Scary off road experience

[deedst4r]

So today I went off roading which I have never had a problem while doing. Well today I went through a bigger mud pit than I have ever tried driving through and something crazy/scary happened and I am wondering if it is normal.

So as I got into the pit (Im in 4WD) i accelerated of course to avoid getting stuck in the sticky GA red clay. Well I started to head the traction control beep as i was getting towards the end of the pit and then it cut all of the power I have to the gas pedal. I then spun around a complete 90 degrees with no power to accelerate out of it.

Is this normal for the 4WD systems? It really freaked me out and I do not plan on going anywhere near mud again until I install the traction control delete switch.

Any input if appreciated.

Thanks! -Joe

 

[Flyer]

While I stay the eff away from mud and plan to, I am interested to see what more experienced guys say.

 

[deedst4r]

I try to stay away from mud as well but I was at a place where it was my only option so I went for it. Oh well.

Bump for someone with knowledge.

 

[rebelbowtie]

traction control works by ABS and cutting engines, spark, timing and fuel trims. as for why you spun around? i couldnt tell you as i was not there

 

[Acidmeld]

If you lock the center diff it will disable the engine cut.

 

[settytb]

I'm just wondering like acidmeld said...was the center diff locked?

 

[jirehn]

That is really scary but I think it is really more fun.

 

[deedst4r]

If you lock the center diff it will disable the engine cut.

I guess that is what I needed to do. I did not have it locked. Will this stop any type of traction control/vcs limits? Or should I do the cancel switch mod to prevent it?

 

[MistrWebmastr]

It'll disable VSC which will allow you to keep your foot on the pedal. I believe then ATRAC will only stop wheels from freewheeling (funny story, I engage 4H-unlocked to rotate tires and forgot to hit the parking break. As I tried to pull off the back lugnuts yesterday the front tire started spinning backwards... about fell over laughing)

That said, I have relatively little off-road experience being I'm mostly going up and down a fire road to a family property and I don't go on it muddy because I don't want to make the ruts worse when it's dry. Every time I go on it though I engage 4L and lock the center diff. It's amazing that it drives better on the dirt than it does on pavement.

 

[JB.]

Is this normal for the 4WD systems? It really freaked me out and I do not plan on going anywhere near mud again until I install the traction control delete switch.

Seems like an odd question from someone with hundreds of posts and 48 threads. If you had spent a fraction of that time with the owners manual, you could be answering these kinds of questions instead of asking them nearly 1 year later in scary threads with less than useful titles.

 

[deedst4r]

Seems like an odd question from someone with hundreds of posts and 48 threads. If you had spent a fraction of that time with the owners manual, you could be answering these kinds of questions instead of asking them nearly 1 year later in scary threads with less than useful titles.

Sorry about that. I got the car used and it didn't have an owners manuel. I never read through it online or bought one which would of definitely given me more knowledge. I'm only 18 and have zero experience with any type of cars so it is just one big learning experience. Sorry to piss you off with my lack of knowledge! No harm intended, just wanted to learn from those smarter than me. :thanks: to everyone.
sorry about the rant. eace:

 

[d2huffman]

Without the center diff locked, you have 60% power to rear which means when you are plowing through mud your rearend will want to pass your frontend, especially with the resistance of the mud.
No reason to rag on you for not locking the center diff - I bet there are alot of people out there that have not figured out the significants of using the center lock in mud, snow or other offroad conditions.

 

[jediwebdude]

Used the diff lock for the first time this past weekend when doing mudding. Worked great.

 

[d2huffman]

I was using it this weekend in some snow about 12"-16" deep - went about 200 yds before finding a spot that had some bare area to turn around and park. I could really smell the brake pads as I had all 4 spinning most of the way and had to hit reverse a few times to bust through - definitly works great!

 

[JB.]

Sorry about that. I got the car used and it didn't have an owners manuel. I'm only 18 and have zero experience with any type of cars so it is just one big learning experience.

No worries. Keep enjoying the truck.

Just an observation, though. If you word a thread title in a way that gives a clue what it's about, it increases the chance someone else with the same question will find the answer.

 

[deedst4r]

No worries. Keep enjoying the truck.

Just an observation, though. If you word a thread title in a way that gives a clue what it's about, it increases the chance someone else with the same question will find the answer.

Sweet, I'll remember that for the future. Thanks to everyone though! I will definitely be locking the center diff from now on.

 

[bergs]

If, for some reason in the future you do not lock the diff and the computer cuts in and ruins the fun, lift off the gas pedal and get back on it. You will have a few moments of power before the system ruins the fun once again.

I found out about that little trick after getting "stuck" at the top of my driveway.

 

[kobresia]

Without the center diff locked, you have 60% power to rear which means when you are plowing through mud your rearend will want to pass your frontend, especially with the resistance of the mud.
No reason to rag on you for not locking the center diff - I bet there are alot of people out there that have not figured out the significants of using the center lock in mud, snow or other offroad conditions.

