- First Name
- Jake
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- Apr 29, 2025
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- Sacramento CA
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- 2024 Tacoma Off Road Premium
Moved this over here from the other thread, up for discussion.
I will paint a picture, that will maybe provide some perspective; however, its worth what you paid for it.
First, I will take the same liberty, as previous comments, to make some assumptions.
Lets assume that Toyota engineers are not idiots, and that Toyota has been in business of selling some of the best off road vehicles for over 80 years. If true, then there might be lots of experience there, which has produced knowledge, and eventually some wisdom; some of which, may have even been passed down.
Lets assume, based on some specific EPA & Safety or otherwise mandated requirements, as well as market requests or trends, the business of selling off road focused or more off road capable vehicles, has changed, or slowly evolved.
Lets assume, the 22R or 22RE was a legendary product, and that today vehicles with that engine, are still on the road, and have a cult-like following.
Lets assume that updating a 22R to something that will adequately drive a much heavier vehicle, comply with laws and regulations, and fill the wants and needs of the customer, is not easy, but is not an impossible feat. Lets assume that while the current production V6 has shown great reliability, it has a stereotype of "fuel efficiency of a V8, power of a 4 cylinder" for good reason.
Now if we take the above assumptions into account, and try to produce a product to fit the requirements of these laws and customers, here is one possible outcome:
Update the 22R with a turbo. Turbo's generate additional heat that needs to be managed. Increase cooling capacity. Update to direct injection, but also add port injection so that the valves are cleaned by the fuel and there isn't any additional required labor in walnut husk blasting of the intakes every 50k miles. More power, more weight (heavier vehicle), more heat, more cooling... (see any trends here?)
Now, add an 8 speed auto transmission. Keep in mind, this vehicle most likely, will spend the majority of its life, on paved roads. The turbo needs to be spooled up to be effective, and customers generally don't rave about turbo lag. A higher stall speed on the torque converter will allow the engine to rev up a bit, hopefully in its designed powerband, reducing the feeling of turbo lag or hesitation prior to increasing boost pressure or power.
Now, you are getting closer to a solution, on road. What about off road? Well, the transfer case is there for a reason. In low range, its roughly 2.57 to 1 gear reduction, according to google. This gives lots of mechanical advantage, but with that, reduced final drive speed; probably acceptable since these folks are on less than ideal conditions. Its likely you wont be driving at normal highway speeds, as the slippery or low traction environment, also means that the other safety devices like anti-lock brakes and traction control are at a reduced or zero effect.
Lets assume that you have spent lots of time, effort, and money, on research and development, of the performance of your vehicles off-road, over decades. Lets also assume you want to leverage a software & hardware solution you have created, that excels in this low traction, off-road environment. This system is more effective, the slower you go, since use of the skinny pedal can often induce a low traction environment all on its own, and inertial forces are reduced. (ATRAC/MTS/CRAWL etc)
So here is the final assumption:
4WD High Range - great for on-road reduced traction situations, snow, ice, maybe hard pack sand, dirt, generally flat, (baja 1000)
4WD Low Range - Great for off-road low traction situations, dirt, mud, rocks, snow, steep inclines or declines, (more technical, slow, rock crawling) when some of the advanced software & hardware systems (ATRAC/CRAWL etc) become available and beneficial.
Leveraging the generally under-utilized transfer case gearing, to truly give great on-road performance, and good off-road performance, is not a bad idea.
To those who may dislike the final drive speed of 4WD Low range in the Tacoma, I've owned a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, with the 4.3 to 1 Rock crawling transfer case; and that, while great in rock crawling application, was terribly slow in almost any other situation. The 2.57 to 1 is a good middle ground.
While you may assume that Toyota decided to not install a separate transmission cooler due to cost/profit, its possible that a simple shift into 4WD Low Range will reduce the load on the engine and drivetrain, not plug up the already increased cooling required for the engine, reduce negative inertial effects in reduced-traction environments on and off road, and giving the safety systems a chance to assist in preventing complete loss of vehicle control. Thats like killing four or five birds with one stone.
