Trying to understand center diff. vs. rear vs. front lock (3 Viewers)

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I meant front, typo and/or brain diarrhea lol. Just the Eaton in the rear, doubt I’ll lock the front given what this truck is used for.

You already bought and installed?

Mind sharing cost?
 
Have you F/R installed Harrop's on your 16+? The rear is a non-issue with ARB, it's the front of the US spec URJ200 w/8 speed (and 3.307) gears that is the issue for ARB, Harrop and Eaton (unless something has changed recently).

View attachment 3193471
(ARB's Application Guide)

Looking at Harrops current application guide, they show the same Front and Rear locker for all 2007-2021 200's. While true for Australia, this is not the case for the US URJ200 which got a re-gear along with the 8 speed in MY2016.

View attachment 3193469
(Harrops Application Guide)

Interestingly Eaton's E-Locker application guide shows the front and rear working for all 2007-2018 (cutoff of their app guide) which is not correct imo. We list the same locker (our part# EAT14217) for "Eaton E-Locker 2008-2015 200/570 FRONT". If someone knows how to make this fit the 16+, I'm all ears.

We've added ARB or Eaton E-Lockers in combination with re-gear to dozen+ MY16+ 200's. The team from Slee and myself worked with ARB to spec a front locker specific to the 3.307 diff BUT most customers adding a locker to the front of their vehicle are also adding larger tires and weight and thus the re-gear option works quite suitably using 07-15 parts. We stock them for that reason.


At this point just tell me what to buy 😂.

And how many weeks do yall think it will take me to install it in my garage by myself?!? Lol

I do a lot of “research” aka youtube, so I know there is preload, and very delicate gear lash tolerance specs.

Tell me I’m crazy and ill pay someone to do it. Otherwise i like the punishment. 😈
 
At this point just tell me what to buy 😂.

And how many weeks do yall think it will take me to install it in my garage by myself?!? Lol

I do a lot of “research” aka youtube, so I know there is preload, and very delicate gear lash tolerance specs.

Tell me I’m crazy and ill pay someone to do it. Otherwise i like the punishment. 😈

What year 200?

We can send pre-build front and rear differentials, install can be done in a day (two for someone with less experience).
 
What year 200?

We can send pre-build front and rear differentials, install can be done in a day (two for someone with less experience).

2017 LX, so the 8 speed gearing.
I think i would just do rear to be honest. But not quite ready for it atm.

There wouldn’t by any chance be existing power harness or something back there? Since it is oem offering overseas.

My rig has kdss mounts lol.
 
At this point just tell me what to buy 😂.

And how many weeks do yall think it will take me to install it in my garage by myself?!? Lol

I do a lot of “research” aka youtube, so I know there is preload, and very delicate gear lash tolerance specs.

Tell me I’m crazy and ill pay someone to do it. Otherwise i like the punishment. 😈
I'm pretty handy and I paid a pro to do it. I might be able to figure it out, but I don't want to risk damage to expensive components. Doing it right seems to involve specialty tools, fixtures, and feel. And having a lot of experience seems to help. I R&Rd the front and rear diffs and left the setup to a pro, this seemed like a good middle ground between drop it off at a shop and let them do it, and a full DIY. I did the straightforward mechanical and electrical work, he did the skill work.
 
2017 LX, so the 8 speed gearing.
I think i would just do rear to be honest. But not quite ready for it atm.

There wouldn’t by any chance be existing power harness or something back there? Since it is oem offering overseas.

My rig has kdss mounts lol.

We can easily build you a 3.307 rear diff with an ARB or Eaton locker. Email for pricing: info@cruiseroutfitters.com

No existing locker provisions on a US spec URJ200
 
2017 LX, so the 8 speed gearing.
I think i would just do rear to be honest. But not quite ready for it atm.

There wouldn’t by any chance be existing power harness or something back there? Since it is oem offering overseas.

My rig has kdss mounts lol.
If you do elockers, it is a single wire bundle with a power and a ground inside. It is super easy.
 
Pretty decent video explaining the features:

As someone who isn’t using the truck on anything difficult when off pavement, I’m still fuzzy on whether & when I should lock the center diff. It seems like the CRAWL would potentially direct more power front/rear as needed if the diff is open, versus 50/50 when it’s locked?

Also the manual suggests only locking the center diff when getting through a difficult spot, then unlocking again. Is this necessary? Are there off road situations where a locked center diff would cause binding or other problems? Is a locked center diff less durable than a part time 4WD vehicle that’s in 4WD (No center diff at all)?
 
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As someone who isn’t using the truck on anything difficult when off pavement, I’m still fuzzy on whether & when I should lock the center diff. It seems like the CRAWL would potentially direct more power front/rear as needed if the diff is open, versus 50/50 when it’s locked?

Also the manual suggests only locking the center diff when getting through a difficult spot, then unlocking again. Is this necessary? Are there off road situations where a locked center diff would cause binding or other problems? Is a locked center diff less durable than a part time 4WD vehicle that’s in 4WD (No center diff at all)?
50/50 doesn’t sound as ideal as it truly is.. the whole point is there can be no difference between the front and rear. So even if the rear has zero traction, with CDL engaged it can’t spin faster than the front which has all of the traction. The front will bite and pull you along, at least as much as the available traction will allow.