For me, it seems that all locking the center diff does is allows me to get in a lot more trouble than I would otherwise be able to get myself into.

For example, that's how I managed to get far enough up my steep driveway in a foot of snow, to then slide off one side and hang my truck up on a tree. I'd banked that part of the driveway poorly last time I graded it, so it was too easy to slip sideways when I lost traction. I managed to mash a rear quarter panel & break its taillight, and then scraped-off a mirror while dragging the truck back out. Without being able to lock that diff, I'd have had VSC fight me every step of the way, and I would've been stuck near the bottom & had to put on my snow tires *before* tackling it. Or I suppose I could've fired-up the skidsteer to clear the driveway, but where's the fun in that?

 

[T4RUSAF]

If you lock the center diff it will disable the engine cut.

^this...

If you had it locked you would've been flinging mud all up the sides of your truck because your wheels would not have stopped turning!

 

[aha2988]

So today I went off roading which I have never had a problem while doing. Well today I went through a bigger mud pit than I have ever tried driving through and something crazy/scary happened and I am wondering if it is normal.

So as I got into the pit (Im in 4WD) i accelerated of course to avoid getting stuck in the sticky GA red clay. Well I started to head the traction control beep as i was getting towards the end of the pit and then it cut all of the power I have to the gas pedal. I then spun around a complete 90 degrees with no power to accelerate out of it.

Is this normal for the 4WD systems? It really freaked me out and I do not plan on going anywhere near mud again until I install the traction control delete switch.

Any input if appreciated.

Thanks! -Joe

When i first got my 4runner i took it to some offroading buddies house that had a good ditch to check out what kinda flex the truck had. we all laughed like hell when the first wheel spun the computer locked me out of the gas pedal, so i locked the transfer case up and then we all laughed somemore as when the vehicle picked a tire of the ground as it flexed out. the truck stoped wouldnt move an inch. all it would do is spin the tire up in the air. I knew if i had plans for taking the truck off roading i was gonna need complete control of my gas and brake pedal plus what "driver" out there wants there traction controlled by someone other than themselves.

The 4th gen 4runners have a yaw/descent control system that monitors angles of the vehicle if the vehicle is moving forwards and the system detects a preset roll over protection angle it cuts off your throttle and applies brakes to the wheels. If you have a tire loose traction the vehicle sends braking power to that wheel (kinda like the old off roaders would use an E brake for hoping to grab a little more traction) in attempts to control the vehicle if you were driving on ice and your back right wheel starts spining the vehicle drags that brake slightly to get the wheel speed back to what the other wheels are at and at the same time adjusting your throttle position reguardless of where your foot is. This is Great for someone who doesnt have experience controling a sliding vehicle or spinning wheels as it keeps them safe out of harms way and prevents them from endangering someone else around them with there ignorance. (no offence to anyone some people are good at math some people are good at driving) To add to this toyota gives you two indicator lights on your dash VSC off and TRAC off. when you lock your transfer case one of these lights comes on i can't remember which exactly right now. however that doesn't indicate that the entire stability control system is turned off. If you let off the brake and try to roll backwards down a hill in drive the system still utilizes your ABS system to hold the vehicle from rolling backwards and beeps at you while its doing it.

To completly turn off the stability control you have to fool the ECU. (no theres no on off switch sorry) I found this out when i had a throttle body recall from the dealership when they replaced the throttle body i had with the new one evidently the new one was faulty and caused my check engine light vsc light and trac off light to all come on once i cleared the check engine code the CEL went off but leaving the entire stability control system turned off. any way I took the car back to the dealership had them replace the throttle body again and reset the stability control so i could get the car inspected. Any way i had a thought If the computer was to see that the car wasn't in capable condition to control itself it turns off these safty controls because it doesnt have enough data to make dicisions for you. So i took my thought and went to my O2 sensors i just unpluged the back two sensor connectors after driving a few miles my car realized it didnt know what my O2 levels were. The CEL light came on and the trac lights came on forcing the computer to shut off the safty controll system. I drove around like this for a while cuz it allows you so much more control of your vehicle but inspection time came up so i plugged my O2' connectors back in and the check engine light went off but left the safty control off! :cheers:

to get the safty control back on you have to reset the zero points of the yaw/decent control system you can do this with an OBDII scanner or use a jumper wire and short out the obdII connectors proper terminals in a certain pattern of touch wires together pull apart so many times then switch the key on you can google intructions on how to do this. if you need to turn the system back on just google setting zero points of yaw/decsent control system toyota 4runner eather method the car has to be on level ground (ground with a grade no more than 1 degree in any direction)

Ill post a video of what you can do when your computer doesnt tell your pedals what to do.