New to Toyota
- Thread starter BlacknTan
- Start date
wfo9
New member
Just go negotiate and see how much more a trail is over an sr5. Most people don't need the rear e-locker. If you wheel all the time and go looking for challenging terrain, then the locker is useful and probably worth the extra $s. If you just use 4wd to get you where you are going, then the ATRAC should almost always get you there. The best way to explain it is that the 4wd system itself will almost never be the limiting factor of a 5th gen off-road (it will be things like ground clearance, approach and departure angles, wheel travel, tires...) Point being, you can quickly upgrade an sr5 to be more capable than a trail.
The mechanical lockers are definitely smoother and require less throttle and momentum in most situations. Think of ATRAC as alternating power between all the wheels as the wheel speed sensors detect, where mechanical lockers will apply 100% consistent power. It's nice to have the predictability of the mechanical lockers if you are the type of off-roader who wants to finesse everything or do substantial rock crawling. There are a few situations where the ATRAC is actually better than a locker. The first one that comes to mind is a really slick off camber hill climb (snow, mud, wet rocks). The locker will always crab the vehicle around as the wheels spin, but the ATRAC will tend to not do this. You obviously have the choice of not using the e-locker with the trail edition. However, I think there is a limitation of not being able to use ATRAC with the e-locker over 4mph. I'm assuming it shuts off the ATRAC at that point. It also only allows the e-locker in 4lo. I think there is a hack to get around these limitations, but they would obviously void the warranty.
The mechanical lockers are definitely smoother and require less throttle and momentum in most situations. Think of ATRAC as alternating power between all the wheels as the wheel speed sensors detect, where mechanical lockers will apply 100% consistent power. It's nice to have the predictability of the mechanical lockers if you are the type of off-roader who wants to finesse everything or do substantial rock crawling. There are a few situations where the ATRAC is actually better than a locker. The first one that comes to mind is a really slick off camber hill climb (snow, mud, wet rocks). The locker will always crab the vehicle around as the wheels spin, but the ATRAC will tend to not do this. You obviously have the choice of not using the e-locker with the trail edition. However, I think there is a limitation of not being able to use ATRAC with the e-locker over 4mph. I'm assuming it shuts off the ATRAC at that point. It also only allows the e-locker in 4lo. I think there is a hack to get around these limitations, but they would obviously void the warranty.
