What Is Better: Toyota Crawl Control OR Differential Lock? TFLslip Test 

A single piece of tape on each tire in a high contrast color would go a long way to show movement at each wheel. The rollers are a neat and simple way to show off these traction aids. Keep up the good work.

I have the TRD off-road double cab 6' bed and I love it. I really don't go off-road but I do a lot of fishing and camping and sometimes need the crawl or locker and it is nice insurance to get you there and home. Thank you 👍 Fun test 😎

This was the best review of the Tacoma system I have ever seen. Thank you!!! 10/10 quality!!

Would love to see you guys test a G80 on the rollers

Best part was when Blaze wanted a cuddle. Tommy, your dog 🐕 loves you. Merry Cbristmas to ALL of the TFL crew. I love your channels.

Great video, LOVE the slip tests on the different vehicles for comparisons. Would Love to see this test redone with different MTS modes to see if they work like A-Trac

That colour is beautiful, with the black accents

Probably the best showcase of this Toyota tech. Nicely done!

I would love if you guys compared the entry level 4x4 Tacoma, Colorado, Frontier, and Ranger on the same test. No lockers, just their ALBS.

Never found my crawl control to work better than an experienced driver in snow or mud. A vehicle with front lockers was still head and shoulders better.

Nice test Tommy.. TRD off road is the sweet-spot.. change out the shocks and done. Your real world tests show a lot.

Awesome looking truck!

It's High kick Tommy 👏... HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY EVERYONE ✌️

I like this. Would be cool to include the articulation test I believe you used to have. Keep track of all the cars/trucks that go on it.

Crawl control is cool although I've never "needed" it. Between the locker and A-Trac I've never had a problem. Crawl control works in reverse too.

great video, love your back seat driver!

Agreed.2021 TRD OFF ROAD is a blast!!!Dreaming about front locked (electric one)

I agree locking the rear is very annoying with my Tacoma and only works 50% of the time. I rely on crawl control because it works when I need it and it activates/deactivates instantly. The other thing I do is ride the brake a little if I have two wheels spinning. A lot of times that's enough to push the power to the other wheels and that's even faster. It's great to see and have an example to show of in these situations 4 wheel drive is better than AWD.

now I'm waiting for my trd pro for next month I'm excited the solar octane looks awesome I can't wait

These roller tests need to be on an incline! Would then LOVE to see a roller test shootout between a Toyota, Ford, Land Rover and Jeep to see which system is actually best (plus more? Rivian? Honda? Chevy?)

Tommy, I'm curious: with all of the off road systems you've tested (and thoroughly!) which would you spend your hard-earned money on? I know you have your Jeep, but which truck would you prefer (or recommend)?

Beautiful truck. 😍

Thank you. Been wanting this test to check out the effectiveness of crawl control with no rear locker. So idea,y you want crawl control and rear locker for ultimate grip.

A great video! With these roles it's a great thing and absolutely understandable. That's how you understand it. Really well explained. One question. What is the difference between ELSD & LSD? Drive a Grand Cherokee WH, 2008, Quattra Drive II. Thank you.

Bought the 2021 Toyota Tacoma TRD 4x4 premium model. The premium give leather seats but most importantly the 360 camera with MTS and Crawl Control . Did an level 5 off road trail, 40 miles took us 16 hours to complete. The rear locker saved me that day till 4am in the morning. The truck got a 2 inch lift and added rear AAL . Never off road alone with the trails are very difficult.

I love my 21 Trd Pro 6 speed manual once OV turned. Redline is set at 7,250 rpm vs 6,300 which really wakes it up. Running Toyota C/T 285/75/16 slight rub need upper control arms. But a very fun truck

I love these tests. Let’s see that new Prius awd.

U can use the rear locker and crawl control together so it pretty much doesnt stop on rocks or rutted inclines but atrac is extremely versatile and is needed for higher reeving or engine tire speed like deep mud and if ur going through deep water with sand or mud underneath crawl only goes slowly and a diff lock doesnt send power around to every wheel x times per second trust me the atrac system is incredible cuz itll figure shit out for u better then just mts and x choice will atrac with a bootfull tries to keep u moving regardless

no on at the dealer could explain the differences for me lol... thanks for the vid!!

I would love to see the same tests with GX460's - one with Crawl Control & one without. since neither have locking rear diff but do (if I understand correctly) have ATRAC automatically engaged and have locking center torsion diff I suppose it would be similar to the 4 runner with ATRAC on & Tacoma with Crawl Control on, but would still love to see if there is any difference.

