TFL just broke their Tacoma

testerdahl said:
Just watched the long-form video. It seems like something mechanical and not anyone's fault. The rule for off-road is being prepared for when something breaks, because something will break. Good recovery plan as well. My only thing is I think they should go to the dealer first and not try to diagnose it themselves. I also don't think the tires had anything to do with it. Both trucks struggled over the icy rocks. Ice is tough on all tires.
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I would agree. I think that while both struggled, there was extra traction on the Colorado, but that didn't have anything to do with what happened. They really should have just gone to the dealer right away, but now they can milk the videos for more views too. I get why they are doing it.
 
testerdahl said:
Literally the dream of any YouTube channel is for something like this to happen. The views are going to be insane.
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Watching the video today, the hero is Alex. He was on the ball creating that Youtube short right there on the spot. What an awesome move for their channel.
 
Beninbeta said:
I would agree. I think that while both struggled, there was extra traction on the Colorado, but that didn't have anything to do with what happened. They really should have just gone to the dealer right away, but now they can milk the videos for more views too. I get why they are doing it.
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I haven't been able to watch the video yet, Ben, can you verify what he was doing at the time of the break 4WD wise? Some dudes at Tacoma world are giving Roman shit saying it looks like he attempted a 4WD switch and applied gas before 4LO was fully engaged. They did say the editing of the video makes it hard to really distinguish. He was using crawl control before and didn't have success so we know he was in 4LO at some point.
 
testerdahl said:
Just watched the long-form video. It seems like something mechanical and not anyone's fault. The rule for off-road is being prepared for when something breaks, because something will break. Good recovery plan as well. My only thing is I think they should go to the dealer first and not try to diagnose it themselves. I also don't think the tires had anything to do with it. Both trucks struggled over the icy rocks. Ice is tough on all tires.
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Against what Roman said, he was stressing that drivetrain. Kinda shows his inexperience in off-roading. Spinning those tires that fast is worthless and one of them does grab, that sudden stoppage can easily break something. He actually said the right thing to do when Andre was going up. "Back-up and use the Nathan method"

I still don't think it should have broken that easily. Fanboys are gonna whine about this for sure.
 
Beninbeta said:
I agree with that. I should have been fine. Now a little further up that tail, I have seen other vehicles struggle there quite a bit. Andre's Trailboss had some issues with the G80 not kicking in right away, but it did make the obstacle. With those conditions and the tires on the off-road, I don't know if I would have wanted to try that next obstacle.
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I have to stand up for GM here, the G80 is fantastic and after owning one for a few years I get it and see why "some" people prefer it over a selectable locker. TFL in most of their videos really either struggle with the concept or don't have enough seat experience with it to really use it as intended. It's pretty easy to force it to engage and even easier to keep it engaged. Andre struggles with that, it takes very little wheel speed differential to engage it and a very light steady throttle will keep it engaged for a long time if desired. It doesn't disengage until you get completely off the throttle.

Once I figured it out I love the damn thing, being on the same trails with friends and watching their locker light blink while they try to reverse to get it locked in makes me chuckle. Not to mention watching them trying to get it unlocked. Alot of time it goes in and out pretty quickly, but that's usually when your on flat ground testing it.

I also have to say that even in my Tacoma it was a pain in the ass, Toyota has always been known for clumsy 4WD shifts, especially in and out of 4LO and locker engagement.
 
Dusdaddy said:
Against what Roman said, he was stressing that drivetrain. Kinda shows his inexperience in off-roading. Spinning those tires that fast is worthless and one of them does grab, that sudden stoppage can easily break something. He actually said the right thing to do when Andre was going up. "Back-up and use the Nathan method"

I still don't think it should have broken that easily. Fanboys are gonna whine about this for sure.
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I don't disagree in theory except that Toyota's off road tech, ATRAC, requires spinning wheels to work. Most modern non-locked 4WD systems do. If you watch the tests Tommy does on the rollers it's take quite a bit of wheel spin to get the braking you need to kick power to a different tire on almost all of the vehicles. Anytime you require spin there's a chance of sudden grip.
 
Fightnfire said:
I have to stand up for GM here, the G80 is fantastic and after owning one for a few years I get it and see why "some" people prefer it over a selectable locker. TFL in most of their videos really either struggle with the concept or don't have enough seat experience with it to really use it as intended. It's pretty easy to force it to engage and even easier to keep it engaged. Andre struggles with that, it takes very little wheel speed differential to engage it and a very light steady throttle will keep it engaged for a long time if desired. It doesn't disengage until you get completely off the throttle.

Once I figured it out I love the damn thing, being on the same trails with friends and watching their locker light blink while they try to reverse to get it locked in makes me chuckle. Not to mention watching them trying to get it unlocked. Alot of time it goes in and out pretty quickly, but that's usually when your on flat ground testing it.

I also have to say that even in my Tacoma it was a pain in the ass, Toyota has always been known for clumsy 4WD shifts, especially in and out of 4LO and locker engagement.
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Oh yeah, for off-roading, I love strong mechanical lockers. On the street, not so much. Driving my Jeeps with lockers front and rear was always an adventure on snowy pavement...lol. The G80 seems to have removed all those nasty side-effects, making it an excellent choice.

