Titan 4WD Offroad Performance

[outahere]

From another thread on the "active brake limited slip" :

I didn't buy it because it uses the brakes and you can't turn it off.... just try to climb something steep with the brakes on or go through mud where you need wheelspin to get through.... Toyota Sequoya has the same feature and it sucked in climbing tests.... Really poor way to control traction... efficient traction control uses the engine like a corvette and ALL Audis and you can turn it off...

When Four Wheeler tested the Titan against the F-150 and Tundra, they called them all "fairly evenly ranked" in offroad performance.
Has anyone taken the Titan 4WD (with ABLS) offroad yet?
How did it do in the mud?
In the sand?
Going up slippery hills?
Coming down slippery hills?

If, as some have suggested, power is reduced when wheel spinning is detected, how do you get out of a mud hole if you don't have the locking rear differential?

[pluckyew]

my titan got stuck on about a foot (12") of snow covered paved (flat!) road when the left two tires wandered off the packed snow (on 4wh lo). the snow was right up the belly.

I don't think a limited slip diffrential equipped wrangler would have gotten stuck, just my hunch.

had to be pulled by another Pathfinder AND be pushed by couple of guys. initialy after getting stuck the narrow 11.2" (but measured tread is about 10.5") tires for the 5300# weight just dug in deeper into the snow, tires spinning.

i was the only big truck in that part of the snowed in road.

i was self-conscious of not having a limited slip differential, but then again last year, my wrangler with 30x9.5 tires and limited slip differential got stuck as well, in similar situation, but about 18" of packed snow then.

would be nice to have wider tires then a 280/70/17 (~33x11.2)...like some 35x14s or 38x15s and a e-locking rear differential axle.

then again some common sense would avoid all that ...and the fun.

i'm getting a shovel to mount/lock inside by truck bed

winch is nice, but for this situation there're were not any thick enough trees closeby. a $60 high lift jack would have been nice.


looking forward to some more off road use.

anyone know how i can add a rear locking differential?

[dav8or]

Originally posted by pluckyew
my titan got stuck on about a foot of snow covered paved road when i wandered off the packed snow (on 4wh lo). had to be pulled by another pathfinder and pushed by several people. initialy after getting stuck the narrow 11.2" (but measured tread is about 10.5") tires for the 5200# weight just dug in deeper into the snow, tires spinning

i was the only big truck even testing out the snowed in road.

Your not 4 wheeling until you get stuck.

[outahere]

it's my first full size 4wd truck (been off roading a wranger for 8 years)....the rancho shocks were really bouncy bouncy.

A set of adjustable Rancho shocks may solve the bouncy bouncy problem. I have used them on an older Toyota 4WD truck, and they make quite a difference.
As for getting stuck in the snow, it sounds like the snow was up to the axles, essentially lifting the truck up and reducing traction. Not sure if even a locker could have helped you there.

[pluckyew]

outahere:

yeah you're probably right.

now where am i gonna stow the shovel and the axe (and rifle) in that pretty truck?

[outahere]

Pluckyew, put your rifle on a rack in the rear window. That should go over big in Berkeley, LOL!

Has anyone seen a online test report on the offroad performance of the Titan, that really put it through the paces? In the few reports I have seen, I don't think they did anything tougher than driving on a dirt road.

[Sabre66]

I thought that with a 4-wheel drive transfer case the front and rear differentials locked when in 4-Lo (making the wheels turn at the same rate) and in 4-Hi they were free to transfer power to the wheels that needed traction.

Can somebody clarify this for me. Maybe that's when there's a center differential???

Anyone know if a Pathfinder has a center differential? I've been in some pretty large snow banks, mounds, etc. (2-3 feet) and haven't ever gotten stuck like "pluckyew" mentioned.

This concerns me that the Titan doesn't have the 4X4 ability to get out of a 1 foot snowdrift. Or maybe i'm misreading what "pluckyew" was trying to say.

thanx

[outahere]

Originally Posted by Sabre66

I thought that with a 4-wheel drive transfer case the front and rear differentials locked when in 4-Lo (making the wheels turn at the same rate) and in 4-Hi they were free to transfer power to the wheels that needed traction.

Can somebody clarify this for me.

thanx

With the Titan in 4WD, the front and rear driveshafts are locked together. The wheels are not locked together unless you have a locking differential. With the optional e-locker in the 4WD Titan you effectively have, at best, 3WD under adverse traction conditions. If you want true 4WD, even under the worst of conditions, you will need a locking differential front and rear.

[Sabre66]

Originally Posted by outahere

With the Titan in 4WD, the front and rear driveshafts are locked together. The wheels are not locked together unless you have a locking differential. With the optional e-locker in the 4WD Titan you effectively have, at best, 3WD under adverse traction conditions. If you want true 4WD, even under the worst of conditions, you will need a locking differential front and rear.

Thanx for the reply. I'm not a true off-roader, but do love to go out and play in the snow and dirt whenever i can. Still haven't gotten hung-up or stuck anywhere. It just seemed unusual that someone got a Titan stuck in only a foot of snow.

[outahere]

Originally Posted by Sabre66

It just seemed unusual that someone got a Titan stuck in only a foot of snow.

Snow tires, a locking differential, and 400 lbs of sand bags in the bed, over the rear axle, should be a big help.

[militia_man]

Nice Trucks those Titans!!!

[Batman229]

Something must not be correct if you got your big 5,500lb 4wd truck stuck only in a foot of snow. Whether or not it was human error or the abls not being good in the snow only pluckyew knows. What i know is my 4wd frontier with open front and rear differentials gets in and out of a foot of snow no problem. Even from a stand still. I dont know what happend up there.

[Batman229]

even so how does this truck work in deep mud and sand?

[pluckyew]

i had better luck riding around on a muddy and wet trails packed with some snow, in Ishi Wilderness in Lasen NF. i kept the speed up (was kinda fun & scary, but o-heck, we got lucky) a bit to avoid getting mired in "fairly deep" mud pools in a place where there weren't much anyone who could have pulled us out. them racho shocks and 33x11.4 tires were pretty good in handling. got some pictures posted in the pictures section.

love that titan...

now if i can just get 13~14 overall average mpg, i'd be a happier titan owner.

[Batman229]

the nissan website shows limited slip as an option for the titan in the camparison section of the website, but is not offered in the build a nissan section?? is that simply a mistake or can you get a straight up limited slip rear on the titan?