Tundra Offroad Capability

Hello, everyone!!!

I plan to buy a truck soon and I love the look of the Tundra. Whatever truck I get it will be taken offroad frequently. I was wondering what kind of options there are for the Tundra when it comes to offroad. How does the 4wd system work?

 

What year?

 

Probably between 08 - 13, maybe even up to a 15

 

The tundra has a large market in offroad parts and accessories. The sky is the limit. The 4wd in my 2014 is engaged by an electronic knob. My truck has 246k on it. I offroad alot.

 

The Tundra has standard part-time 4x4 with a two-speed transfer case. It also has Toyota’s ATRAC system, which senses wheel slippage and uses the brakes to grab that wheel and transfer power to the other wheel on that axle. It is highly effective at getting a competent and experienced driver over obstacles the truck can fit over and through most terrain.

What vehicle are you coming from? How much off-roading experience do you have?

 

Offroad to most people = well maintained fire roads.

 

Stock Tundra kicks well maintained fire roads’ asses!!

 

Lol

 

Seriously though if that dude on YT JohnDZ Adventuring can take his subaru forester, and now a honda passport through all these trails I think a tundra is more than adequate for offloading.

 

Tires, clearance and gears - very capable. More importantly, quite dependable.

 

Width is your biggest issue. I've found it to be great offroad. There's plenty of offroad aftermarket support for it.

 

In 2wd even! Just air down a bit to help with the washboard

Agreed.

So far, the trails I have backed down were due to the trail getting too narrow for my delicate sensibilities and not the tundras capabilities.

I have been quite impressed with the A-trac systems ability to cover for the lack of (factory available) lockers.

 

There seems to be 2 types of offroad guys, the hardcore black diamond guys that run with jeeps and requires a fair bit of mods for the tundra, and the more overlanding style guys like myself that do easy to moderate type trails with some rock gardens and such but avoid black diamonds due to the mods required. In either case the tundra works great, but the more hardcore you go the more money it costs, exponentially so.

If you stick to easy to moderately difficult rock garden stuff, a more overlanding style, you can get by comfortably with a 2" lift, 33's, some skids and sliders. A front bumper helps too. If you are going the hardcore route, your looking at suspension, minimum 35's, rims, bumpers, more armor, possibly gears, which takes you into the $20,000 range all said and done. You want hardcore tundra offroading, check out @Cruzer build and his threads.

I got a 2" inch lift, front bumper, winch, coilovers, bump stops, skids, sliders, shackles and RAS and 32" BFGs (which i will upgrade to 33") on stock rims with stock gearing and I can get through almost anything easily that isnt a black diamond (I probably COULD get through some black diamond stuff if I was very careful and patient with a spotter and ok with some damage on the truck lol).

 

Right now I drive an FJ. Great vehicle but I miss the space and comfort of a truck lol.

Do only certain trim levels have ATRAC? Call me crazy but I haven't seen an ATRAC button in any of the Tundra pics I've looked at.

 

I offroad often with my tundra and would like to chime in on this.

Tundra is long, but is deceivingly capable of what people think they can do, especially with an aftermarket rear locker.
But, know yours and the trucks limit, there will be certain things tundra is not good at without serious modifications, or they just simply won't fit thru the trails smaller rigs would have no problem with.

I have multiple off-road videos of my tundra posted on my youtube channel [4wd is life], feel free to check them out below.

 

4wd Tundras have ATRAC, 2wd Tundras have TRAC, but supposedly they function the same way. You can read more on it in the following link.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/traction-control-everything-you-want-to-know.21697/
There isn't an ATRAC button like you'd see on a 4Runner, it's always on unless you turn it off with the traction control button.

 

The truck is probably more capable than most driver skillsets. Great truck Offroad and comfortable. Enjoy

 

Personally, size and my lack of desire to damage body panels has been the major limiting factors. Trails I used to take with my Tacoma I simply can't fit on with the Tundra due to width. Otherwise it's as capable as the driver/tire combination allows it to be.

 

It's not technically atrac In tundras . It's just called TRAC and it's automatic. I think everyone calls it atrac because it works generally the same (without the selection button) and that's the term all the toyots guys know

 

I think it also depends on your local wheeling spots. If you're in the trees on narrow jeep trails, good luck to you. If you're in the desert no problem. Or if you're like me and in the mountains and deserts of Utah all is well. Even on trails I fit on though , line selection is drastically reduced. You may fit on a trail, but may not have a whole lot of options on how to approach it due to size. In my experience, this where the modifications came into play. I was on 33s and a level, but local trails dictated i needed more to play. I am now on 36s , high clearance bumper , sliders and a winch. Buddy of mine in a 4runner and I did the same trail. In his 4runner which was stock when we got to some knarly sections he could just reposition and bypass the obstacle. In my tundra I was forced over the same obstacles because my size didn't allow for bypass.

 

A-TRAC is basically the active 4wd version of TRAC. The older manuals specify when it is active and how to use it. The newer trucks operate in the same way, but the language of it has been absorbed into TRAC in the newer manuals. When in 4wd, it operates just like the push-button A-TRAC in FJs and 4Runners, etc. Some say it requires more wheel spin to activate, but it doesn’t seem like it acts differently in the Tundra to me than the 5th gen 4Runner I traded in for it.

Heres a handy chart for when it and the other nannies are active:

EDIT: in this chart, “push” refers to the trac off button.

 

My favorite trails tend to be more narrow with lots of trees and logging roads that have been out of use for years. Kootenay pinstriping is what we often call it.

 

So just to be clear, if I were to only have traction on one wheel, ATRAC/TRAC would send power to that wheel?

 

atrac would try to cut power to other wheels, however, if its enough to get your truck going is another thing.

 

Yeah, it uses the brakes to grab the wheel on the other end of the same axle that doesn’t have traction, which transfers power to the wheel that has traction and is just sitting.

I could get hung up in my 4Runner with front driver and rear passenger wheels just hanging and spinning free. I would push ATRAC and crawl right out. The Tundra operates the same way, just without pushing a button. It’s pretty awesome what ATRAC can get you out of.

 

If you're questioning if a Tundra is offroad capable enough for you, I will bet it's more than capable enough for whatever you need.

 

This.

 

Better than all the other 1/2 ton competition off road. I believe the tundra has the best turning radius as well? The stock 4.3 gear is fantastic and the ground clearance beats everything besides the power wagon. Throw some 33s on and you got the ground clearance you need. All you'll need is an extra fuel can!

 

Or two [fuel cans]