Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives 4runner locker or not?

I am looking at 4runners, and the TRD with the locker rear end is hard to find. If it is available, it usually is a premium model with the sunroof, and I don't want that, or the expense. The SR5 is more common. So I dont crawl rocks for kicks, but I hunt on logging trails. Chains have gotten me home when it gets icy. So I never had them before, should I get them now?

You can always have an aftermarket locker put in, especially if you find a cheaper one without the other frills that you don't want. I've never heard anyone say "I wish I didn't have the locker". With that said, it does pretty good without one, at least mine does. Just depends on your driving conditions and locations that you put yourself in.

All else equal, if I could find one with it and was happy with the price, I'd get it.

Are you talking a locker or a limited slip rear axle? Ol Blue had an open rear axle, but with four wheel dive if I got mired I'd just grab the 4wd lever and go. A locker will wear tires faster and be more squirrelly on ice. The new truck has limited slip and I like it because I don't need 4wd as often, but I don't go looking for mud holes to stick the truck in as I've gotten older and wiser.

I like lockers for rock crawling, which we do a lot when we are hunting Coues whitetails. For a truck that used mostly for everyday driving, I prefer limited slip differentials, and I have really never been in a situation with a limited slip where I wished that I had a locker. YMMV.

The factor locker is electronically activated, so you run open diff until you want it locked.

In icy conditions, a locker might not be an advantage and you're still going to want to chain up. Lockers are more of an advantage in mud and rock crawling.

Do use the locker to crawl or churn out of crap I shouldn't have gotten into in the first place or pulling something or someone out. It has augmented pulling a honey I know out of the snowbanks she seems to be attracted to.

It will make a difference should you do what I do and give situation a go, rather than wisely defer.

The best option is the KDSS suspension option. I sold the SR5 for a Trail model to get it, and because I bought the truck in the west, they had the KDSS option without the GPS "system." In MI, the package with the KISS was bundled with the nannyware. No thanks.

The KDSS is worth its weight in gold both off the road and in taking the body roll out of the Runner when switching lanes at x-way speeds, particularly for saving your bacon from the oversights of yer fellow man. 4Runners aren't 30' Dodge Diesels. If you travel to hunt, you will get an opportunity to see it in action...:)

If all else fails, as mentioned above, one could add an ARB air locker or a Harrup elocker if so desired and you can't find a truck equipped with the rear locker set up the way you want. The new crawl control systems are pretty sophisticated and work well for most crawling that most people will do. That being said, having a rear selectable locker is a really nice option to have available, if you are planning on crawling the vehicle and will be lifting one rear wheel while doing so.

Being in the west, for what I do, I would want a rear locker. I just sold a triple locked 80 series landcruiser, and bought a used 200 series landcruiser. It has crawl control, ATRAC and KDSS. I will be adding a Harrup rear locker to it if that tells you anything.

I bought my first 4Runner(and first Toyota) in January. It's a base TRD Offroad and it came with a rear locker and traction control.

Don't confuse traction control with any kind off off-road traction device. It's for slick roads only and won't help a bit in off roading. My Dodge Ram has it and I hear all the time how the 'lockers' on these pickups don't work. It works very well for it's intended purpose. It's a means of controlling slippage on slick roads where the computer will use the brakes and throttle to slightly slow down a slipping tire so it can regain traction.

If you meant Crawl Control instead of traction control, that's something else entirely.

I think there is traction control, on all models. The TRD OFF Road model has the electric locker, and crawl control in low range. I never had crawl control or a locker, and I have been stuck a few times in my 4wd trucks. Never ever came close to stuck in my Outbacks, they are insane.
When it is bad, I use chains, and always got around with those. So I really can't see the need for my area for the locker and crawl control. Again I don't understand the technology. Some guys act like you can't drive on wet roads without 10,000 dollars of aftermarket gadgets and two winches.
It seems to be easier to get a Premium with the TRD off road, than just an OFF Road. I don't want the Premium for a sunroof that I dont use, and could leak, plus it is about 2 grand more. Money aside, less is more sometimes.

Crawl control is what I was referring to.

I didn't want a Premium, either. However, they offer the Premium w/o a sunroof now.

Nothing like a push button factory locker from Toyota.

Aftermarket stuff works great but you're just taking value off your daily driver.

You either know you need it or know you don't. Ice is the last place I'd use a locker.

I wouldn’t run one for what your doing, 30 years of Toyota 4x4’s, first gen, second gen, tacos, and four runners, they get around in the hills just fine. I think my 4 runner did a little better than the trucks as far as traction too. You’ll be fine without a locker

Lockers and crawl control of for situations where you mechanically aren't getting power to the tires that have traction due to the terrain i.e. you've got wheels in the air preventing you from putting power to the wheels on the ground.

Traction control, and chains, are for situations where the conditions are such that you simply don't have traction and you need to apply limited amounts of power to prevent loosing what little traction you have, i.e. you don't want to spin the tires.

With traction control I've taken turns a bit too fast on icy roads and am amazed how the computer simultaneously cuts engine power and applies the brakes to various wheels which keeps the vehicle from spinning in oversteer of going off the road in understeer.

Agree on the ice. It can help you on "black ice" you didn't see as well, ymmv

Locking your rear end and churning out of a hole on a muddy logging road is something some of us find ourselves doing rather than getting out of the cab to access in the first place. Running lockers on a short body like a CJ5 is just pure satisfaction when they pop in gear.

Easy answer:

a. I don't know, maybe we should chain up...
b. Looks possible, I think we could make it...

Have the 4 Runner TRD Pro with all the goodies. Not interested in rock crawling so will have little use for the locker. That being said the TRD Pro is like the old FJ Cruiser with all the same mechanics. Overbuilt and stout in all the right places. You would have to work to break it. The other advantage is the resale value will more than cover the additional investment. Bud has the regular SR5 and the highway ride is the same.

Only used the locker once to come out after going into a nasty hole. It paid for itself at the time. I'd buy another.

Addition: The tires that come on TRD Pro are surprisingly quiet for the first 20,000 or so and then not so much.

I have a 06 Tacoma 6cyl 6 speed transmission with limited slip gear not ABS. I get more use out of the limited slip then I would get with a locker.

Amen...I never get stuck in a place where a wrecker can get to...:) But imagine if you don't get to those places, a guy wouldn't need it.

After having a 4wd for the last 47 years, I've decided that the only advantage in 4wd is that it enables you to get stuck in more inaccessible places. If a guy just used the rear wheel drive to get themselves into trouble then grabbed the 4wd lever or pushed the 4wd button to get themselves back out, they would do just fine. I've found engaging the brain before I needed the lever has worked really well for me. If you must bury the thing, a big winch is your best friend. Actually I've found that a trailer with an ATV on it beats everything and you don't need to depend on that ATV to get you back home if you break something.