DAC/Crawl control

[jimr]

Just finished first serious 4wd experience in 6th gen off-road. In SW Colorado, took Nellie Creek road from 9.3K feet to Uncompahgre peak trailhead at 11.4K feet. Not sure the linear distance, but I'll guess maybe 6 steep miles. Found the DAC/Crawl control instructions in the manual to be confusing, so just pushed the button to see what happens. You gotta be in 4L to use it, since it's designed for extremely low speed. There are 4 or 5 speed positions (ultra-slow to slow) that can be set using the twist knob surrounding the "DAC/Crawl" button. I found it most useful for downhill instead of uphill, since it applies brakes as necessary to keep the desired speed. No problem turning the knob while driving, it just changes your speed. I found DAC/Crawl to be a very nice feature to assist 4 wheeling, but not sure it really adds much capability to do more serious terrain.

As an aside, I made sure to pay attention to transmission fluid temps after reading others experiences with overheating in various 4wd circumstances. It was no problem, stayed in the middle of the range the whole time. Maybe due to only 6ish miles, low OAT (45-60F), or keeping it in 4L the whole time.

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[Nodak]

dac primary use is to keep a slow consistent downhill speed. i really havent heard of anyone using for ascending purposes. since its literally called "downhill assist control"

it will show an icon of the vehicle going down a hill vs

crawl mode is for going up hills if i remember correctly and will show an icon with a vehicle going up a hill

 

[CO/ZA]

Just finished first serious 4wd experience in 6th gen off-road. In SW Colorado, took Nellie Creek road from 9.3K feet to Uncompahgre peak trailhead at 11.4K feet. Not sure the linear distance, but I'll guess maybe 6 steep miles. Found the DAC/Crawl control instructions in the manual to be confusing, so just pushed the button to see what happens. You gotta be in 4L to use it, since it's designed for extremely low speed. There are 4 or 5 speed positions (ultra-slow to slow) that can be set using the twist knob surrounding the "DAC/Crawl" button. I found it most useful for downhill instead of uphill, since it applies brakes as necessary to keep the desired speed. No problem turning the knob while driving, it just changes your speed. I found DAC/Crawl to be a very nice feature to assist 4 wheeling, but not sure it really adds much capability to do more serious terrain.

As an aside, I made sure to pay attention to transmission fluid temps after reading others experiences with overheating in various 4wd circumstances. It was no problem, stayed in the middle of the range the whole time. Maybe due to only 6ish miles, low OAT (45-60F), or keeping it in 4L the whole time.

Yeah same, I did Bill Moore Lake not too long ago and had a similar experience.

I think the people getting overheats on their gearbox are in 4Hi when they should be 4Lo.

 

[timelapse]

I was under the impression DAC works in 4Hi and when you press the same button in 4Lo, you get crawl control or are they one and the same? I haven't tried mine yet.

Sounds like you had an awesome time in SW Colorado. I also just got back from a trip to the San Juans and kept a close eye on transmission temps while climbing 2-3k to see if it aligned with other forum posts.

For what it's worth, I've hiked Uncompahgre a few years back and drove to the same upper TH in my 5th gen. Just kept it in 2WD the entire time. I had a 3/2 lift and 285/70/17 e rated KO2s. Maybe the road is a bit worse these days.

In my 6th gen, I did observe how quickly the transmission heats up on longer climbs. If you stay in 2WD or 4Hi, it will get hot very quick. Drop it into 4Lo and it climbs all day without getting hot. Only downside is that some big offroad climbs don't require driving at slow speeds in 4Lo so it's a bit overkill and a waste of time to switch between IMO. Staying in 2WD or 4Hi and manually staying in a lower gear also helped keep temps down.

For the 6th gen, it climbs and it's reliable, but you got to put a little more thought into things.

The 5th gen just let you do whatever you wanted for thousands of vertical feet without issue and in my case, I would only use 4Lo or even 4Hi if it was absolutely necessary or a proper 4x4 trail... while laughing as I passed all the other "overlanders" changing to 4Lo or doing other unnecessary things on easy trails like the classic Alpine loop stuff. On my most recent trip, I couldn't do that and had to drive slower up the climbs to keep the transmission happy. Oh well. I'm still stoked on the 6th gen!

