Cybercannon
New member
Couple more questions. I appreciate your knowledge on the 4runners.
1. On another forum there was extensive debate over whether or not Atrac remained active when the Center diff on a 4runner is locked. They agreed VSC turned off, but argued over Atrac. Do you know for certain one way or the other?
2. On competitor vehicles when switching to 4lo it they always seem to lock the center diff automatically. On 4runners can you operate 4lo without locking the center diff? If so it seems that toyota gives the driver more control over the system.
As for Jeeps I finally figured out some of their setups. These auto manufacturers sure don't make learning about their systems easy. You think they would advertise it and make the information more readily available as a selling point to people who bother to research before buying. 4wd is great, but more moving parts means if something goes wrong replacing something like an ELSD on a Jeep has to be more expensive than replacing brake pads or rotors. Anyway:
2004 style Jeep Grand Cherokee:
1. Selec trac - 2wd mode. 4hi which seems to be really AWD as it's fully in RWD unless the back slips. 4lo, which also locks the center diff. I could not find anything about any L/R power shifting and believe there is none. Both R tires spin = stuck.
2. Quadra Drive I - 4hi (again the rear awd setup), 4lo that locks the center diff, and vari-lock diffs for L/R transfer. Is the vari-lock the viscous coupling method?
2005 style:
1. Quadra Trac II - 4hi which behaves more as a 52/48 power split back/front and can shift power with slippage. 4lo which locks the center diff. Brake traction control system (BTCS) for L/R power transfer. They must have liked toyota's Atrac system and made a variation of it. Nissan also with the ABLS several years after toyota.
2. Quadra Drive II - 4hi (same 52/48 split). 4lo which locks the center diff. Instead of BTCS they use Electronic Limited Slip Diffs for L/R transfer using clutch packs, which I hear can be expensive to replace and you won't know if their worn out and broken until you need it and it doesn't work.
So it sounds like the 2004 Quadra Drive with the viscous coupling is not doing it's job very well. Does anyone have experiences with the '05-'08s with either the BTCS or the ELSDs? I wonder if they're any better.
1. On another forum there was extensive debate over whether or not Atrac remained active when the Center diff on a 4runner is locked. They agreed VSC turned off, but argued over Atrac. Do you know for certain one way or the other?
2. On competitor vehicles when switching to 4lo it they always seem to lock the center diff automatically. On 4runners can you operate 4lo without locking the center diff? If so it seems that toyota gives the driver more control over the system.
As for Jeeps I finally figured out some of their setups. These auto manufacturers sure don't make learning about their systems easy. You think they would advertise it and make the information more readily available as a selling point to people who bother to research before buying. 4wd is great, but more moving parts means if something goes wrong replacing something like an ELSD on a Jeep has to be more expensive than replacing brake pads or rotors. Anyway:
2004 style Jeep Grand Cherokee:
1. Selec trac - 2wd mode. 4hi which seems to be really AWD as it's fully in RWD unless the back slips. 4lo, which also locks the center diff. I could not find anything about any L/R power shifting and believe there is none. Both R tires spin = stuck.
2. Quadra Drive I - 4hi (again the rear awd setup), 4lo that locks the center diff, and vari-lock diffs for L/R transfer. Is the vari-lock the viscous coupling method?
2005 style:
1. Quadra Trac II - 4hi which behaves more as a 52/48 power split back/front and can shift power with slippage. 4lo which locks the center diff. Brake traction control system (BTCS) for L/R power transfer. They must have liked toyota's Atrac system and made a variation of it. Nissan also with the ABLS several years after toyota.
2. Quadra Drive II - 4hi (same 52/48 split). 4lo which locks the center diff. Instead of BTCS they use Electronic Limited Slip Diffs for L/R transfer using clutch packs, which I hear can be expensive to replace and you won't know if their worn out and broken until you need it and it doesn't work.
So it sounds like the 2004 Quadra Drive with the viscous coupling is not doing it's job very well. Does anyone have experiences with the '05-'08s with either the BTCS or the ELSDs? I wonder if they're any better.
