Idiot's guide to Crawl Control, MTS and Locking Diff?

So out of the 6 tacomas I've owned from HS to now I finally have a TRD OR (only sports and sr5s before) and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with it or how to operate all the fancy ass shit I just paid for. Don't get me wrong I've done my share of light off roading, but decided to go with the OR this time because I've always wanted to explore and test my boundaries a bit more with my truck as there are tons of trails and what not around here. Only problem is I have no idea how, when, etc. to use all this fancy new tech and was hoping maybe someone had a quick reference or a cheat sheet before I pop open the owner's manual. Pretty excited to start exploring some trails, just waiting on next paycheck to upgrade the tires as I know and can tell the goodyears suck. Thanks in advance from a long time TW member who can help you lift these trucks, do maintenance, diagnosis, etc. but has little to no off road experience (yes I know thats ironic).

 

ECT...i use it regularly, best in city driving in traffic. you will see it feels like a whole different truck when in ECT. you push the gas and it actually goes. when i am not in ECT i use S mode and shift when i want the truck to shift. i never drive in D except when ECT is on. caution on tires if you are planing on going bigger, the rear end in these trucks are geared too high.

 

Im familar with ECT, I had it in my 16 Sr5, was more looking for info on all the off road tech I have and how, when to use, but thanks.

 

Damn man I had a lot of faith in you and then comes this thread...

-10 street cred.

 

For MTS and Crawl control you need to be in 4-Lo to activate, same as with locking the rear diff.

Crawl control just hit the button, set the speed with the dial above, and steer.
MTS hit the button and use the dial to select the terrain you're in
Locking diff, hit the button

 

I know, right. Damn man.

 

Thanks man. Think I'm looking more from an application standpoint, like examples of when to use it. Maybe I need to hook up with the NJ guys over there for some wheeling trip/first world application.

 

Gotcha,

I've only ever used crawl control just for fun (4-Lo would have been enough). I would imagine you would use it when either a) you're stuck or b) when you're not confident your driving will get you up, or down a stretch of road

As for MTS, I use it whenever I'm in 4-Lo. I don't have comparisons on what the truck does when you don't use it, vs when you do in the same terrain, I just figure why not.

I have yet to use the locking rear

 

This is a good question.

Today I tried to back up to something I needed to load on a steep snow covered hillside. I was already in 4L and I spun out. I turned on the locker and still spun..... I turned the locker off and hit MTS (Mud and Sand) and away I went.

Not much of an answer other than if Plan A doesn't work, try Plan B.

SB

 

I am going to park myself in here since I too have no offroading background and all the fancy gadgets confuse me but I can't wait to figure them all out.

 

You got a new truck?

 

Yep, after 2nd diff replacement, I was offered to trade my truck towards a new truck working with Toyota CS and General manager, couldn't get a 2nd gen for a decent price that made sense, moved to a new OR, fingers crossed this one dosent have an of the previous issues, but not holding my breath.

 

That's awesome, congratulations! I hope it works out for you.

Sorry the 2nd gen pro didn't pan out though.

 

That f-ing dealer. They wouldn't budge on my trade, kept wanting to only give me $26k for it. Idiot used car manager. Oh well. Thanks man!

 

Yeah I'm gonna have to RTFM on that crawl control too. I've only had the "traditional" offroad tools like the locking diff and a come-along...

But goose season is soon, so I'm sure it will be in the swamp next week. Trial by fire.

 

I'll try not to butcher this, here's how i think about it.

Crawl control is essentially "cruise control" for when you are in a spot where you can not seem to gain any traction. Once in crawl control mode you simply are responsible for steering the vehicle, and you will hear the brakes alternating on all 4 corners to stack up material under your tires to the point where you pull ahead. Probably more of a "last resort" mode.

Multi terrain select is like 5 different intensities of ATRAC which you might already be familiar with.

Locking rear diff is useful in the snow (from what i've heard) and makes it so that way both your rear tires are always spinning at the same rate, no slip relative to eachother. Has applications in mud when sometimes need to spin yourself out of a bad spot, or in rock crawling when you want nothing but traction and forward movement. My best advice would be to go out to a local SVRA park you feel comfortable at and mess around with all of them! I'm still new to off-roading, but i'll just say within the first 3 days of owning my truck the rear locker saved mine and my brothers a** from an expensive tow.

 

OP, you said it in the first post. RTFM!!!!!!!!!!!!

G.

 

Except it dosent really discuss real world application or when to use. But thanks for the oh so helpful response from an Sr5 owner in regards to OR features...

Z

 

Agreed think I'm gonna just have to play around with them. Thanks!

 

I've actually read that you don't want to use the rear locker in snow and this is because when both wheels spin at the same rate it will cause the back end to slide sideways if there is any banking. In any other condition where you are spinning then it is recommended, just not snow.