brains in something else. Like a highlander for example. A highlander with crawl control could be a pretty capable soccer mom mobile.

 

[gilpinbrewer]

Really cool that you did this. I'm not sure what the purpose of the DAC would be above crawl control since crawl control works in forward/reverse but adds the ability for the vehicle to apply gas automatically. I thought I had read that the SR5 had a slightly different alternator than the trail although I can't seem to track that down at the moment. I wonder if there are any other differences that would need to be addressed such as brake booster / throttle management items to prevent over working any components not designed for it. Did you also add multi-terrain select? How does this interact with the instrument cluster / center display?

Well, since the trail overhead console has the locker, I am removing that button and putting the DAC from the SR5 in that spot. It has the same connector on the back, you just have to move the pin at the main connector. Yes, Multi terrain select works as well, it is part of the crawl switch assembly. When you turn it on it displays the mode in the information display in the center of the combo meter. Funny thing I noticed in the manual, it shows the crawl control overhead assembly with the DAC button in place of the locker.

 

[gilpinbrewer]

On the '15/16 model years the only thing that displays when you turn on crawl control is a small dash light. Presumably you could do a "budget" version of crawl control where you mount the switch on the left kick panel in one of the blanks, mount the 5 position dial somewhere, and just use a small LED "on" lamp somewhere to bypass the dash. Maybe then the cost could be reduced to $500ish?

I'd be hard pressed to choose crawl over swapping in a "lefty" transfer case with 4.7 gears, but I already have it and I do think it has some useful applications.

My real curiosity is whether it's possible to use the brains in something else. Like a highlander for example. A highlander with crawl control could be a pretty capable soccer mom mobile.

You need to have a trail combo meter for this to work. The switch communicates with the meter via a Linc connection. This was the reason it took me so long, the setup did not work with my SR5 meter and it took me a while to find a dealer that would order me a trail meter. I doubt this could be transferred to another model like the highlander unless it used the same skid control ecu and combo meter.

 

[DCook0]

This is something I'm interested in.
A limited with crawl control would be very cool.

 

[gilpinbrewer]

This is something I'm interested in.
A limited with crawl control would be very cool.

I am not 100% sure this would work on a limited but it might be possible. There are a couple differences I noticed when doing this mod. First is that the skid control/brake booster part number is different on the limited. That doesn't mean the programming is different however. Take a look under your hood and find the skid control ecu on the brake booster and see what the numbers are on it. The SR5 and TE share the same one, see attached picture. The second thing is that the TE cluster that is needed does not have center difflock light in it. I am not sure if that will prevent it from working correctly or not. Also I am not familiar what other things you can do in the limited cluster that might not be available in the TE one. More than likely you will not need to switch out the body control ecu. The 2 pins needed are already activated and used for the seat memory function, so tapping into that will be simple. So I think it is really dependent on the skid control ecu.