Your thoughts?
I will paint a picture, that will maybe provide some perspective; however, its worth what you paid for it.
First, I will take the same liberty, as previous comments, to make some assumptions.
Lets assume that Toyota engineers are not idiots, and that Toyota has been in business of selling some of the best off road vehicles for over 80 years. If true, then there might be lots of experience there, which has produced knowledge, and eventually some wisdom; some of which, may have even been passed down.
Lets assume, based on some specific EPA & Safety or otherwise mandated requirements, as well as market requests or trends, the business of selling off road focused or more off road capable vehicles, has changed, or slowly evolved.
Lets assume, the 22R or 22RE was a legendary product, and that today vehicles with that engine, are still on the road, and have a cult-like following.
Lets assume that updating a 22R to something that will adequately drive a much heavier vehicle, comply with laws and regulations, and fill the wants and needs of the customer, is not easy, but is not an impossible feat. Lets assume that while the current production V6 has shown great reliability, it has a stereotype of "fuel efficiency of a V8, power of a 4 cylinder" for good reason.
Now if we take the above assumptions into account, and try to produce a product to fit the requirements of these laws and customers, here is one possible outcome:
Update the 22R with a turbo. Turbo's generate additional heat that needs to be managed. Increase cooling capacity. Update to direct injection, but also add port injection so that the valves are cleaned by the fuel and there isn't any additional required labor in walnut husk blasting of the intakes every 50k miles. More power, more weight (heavier vehicle), more heat, more cooling... (see any trends here?)
Now, add an 8 speed auto transmission. Keep in mind, this vehicle most likely, will spend the majority of its life, on paved roads. The turbo needs to be spooled up to be effective, and customers generally don't rave about turbo lag. A higher stall speed on the torque converter will allow the engine to rev up a bit, hopefully in its designed powerband, reducing the feeling of turbo lag or hesitation prior to increasing boost pressure or power.
Now, you are getting closer to a solution, on road. What about off road? Well, the transfer case is there for a reason. In low range, its roughly 2.57 to 1 gear reduction, according to google. This gives lots of mechanical advantage, but with that, reduced final drive speed; probably acceptable since these folks are on less than ideal conditions. Its likely you wont be driving at normal highway speeds, as the slippery or low traction environment, also means that the other safety devices like anti-lock brakes and traction control are at a reduced or zero effect.
Lets assume that you have spent lots of time, effort, and money, on research and development, of the performance of your vehicles off-road, over decades. Lets also assume you want to leverage a software & hardware solution you have created, that excels in this low traction, off-road environment. This system is more effective, the slower you go, since use of the skinny pedal can often induce a low traction environment all on its own, and inertial forces are reduced. (ATRAC/MTS/CRAWL etc)
So here is the final assumption:
4WD High Range - great for on-road reduced traction situations, snow, ice, maybe hard pack sand, dirt, generally flat, (baja 1000)
4WD Low Range - Great for off-road low traction situations, dirt, mud, rocks, snow, steep inclines or declines, (more technical, slow, rock crawling) when some of the advanced software & hardware systems (ATRAC/CRAWL etc) become available and beneficial.
Leveraging the generally under-utilized transfer case gearing, to truly give great on-road performance, and good off-road performance, is not a bad idea.
To those who may dislike the final drive speed of 4WD Low range in the Tacoma, I've owned a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, with the 4.3 to 1 Rock crawling transfer case; and that, while great in rock crawling application, was terribly slow in almost any other situation. The 2.57 to 1 is a good middle ground.
While you may assume that Toyota decided to not install a separate transmission cooler due to cost/profit, its possible that a simple shift into 4WD Low Range will reduce the load on the engine and drivetrain, not plug up the already increased cooling required for the engine, reduce negative inertial effects in reduced-traction environments on and off road, and giving the safety systems a chance to assist in preventing complete loss of vehicle control. Thats like killing four or five birds with one stone.
Your thoughts?
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