Have you thought about instead of removing the slip ramps… Creating a slip ramp that you can lock the cylinders to keep them from spinning? Then you only have to set them up once.

I think I speak for all of us when I say, we want to see more of the dog included in more of the videos. When I go off roading I try and bring my dog as much as I can. TFL could use a mascot and your dog seems fit to the task lol

Engaging the rear locker is not finnicky. You're just doing the sequence incorrectly

Nice to know my ‘99 tacoma with a rear locker would cruise right through there. Only ever been stuck once in the mountains with worn toyo mt’s in deep wet snow trying to u-turn on a trail. 4 low, rear locked… I could step out and watch everything working. Was airing down when an old Chevy came up and tugged me out. Momentum is key in snow.

When Tommy has enough time to say, "Come on, work it out" to a traction control system, it illustrates what, I think, is still a fundamental shortcoming for these systems for off-roading. They are not smarter than, and can restrict the control of, a decent driver.

Great test! Like a couple other commenters, I use multi -terrain select (MTS) instead of crawl control. In my experience, it has the same effect but you're able to control the speed and thereby make it smoother and it also seems to be quieter. Maybe worth a try on a test sometime. Thanks!

Love to see this test on the rapper with the Torsen front diff

I really wish Toyota would put a selectable locker in the front. Put it in the "Pro" to really set it apart from the TRD Off-Road besides its fancy paint and badging.

I have this exact truck, color & everything. I only have 700 miles on it so I need way more seat time. I'm coming from a 19" Jeep JL Rubicon on 35's and knew exactly what that was capable with the front & rear lockers. Knowing I only have a rear locker on this new truck I am more excited now to learn the MTS. I don't expect to put this truck through what I did my Jeep, mostly because of tire size, but it appears the MTS will be more handy than I expected. Time will tell

4wd high has Trac. Works like the lowest setting of MTS. It is likely to be enough to succeed on the rollers and mogul obstacles with light / steady throttle input.

Been wanting this for a while. In 2wd on a minor incline if one wheel was on ice I wasn't able to go anywhere. It required pushing the vcs button and HOLDING it to get it unstuck (in 2wd) This all occured in my driveway so was just experimenting. Bring back the mechanical LSD.

Multi-Terrain Select has 5 different settings for terrain on the Offroad and Pro in 4lo and can be activated with the rear locker. Way better than Crawl Control. The 3rd gen has been out awhile and it amazes me some don't know how to drive them.

Well done! Now, let’s put all 4 on the rollers. 😂

Modern 4x4s have come a long way and are super capable stock. If, however, your 4x4 is a 72 Jeep Commando, mods are required. That said, locker in rear and a e-locker in the front takes me places I really shouldn't go with the advantage of old school simplicity.

The activation delay is really unnerving with this electronic 4WD selectors. On my 2021 Mitsubishi L200 (called the Triton in the US) sometimes it can take up to 30 seconds.

It would be good to test the ability of Multi-Terrain select. Still have to be in 4Lo but not limited to driving speeds.

Awesome video series. My 4Runner TRD OR has all this but I never really understood it all. Only time I have been stuck is deep sand (dunes). Would love to see some sand tests!

Great test! Can rav4 hybrid perform similar?

In diagonal test you can use the traction control button to enable auto LSD, it will recognize the one the the 2 rear wheels is slipping and send power to the other rear wheel by braking the slipping rear tire all while staying in 2 wheel drive. Another thing is the rear locker, it's 100% normal for a rear locker not wanting to engage just sitting still. If you are on a slippery surface do figure 8's to engage the rear locker, if you are already on a hill in a bad spot keep giving small amounts of gas to cause one of the wheels to slip and it will engage with a clank (that's normal).

I find myself using the rear locker over the crawl control function pretty much 9 outta 10 times in a sticky situation… with some careful (and thoughtful) planning ahead of the trail, usually can get myself outta the situation with a little throttle management…

Fun fact: You can engage an Auto LSD function for the rear axle while still in 2WD by pressing the " Off" button according to the Taco owners manual. Y'all should test that.

I hardly every use my crawl control except for as a DAC. MTS rock and diff lock. Good to see the slip test on the Tacoma! Mine shifts a little better now that it’s broken in. But this truck was always a bit better than the previous one I had. It’s definitely annoying though because one has to anticipate when one will need the diff lock ie before getting stuck. Ideally it would be best to engage the diff locker after becoming stuck. You could also use MTS. Ryan Douhit said it well. MTS is the next generation of ATRAC.

