Miss Quadra-drive
 

Howdy,

Not to start a flamewar, as I know it is a hot issue, but I'm not too impressed with our GX's traction control band-aid for off-road traction. This past weekend I was fooling around with the kids driving around the property surrounding our house. This includes some very steep dirt hills (15' high, a seasonal creek w/ 4" of water, and a 5' wood chip pile. I had the GX in 4Lo, locked differentials, and first gear. When crawling up the creek on a particularly steep section, the traction control would go nuts (i.e., clackety-clack, clack, clack), and the GX would barely move forward despite firm pressure on the throttle. I also drove over the wood chip pile, whereupon the GX failed to mount the pile, and I had to back-out. Again the Traction-control was going nuts, but increasing the throttle did nothing.

Befuddled and curious, I then tried the creek and wood-chip pile in my '05 Suby OBXT. I let out the clutch and only gave it enough throttle to prevent stalling going up the creek. The OBXT went right up with both rear wheels spinning in tandem (rear limited slip) and the front wheels alternating. A little drama and rooster tails, but I made it up. The wood-chip pile required slipping the clutch, but the OBXT's AWD found enough traction by alternating power to various wheels to get over.

I've heard that if no wheels have enough sufficient traction, that Toyota's can get stuck, but did not think the GX suffered from this malady. I had a '00 Grand Cherokee (V8, Up-Country), and it never got stuck-just spun whatever wheels had the most traction. Only reason I'm concerned is that I do go off-road in really remote locations, where getting stuck means a day walking.

Check the owners manual, I think there is an easy way to override the traction control for these types of situations.

Button on dash turns traction control off. That will fix your issues

Sweet. Thanks Bunka and Nav. So where is the Traction Control Shut-off button? When doing this, does the 4WD system operate like "normal" 4WD systems with a rear limited slip? I cannot remember if the Torsen is on the center or rear. I'll look this all up tonight, regardless. I've read the off-road section of the manual many times, but must have missed this key feature.

What button turns the traction control off? Locking the diff does - but that's different.

I stand corrected. I had thought the RSCA button ((near mirror controls) was the Trac Control button (like on the old RX300 I use to own). It is not, rather, it is a "Roll Sense Side Curtain" switch (not certain how usefully that would be in practical use). .. sorry for the mis-guideance.

All right, I looked at the manual, and I can not find any way too turn off the Traction Control. In my research and practical experience, locking the center differential only turns off the VSC and not the Traction Control. The Traction Control, it seems, cannot be turned-off, and is a stop-gap for a real limited slip differential or active system like Quadradrive. So, while in a Jeep with Quadradrive or even my Suby, even if no wheel has traction, one can still spin the wheels to get out of the mud/sand/snow. The GX Manual even had a reference to the Traction Control, stating that if no wheel has traction, such as on ice,.....get snow tires.

Now that's pretty funny!!!

I thought you could completelt defeat the traction control, but perhaps you can't--that would be disappointing.

Lockers
 

The only way to get around the Traction control is to install a locker on your rear diff. ARB makes one that works. If you go to fourwheeler.com they have a write up on a project Lexus they call Trailex. In the write up, they explain how they locked the lexus. As of now, no one makes a front diff locker for the lexus GX.

Wouldn't it be true that with any vehicle that if "no wheels have enough traction" no vehicle will go any where??? The 4runner and the GX470 are identical vehicles, just different sheet metal, so anything you read about the 4runner off road should apply to the GX470 except for a KDDS equipped GX would have more suspension flex. You can get anything stuck and the 4runner/GX470 are some of the best off road. The only thing that should be a problem would be Mud or sand with the wrong tires, but it would be a problem with any 4x4 with the wrong tires, also rocks could be a problem if you don't have the ground clearance. JMHO

Good points Pitbull,

What concerned me with the GX is that once the electronics determine that no wheel has sufficient traction, it basically shut's down, and no amount of throttle input is going to make a difference. With my old Jeep and current Subaru the electronics will not shut-down the power even if all wheels do not have enough traction not too spin. The difference being that my Subaru could get over the woodpile, despite not having anywhere near the off-road hardware as the GX.

Does this mean that I'll take the Subaru in the back-country? Absolutely not, as it does not have a low range and the DAC, which I absolutely need. But I would feel a whole lot more secure if I knew that I could turn-off the Traction Control in the GX too muscle out of a tough situation.

One situation for me being when I have to pull-off an 8' wide coastal mountain road on to a sloping section of hillside covered with 1' of high-grass to turn around (no turn-outs). I have had to do this in the GX in damp conditions, and have barely made it out a few times. "2nd Start" saved me. In the Jeep, performing this same manuever, I just kept the throttle down and turned the front wheels back and forth. It wasn't pretty, and the cattle had a little less grass on that particular slope, but I had complete confidence in the situation. In fact, I looked forward too it. :)

I can't belive that Lexus did not give us a simple way to turn off the traction control system! When I have more time I will try a few things and see what happens.
One thing that comes to mind is to pull out the fuses to the ABS system. It will most likely set a error code in the computer, but I can clear it back out when I get done.
I know that the traction control is tied into the ABS in the GX, as that is how they read the speed of each wheel. I think there is a good chance that this alone will shut down the traction control.
This my be a way to get a stranded GX unstuck in an emergency.



" I am a trained professional dont try this yourself as it may cause you more problems than you already have!" :egads:

The weather here has been dry so I haven't been able test the four wheel drive out. But i was reading my 05' owners manual. And on page 354, it claims that locking the center differential turns off the VSC system. Because "quote" the function that controls engine preformance interferes with the process of freeing your wheels.

Check out this thread on my forum:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showth...5&pagenumber=1

If you're interested in a rear locker, check out this thread:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showth...&threadid=5379

Hope this helps,
Thai.

This weekend, i went off-roading with TexGX in his GX470 with KDSS. Both my brother and I were really impress with it's stock capability...on Michelin tires too! We are talking about deep mud and sand. Of course, we all got stuck at some point, including two Jeep Rubicons (one heavily modified). My brother was so impress that he will get his wife one in the near future!

Anyway, during the off-roading, i took a real close look at ATRAC on GX. I assumed TexGX locked his center diff. I saw him power thru mud and sand without a problem. All tires spinning. The only time that he didn't make it was due to lack of traction (aka non-off-road tires), not from ATRAC powering him down.

When i had my 4runner (2002 with ATRAC), i could power thru mud and sand without ATRAC shutting me down. Just remember, LOCK THE CENTER DIFF.