Watching it I'd say the biggest vehicle issue was tires on the Taco relative to the Chevy. Just goes to show you can have all the fancy software in the world but that piece of rubber that contacts the world is damn important.
 
Dusdaddy said:
Oh yeah, for off-roading, I love strong mechanical lockers. On the street, not so much. Driving my Jeeps with lockers front and rear was always an adventure on snowy pavement...lol. The G80 seems to have removed all those nasty side-effects, making it an excellent choice.

Watching it I'd say the biggest vehicle issue was tires on the Taco relative to the Chevy. Just goes to show you can have all the fancy software in the world but that piece of rubber that contacts the world is damn important.
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You're right, I think it's the single most important thing especially in snow/ice. Then driver skill or maybe experience is a better way to say it...
 
Fightnfire said:
I haven't been able to watch the video yet, Ben, can you verify what he was doing at the time of the break 4WD wise? Some dudes at Tacoma world are giving Roman shit saying it looks like he attempted a 4WD switch and applied gas before 4LO was fully engaged. They did say the editing of the video makes it hard to really distinguish. He was using crawl control before and didn't have success so we know he was in 4LO at some point.
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Because of editing it's pretty hard to tell for sure. He did try crawl control, but they didn't show Roman turning it on/off. I think crawl control only works in 4lo in the Toyotas. So I think he just turned off CC and "gave it the beans" as they like to say. And at this point, until they actually take it to the dealer, we'll not know what happened for certain.
 
Fightnfire said:
I have to stand up for GM here, the G80 is fantastic and after owning one for a few years I get it and see why "some" people prefer it over a selectable locker. TFL in most of their videos really either struggle with the concept or don't have enough seat experience with it to really use it as intended. It's pretty easy to force it to engage and even easier to keep it engaged. Andre struggles with that, it takes very little wheel speed differential to engage it and a very light steady throttle will keep it engaged for a long time if desired. It doesn't disengage until you get completely off the throttle.

Once I figured it out I love the damn thing, being on the same trails with friends and watching their locker light blink while they try to reverse to get it locked in makes me chuckle. Not to mention watching them trying to get it unlocked. Alot of time it goes in and out pretty quickly, but that's usually when your on flat ground testing it.

I also have to say that even in my Tacoma it was a pain in the ass, Toyota has always been known for clumsy 4WD shifts, especially in and out of 4LO and locker engagement.
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The locking aspect of the Tacoma was terrible for sure in the 3rd gen. The new Tundra was very improved and so is the 4th gen Tacoma. No more needing to rock to get it into action.
 
Beninbeta said:
Because of editing it's pretty hard to tell for sure. He did try crawl control, but they didn't show Roman turning it on/off. I think crawl control only works in 4lo in the Toyotas. So I think he just turned off CC and "gave it the beans" as they like to say. And at this point, until they actually take it to the dealer, we'll not know what happened for certain.
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He was in 4LO since CC only works in that gear. I would have liked to see him not give up on CC so quickly, but in that situation, I can see why he did. Slipping on those rocks with the trees behind can be pretty stressful on the driver.
 
Andre was far further into the pedal with his truck and no damage, the taco was barely working.

As fun as it would be to blame Roman (I'm not a fan of him, at all!) this looks like a truck issue.
 
I read the manual and it does say Trac as well as other braking features are all shut off when you lock the diff so it doesn't look like switchology,

I'm betting a snapped axle due to the excessive spinning and a tire just caught. Still shouldn't have snapped though. Absolute great drama for them.
 
Anyone else find it odd that you "can't skip" from 4 low to 2wd? I'm trying to remember how my truck (ram dt) works, I think it just requires neutral to jump in/out but can go directly to and from 2wd? How do all your trucks work?
 
zonedout said:
Anyone else find it odd that you "can't skip" from 4 low to 2wd? I'm trying to remember how my truck (ram dt) works, I think it just requires neutral to jump in/out but can go directly to and from 2wd? How do all your trucks work?
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That’s the way all new 4wd trucks have worked for me. You have to go to neutral first after leaving 4LO.
 
You know the flip side to this is the Tacoma drove out on its own after getting help to make the corner.
 
I think it might be how this truck is setup with the dial. You have to go from low to hi to 2hi using the dial. Not sure you need to stop at 4hi first before going to 2 hi. Here are manual pages for that operation:

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zonedout said:
Anyone else find it odd that you "can't skip" from 4 low to 2wd? I'm trying to remember how my truck (ram dt) works, I think it just requires neutral to jump in/out but can go directly to and from 2wd? How do all your trucks work?
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My DT says the preferred method is to be going 2-3mph in 2H or 4h, switch to neutral, then switch to 4L while moving. It can be done while completely stopped as well. I've always switched it while stopped.

I think Ben is right. Toyota describes it that way because on the knob, you must go through 4H to get to 4L. I cannot find any verbiage in their manual that cautions you not to switch straight through.
 
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