Did you upgrade the rollers since restarting this series? The old ones were SO loud no matter how much you greased

Would have like to see the MTS system tested also.

I'll keep my ZR2. Got em in front and in back. The rear lockers will engage in 2H and 4H. If I remember right you need 4Lo to get any of that tech, crawl control and locker, to operate. No wonder the the Toyota guys had to carry gas with them when I went on a Padre Island NS run. (60mi of beach) I carried as a precaution, but 6spd in 4lo is alotta gas to drink.

hey tommy, try a "manual crawl control" one of these times. use your left foot and apply about 50% brake and then feather the gas with your right foot. You should be able to simulate the system transferring power riding the brake through obstacles like that.

Tommy, great video! I love the slip test with rollers. But, question: does this truck have KDSS? I would love to see KDSS put to the test on some of your high articulation areas on your off road course. But, if it is on this truck, maybe I did see it and just didn't know it?

I know last winter I was very impressed in the snow with my 4Runner TRD Pro vs the Pickup Truck I had before and I have had Ford Chevy and GMC with locking rear differential. The 4Runner TRD Pro is by far more capable

My problem with crawl control is it requires a slushbox. My 2010 TRD Offroad 6 speed does just fine with A-Track and a locker.

I’ve been off roading for 28 years very very experienced driver in all off road environments, and that crawl control has saved my butt 3X , I would not buy a Tacoma without it !

would like to see the slip test on a trd sport 4x4 tacoma. in 4x4 high, it has traction control and in 2x4 it has limited slip differential - how do these work in these tests? Not off road worthy but definalty slick city driving and getting out of slippery situations!

My 2018 frontier just applies the brakes whichever wheel is slipping, even in 2wd. I make up our snowy, 50 yard, sloped driveway all the time just in 2wd.

Have you done this with AWD trucks, like the Honda

Tommy has gotten pretty smooth and seems to be a lil more chill on camera these days lol

Have you done the ranger with the terrain system yet

Can you try this test on the frontier?

Lockers are the only way to go. Crawl control is just more new electronics for something new that they can charge more for. When you need tire speed you will not get it in crawl control where as lockers you will. And if you off road a lot in varies conditions you will find you need that tire speed especially in snow, mud, and sand. Anyone who 4 wheels a lot will choose lockers every time.

Good video bud. Next time show us some 2wd LSD mode. My 19 TRD OR has gone above and beyond aired down and in LSD mode! Im sure most people dont know about it!

Thanks Tommy. Can you do the same exact test with a Ford ranger fx4? Ford's traction control automatically engages without even hitting a button.

Does it have to be in 4X4 to use the crawl control? I have one coming in August.😁

This one was awesome guys! I know you didn't use MTS and just crawl control, but that standardizes everything across attempts at least, and I'm sure videos get too long very quickly. Especially with a toyota that has a million mode combinations. I would love to see a deep dive into the different traction systems between trucks in this format but with just rollers. Anyways, great job on this one.

Would like to see this done with the 4runner tRD offroad with KDSS. The rut test that is.

i cant decide between the automatic or manual trans. only because the automatic has crawl control. would you (or anyone here) say that the crawl control (in automatic) is worth it and can possibly be better then just having rear lockers ? that test on the rollers where both rear wheels and one front wheel was on rollers was impressive using crawl control.. i cant make up my mind now, and looking forward to purchashing a new 23 trd pro soon !

Maybe there is a video of it I've missed, but I would like to see them test the BLD on the JL to compare.

for the 23 Tacoma with this AT tire, do any ideas for the PIS of the tire when in the city and light off road?

What you demonstrated on the rollers is fine if you're gronking around in an off-road situation, but useless for normal driving on snow and/or ice. I suspect that nothing has changed on the 2023 models, but on my 2020, A-TRAK, diff lock and crawl control can only be used in 4wd-low range. I don't know about how you drive, but for 'normal' slippery on-road driving, I would only use 4wd High. I'm certainly not going to shift into 4-low to start out from a traffic light. In the new Bronco, the diff lock can be used in either 4-hi or 4-low.

Braking is never good while trying to climb stuff, on soft surfaces . However i believe that using a Torsen type diff with computer and steering angle sensors . is the best for modern "offroaders" .