Where crawl has an advantage is it can handle traction/torque differences side to side, which our open axle diffs can’t do. But with regard to the center diff lock, crawl can’t outperform it.

As for whether it can bind, yes, in tight turns. On any gravel or sand where individual wheels can spin slightly this won’t hurt anything, though it will increase turning radius. On pavement/concrete or “slick” rock like in Moab you should disable it when not specifically needed because the ample traction can cause a lot of binding when turning. It probably still won’t break anything on an otherwise healthy drivetrain but it isn’t good for things and adds unnecessary forces and bad behavior during tight turns.
 
I think they are just mining the forum at this point.

 
Actually a good video for visual people like me. I have been misunderstanding one thing for sure that this expanded my understanding of - with fully open diffs, three wheels spinning (on the rollers here), but the fourth didn't do anything. So I guess you don't have one wheel drive at all - you have one wheel not spinning, but it isn't providing any traction, so you are effectively stuck, with zero drive wheels. That's different than I had understood it previously, but the video shows very clearly.

I dig the overhead crawl control and locker switch setup on that Taco.
 
50/50 doesn’t sound as ideal as it truly is.. the whole point is there can be no difference between the front and rear. So even if the rear has zero traction, with CDL engaged it can’t spin faster than the front which has all of the traction. The front will bite and pull you along, at least as much as the available traction will allow.

Where crawl has an advantage is it can handle traction/torque differences side to side, which our open axle diffs can’t do. But with regard to the center diff lock, crawl can’t outperform it.

As for whether it can bind, yes, in tight turns. On any gravel or sand where individual wheels can spin slightly this won’t hurt anything, though it will increase turning radius. On pavement/concrete or “slick” rock like in Moab you should disable it when not specifically needed because the ample traction can cause a lot of binding when turning. It probably still won’t break anything on an otherwise healthy drivetrain but it isn’t good for things and adds unnecessary forces and bad behavior during tight turns.
Excellent point(s) above, and in other posts. Driveline windup is real when turning in good traction with the CD locked. Simply solution is to not lock the CD, and, trust the TORSEN, it really is awesome. As a sidebar, Toyota has for real snow testing in the north; they get some of the deepest on earth
 
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One things for sure, Toyota's traction systems are not easy to understand and takes a while to get comfortable with. The alphabet soup of terms only adds to the confusion.

I'm surprised at the Taco test above @7.50, that ATRAC did not automagically sort out the situation and move forward. I'm pretty sure it will in our 200-series with just the center diff locked selected. Wouldn't need to lean on CRAWL, as a more hardcore tool, for that situation.

For a casual driver, I think the simplest interpretation for a majority of situations from casual to hardcore, with each mode generally building on the mode before it
- Just drive, the 200-series with all its articulation and capability will get through a lot on it's own devices (which includes stability control and ATRAC)
- Lock center diff - For traction compromised situations, loose surfaces, any wheels lifted or spinning (helps ATRAC perform more effectively). Or the need to keep momentum or wheels spinning (as it also turns off traction/stability control)
- Low range - For low speed work, where more torque or control is needed. e.g. climbs, obstacles, positioning trailer. Can be used with or without center diff lock depending on traction and/or the need to turn.
- CRAWL - stucks, very challenging traction surfaces/obstacles, very steep climbs
- DAC - very steep descents

Feel free to add if you have a different interpretation. MTS is in the mix above too, but maybe an owner of a later gen model can speak to that.
 
Side question - does the 2016 LC have DAC? I don't see a switch for it, but the google machine tells me that I have it. Is it automagic?
 
Actually a good video for visual people like me. I have been misunderstanding one thing for sure that this expanded my understanding of - with fully open diffs, three wheels spinning (on the rollers here), but the fourth didn't do anything. So I guess you don't have one wheel drive at all - you have one wheel not spinning, but it isn't providing any traction, so you are effectively stuck, with zero drive wheels. That's different than I had understood it previously, but the video shows very clearly.

I dig the overhead crawl control and locker switch setup on that Taco.

Our TRD Pro 4Runner had the controls up top too, and I much prefer them there.
 
Side question - does the 2016 LC have DAC? I don't see a switch for it, but the google machine tells me that I have it. Is it automagic?
2021 chiming in, I’ve always performed ‘Downhill Assist Control” by downshifting. Idk how it’s operated on my LC and if it’s brake controlled I’ll stick with the downshifting.
 
DAC is part of crawl control. Set the desired speed and it holds that speed up or down. It's magically delicious (or something like that:slap::steer:)
Thanks! The interweb showed a switch that looked like the crawl control logo sloped downhill instead of uphill. Nice to hear that it is built in. Thanks again.
 
Interesting about DAC in later cruisers. I agree it's still there but integrated into CRAWL.

Both features require low range. It'll generally be in the lowest gear itself, but for downhill, agree with above, it's best to positively select 1st gear in sport.

CRAWL/DAC isn't just low gear as it can do things a single foot on the brake pedal cannot. That is the system can modulate the brake on each wheel independently, to control yaw.
 

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