Love reading this. What tires are you running?Still 100% stock here. Really wanted to get some off-road miles under my belt and get a baseline for the vehicles capability in stock form before I go changing anything.
Coming from a built FJ Cruiser on 35's... I was expecting a much bigger gap but the LX is shockingly capable in stock form. Breakover angle is much less of an issue than I expected, it's longer than the FJ for sure and the running boards hang down a bit but it gets quit tall and seems to give a little extra boost beyond standard High mode when climbing steps and ledges. I've noticed the rig drops an inch or so after I'm back on flat ground. Neat stuff.
CRAWL control is a bit of a mixed bag in rocky terrain. Can be very herky jerky and sometimes struggles to climb in wet rooty/slippery conditions, where I can walk it right up using throttle and brake manually. I was very interested in using it for descending but it is consistently jerky and I have given up using it on descents. I will say the limited sand experience I've had it works like black magic. I duplicated the CRAWL demo from the new Tacoma launch... buried the truck near to the frame rails, turned on CRAWL... let it sit there figuring things out for about 30 seconds then slowly pulled itself up and out. Badass!!
I initially expected to be going down the route of another full tilt build. But after getting some miles in all I really find myself wanting is some better AT tires so I'm not worried about popping my Prius rubber on the trail. Bone stock it gets me everywhere I want to go and does it in total comfort on trail and during my commute the other 5 days of the week.