I'm surprised this 2023 TRD pro Tacoma isn't featured in your "cheap" Toyota segment. May as well at this point really

I'd prefer torque biasing diffs, but if you've got an ABS system in there anyway it's a no brainer for the manufacturers to add a decent traction control system like that.

i really wish more if these trucks came with manual transmission’s

would like to see this same test with the ranger and nissan trucks too.

Hola puedes aser el mismo test con manual transmission thank you.

Tommy is right, the Toyota 4x4 system reacts so slowly when requesting different settings, it’s incredibly annoying

You should try that test with the auto lsd on

ESP zafira can do that crawl stuff... Big surprise 😅

I drive off road quite a bit so why is it so difficult to lock and unlock the rear differential; 2021 Tacoma Off-road. I'm I doing something wrong ?

Nice! 100% perfectly done. No doubts whatsoever what is going on. Street oriented tires and the proper OR system can negotiate quite a bit. I am a little surprised the PRO does not have more aggressive tires. But perhaps it is a used model that someone swapped the tires out for something more pavement oriented. Which was great for this test. 👏

I don’t care how outdated the tacoma is getting. Just like the 4Runner, it gets more charming to me as time goes on. All these other companies trying to redesign over and over to catch up to the tacoma yet they are all so far away. By the time they think they did enough, the new 4th gen tacoma will come and reign its dominance just like the 3rd gen did. It’s just the best looking truck by a landslide to my eyes. I absolutely love how this truck looks and how it was designed and personally the seating position is perfectly fine for me. I don’t mind it at all and the higher floor helps with ground clearance. People cry when there’s not a lot of ground clearance and approach and departure like the new tundra and sequoia. When they concentrate more on off road capability, people cry about the floor being too high. You can never please everyone but glad they focused on the off road capability. There’s no such thing as a perfect truck, you compromise one way or another but looking at how many tacomas have been sold, I’d say Toyota made the right moves and knocked it out of the park. People nitpick against the tacoma cause it laps the competition in sales. It’s the best off road platform to start from along with the gladiator but more comfortable on road. So many modifications and looks so good stock and looks better and better the more mods you do. A simple lift and bigger tires makes this truck drool worthy. The ranger and Colorado are all ugly. The frontier is just boring to me and the gladiator is way overpriced and doesn’t look right when it’s stock.

Love the roller tests, Tommy Dislike that you can't access MTS (multi terrain select) or lockers in 4 high or even 2wd I have a 22 TRD Off-Road.

Everyone knows the 4Runner and tacoma can walk these tests with locker and crawl control but he could’ve made it through with just using the mts settings. We know atrac itself can do it since the 4Runner already showed that but imo not eden people take advantage of the mts settinfa which work great too as long as it’s not super technical trails or if you are severely stuck. Locker is always best bet for that but new works good for things like this as well. he should’ve demonstrated that. What I like to do is if the front tires are stuck use the rear locker, if the rear tires are stuck I usually go to atrac which works great for either the front or rear tires being stuck. Crawl control does the job just as well but I find it more convenient just to click that atrac button real quick and just giving it some slight gas ALWAYS gets it done. If you are just royally super stuck, crawl control is usually my last go to option but with the rear locker and atrac working together will get you out of almost anything basically.

can you do this with the new frontier?

so I am in the process of buying my First toyota and I am going right for a Tacoma. SEEMS like the right truck for me is the TRD off-road NOT a SR5 with the rear diff. So the crawl control really seems to NOT be a gimmick. This is not the first video Ive watched on it. Ive watched a ton and people burying them in the sand. Pressing crawl and it pulls it out of sand down to the axles.

Does the multi-terrain select have any affect on these tests?

Where does one get a set of rollers like those?

I know this has been mentioned before, but the Bronco’s locker light lies to you. The video with it on the rollers showed this. The Bronco said the locker was on, but only one tire turned until it got engaged. All of these rear lockers rely on the teeth lining up to engage. If they aren’t lined up, one tire needs to turn to get them lined up. Toyota and Jeep correctly show this.

What your guys take on toyotas MTS (Multi-Terrain Select)? Do you really think it does anything for offroading?

My 2022 trail boss is dam slow going to 4low. Heck sometimes I don’t think it’s ever gonna go in 4L.

I personally would like you to compare this to you standard work truck Stubby!

I’ve been looking for a rubicon slip test and can’t find it! Can you guys help me?

Can we get the new Honda pilot on rollers test?