2024 4WD Off Road (4WDemand) vs Snow

TRD Off Road, does great in snow. You’ll need a decent winter or 3 peak tire, factory tires are pretty poor.

 

It'll be similar, maybe slightly better than your 2006. The part-time 4WD improves snow stopping distances vs an open center diff. There's A-Trac working in the background which wasn't available in 2nd gens until 2009.

The factory temporary spare is like a DOT racing slick, so expect it to be worthless in snow.

 

Besides A-Trac, which of course I have on my 2011, is there an effective difference between the 4WD systems in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th gen? It was my understanding that 4Hi simply engaged the transfer case and split the power 50/50 between the rear and front wheels. I recently gifted my 2nd gen and now drive a 4th gen.

 

My factory spare is a full size Toyo open country.

 

^But the OR gets a temp spare:



The SR5 "full size" would be undersized for the OR.

 

This seems wrong on many levels.

 

^If you spend the extra $xx,000 for a Land Cruiser, you get a matching spare... that hangs lower than the diff pumpkin.

 

MTS (like A-Trac but adjustable slip ratio)
Off-road ABS calibration
More robust solenoid-based rear locker
Beefier T-case, driveshaft U-joints, rear diff/rear axle

 

>> Anyone have snow experience this year?

Was just helping some family near this event and got into 2>4 feet: Ontario town declares state of emergency
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/snow-storm-state-of-emergency-gravenhurst-1.7398242

Offroad short box auto mostly stock including tires.
- Did not use any fancy features... just switching to 4HI and both hands on the wheel.
- Slow and easy no fancy moves - easy to roll along in 4HI.
- Well planted, "lugs down" when you drop the gas just like a 4WD should.
- Wheel spin is very well controlled - no spin unless you thump the gas.
- Also seem well balanced with short box, backend not spinning sideways at all.
- Turns well in 4HI - did not seem to be much binding in full hard turns.
- But no ice in this event - ground is not even frozen so good traction at most times.
- Made it up/down one very steep gravel hill - did a path to bottom and then backed up and took a run at it. Made it up with all wheels throwing a storm of snow. Fortunately snow was light and fluffy so it pushed out of the way - not so sure it would have been so much fun if it was wet and heavy stuff.

Overall seems like an old school 4WD but with less rear-end bounce and amazing wheel spin control - no complaints. With some snows and box weight would be good small plow. Also love the heated seats and wheel which I've not had before!

 

Also had a few feet of snow where I live recently. Some ice first, then snow. I only have 5k on the truck so the tires are still good, and I set them to factory pressures at about 30psi. About 300lbs of weight above the rear axle. This is on the TRD OR with the 6' bed.

Zero issues. Have about a 20 mile commute to work, and used 4WD the whole way.

I purposefully hit the brakes hard to see how the ABS grabs, feels and affects the vehicle's track. I have older cars where the ABS is very vibey, and loads up the front wheels significantly which makes steering challenging. On the 24, no issues with the vehicle holding generally straight and still keeping steering control while ABS is working. You barely even feel it working. I drove through a few deep drifts about 3-4' deep on one side of the road, across some snow/ice surfaces. I didn't get that feeling of wheel spin like with AWD vehicles that pull the car deeper into the drift and need counter steering to keep from hitting the ditch.

I turned traction control off (not entirely off, just hitting the button once on the dash), and tried doing some donuts to see when it steps in. It lets you get about 15-30 degrees of ass end swing before it steps in and decides you've gone full dumbass. So it's not really off, it's just goes from 2000s helicopter parent mode (default "on" setting) to 1980s parent mode (be home by dinner, but have fun on your bikes).

Overall, 10/10 with the TRD OR in snow compared to literally every other vehicle I've driven including a 2014 Ford Expedition (4 Auto), 2018 Explorer (AWD), 2024 Explorer (AWD), 2011 CRV AWD.

 

I'm still waiting for a real snowfall here in Central NY to give my 4WD a go. So far, it's been pretty lame by our standards. I've only been bothered to fire up the snowblower once.

 

Over Christmas, I drove over a mountain pass in WA state that was being repeatedly closed and reopened due to accidents/slideoffs from a snow storm. Compact snow and ice on the roadway when I went over the pass. I slipped once near the top while still in 2WD; immediately put it into 4HI and did not experience any further sliding. Kept it in 4HI for about 50 miles. Felt completely confident in the truck and its performance.

I came from a Mazda CX-5 w/ AWD.

 

We got a hair over a 1/4" of ice and 4 inches of sleet and snow on top of that. Not deep, but slick.

I bladed the bulk of the snow off the gravel driveway, and went out to see what the rest of the world was up to.

My driveway is long, and sloped. My last two trucks (19 Frontier and 23 Taco) would only get out if the Frontier was in 4WD or the Taco had sandbags in the back.

Needless to say, I was curious what would happen with the new truck. 2WD, it just drove out. No tire spin, no nothing.

Out and about the roads were still covered, and there was zero drama. I played with it in 4H - just because - but otherwise my experience was pretty much the same as Sir Lounge Alot's above. I'm impressed.

 

I can attest that the fulll time 4wd is pretty great in the snow!

 

I've driven my 24 half dozen times in mountain snow at highway speeds. I have a TRD OR LB with Nokian nAT in size 285/70/17 on Methods in standard load. I have an RSI Smartcap that is reported to weigh 200 LBS. My preference was to run a narrower 33, but could only find E rated in the Nokian. I'm coming from a 2011 TRD Sport LB. I run that truck with BFG KO2s in 265/70/17 or studded Hankook Pike in 265/65/17. Suspension on the 2011 is Bilstien TRD Pro shocks f/r with a custom leafpack to support he weight. The 2011 has a bedrack, RTT and Best-top. Likely a bit more weight over the rear compared to the 24.

My perception is that the 24 has better rear wheel traction compared to the 2011 even with the studs. I very much like the 50/50 split when in full time 4x4. I find each of the trucks very predictable as far as when and where the breakaway point is. I like the center console selector and 4hi engages quickly, an improvement over the glitchy 2011.

Separately, I'm very pleased with the Nokians. Clearly a measure better than the KO2s. Although they don't have the same stopping power as the studs, they are very good on packed and glazed snow. I visit the snow, I don't live in the snow. I wanted a 3-peak tire I could drive year-round without running dedicated snows. So far, I've yet to have an experience with the nATs where I've felt I needed more tire.

 

So we are getting a good snow right now. I went out yesterday for the first time in my Sport. The roads were crap. Some plowed but still couldn’t see pavement. Many of the parking lots were still not plowed. We had heavy wetish snow with a layer of hard ice snow. Central KY.

This is what I would say. I drove with the truck in 4hi if I could not see pavement. It did fine. It got through the thick stuff without any real trouble. When switching out of 4hi my truck every now and then made a bit of a clunk. No idea if that is normal. If the road was not snowy I tried one time backing out of a parking space and forget it. It was awful and felt jerky like something was going to break so I quickly took it out of 4hi.

The couple FWD cars that were trying to drive around were struggling with many getting stuck. Our old Subaru Crosstrek would have done just as good with less drama and just drive with its AWD system. We don’t get a bunch of snow however I grew up in a ski town in CA where I drove in heavy snow all the time. I think the benefit with the truck is really just one benefit and that is if you need a lot of clearance because the snow is really high.

 

Sounds pretty normal to me. System behaves just like my two 3rd gens. Even with snow covered parking lots, tight turns it can lightly bind up, especially if you have good tires. I'm sure the factory Firestone's on my SR5 would not grip like that

 

I’ll be testing the BF Goodrich Trail Terrain tires that came on my Offroad in a couple of days.

Any of you been in snow with them yet?

 

Yes. Grippy and predictable. I'm surprised there are two versions (on Tire Rack anyway). The T rated tire has the 3 Peak symbol, but the S rated tire doesn't. The one on the truck is S rated and doesn't have a 3 Peak symbol. BUT, the two versions on BF Goodrich's site list them both as 3 Peak. I dunno...