 

[jimr]

I was under the impression DAC works in 4Hi and when you press the same button in 4Lo, you get crawl control or are they one and the same? I haven't tried mine yet.

Empirically DAC definitely worked in 4L. Not sure what would have happened if I enabled it in 4H. As I said, I found the instructions confusing. Going down, the DAC worked great. For that road, employing Crawl going up didn't seem useful, but maybe I should have tried it for experimentation.

 

[Mad Ghost]

I used it in 4high this summer it works

 

[Turbo8]

Crawl is an even more aggressive form of MTS. It can get you through some very tough situations, almost as good as front and rear lockers. Crawl is actually better than dual lockers in certain situations.

 

[MikeD]

Empirically DAC definitely worked in 4L. Not sure what would have happened if I enabled it in 4H. As I said, I found the instructions confusing. Going down, the DAC worked great. For that road, employing Crawl going up didn't seem useful, but maybe I should have tried it for experimentation.

\
I’m a bit confused. What I recall is:
same switch. DAC works in 4Hi. Crawl works in 4Low like Timelapse said, DAC 3-18 MPH set with knob. Crawl <1 - ~3 MPH - up or down.

 

[Nodak]

when you engage dac/crawl you turn the mode wheel to either left/right to select dac or crawl and the dash will light up either with "crawl" icons denoted by a vehicle going uphill or

if using dac you will get the following icons denoted a vehicle going down a hill

dac you can turn the model switch to set the desired speed up to 18 mph downhill

in the HV manual dac/crawl starts on pg 420 and 414 respectively.

i dont have a non hv owners manual downloaded to look up since i am getting a hv vehicle. never had a toyota with dac/crawl as we dont go off roading except maybe some dirt road to a fishing spot.

from what i can read from the manual, i guess i can read the directions pretty well and understand the operation. now granted paper vs actual can be drastically different and you learn to do things slightly different.

i know on my 14 limited 4Low can be real finicky at times, but then again i have only engaged it once in 11 yrs since i have never needed it. i only use 4H Locked as a worse case scenario.

 

[timelapse]

In 4Lo, you press DAC/CRAWL and rotate it to shift through the crawl modes.

if you’re in 4Hi and press DAC/CRAWL, it will engage DAC.


Downhill Assist Control (DAC)

It operates when:

• Transfer case is in 4H
• Vehicle speed is under 18 mph
• The shift lever is not in Park
• The DAC system is activated using the DAC/CRAWL switch

Set speed can be adjusted using the mode select dial. Operating range is approximately 3 to 18 mph. The multi-information display will show the set speed.

Indicators and behavior:

• The DAC system indicator illuminates when active
• Slip indicator flashes during operation
• A chime and vibration through the brake pedal or steering may be noticed—these are normal
• If the brake actuator overheats, the system will pause and flash a warning

Conditions that cancel or disable DAC:

• Vehicle speed exceeds 18 mph
• Brake system overheats
• Front-wheel drive control switch is not in 4H
• Gear selector is in Park

 

[MikeD]

And THAT(timelapse post) is how I remember it. Was doubting myself for a minute with Nodak's post but DAC or Crawl is selected based on 4Hi or 4Lo - not by rotating turning mode wheel. Turning mode wheel is how you select the speed - regardless of DAC or crawl - its just that the speed range is much greater with DAC (up to 18 mph - which BTW is way to fast if you need DAC in my experience) vs Crawl (which I think maxes out around 2.5 to 3 mph). Looking forward to reminding myself again how this works in 2 weeks when I try out my new wheels and tires on the Spearhead Mountainview trails in SW VA. Might even take some photos of the dash so I'm not guessing when I describe it next. Like this one where I'm in 4Lo and diff locked (but not crawl) on Walter's Gap trail off Peter's Mill Run in west-central VA. The view under front of vehicle is very helpful!

 

[Alaska Guy]

Just finished first serious 4wd experience in 6th gen off-road. In SW Colorado, took Nellie Creek road from 9.3K feet to Uncompahgre peak trailhead at 11.4K feet. Not sure the linear distance, but I'll guess maybe 6 steep miles. Found the DAC/Crawl control instructions in the manual to be confusing, so just pushed the button to see what happens. You gotta be in 4L to use it, since it's designed for extremely low speed. There are 4 or 5 speed positions (ultra-slow to slow) that can be set using the twist knob surrounding the "DAC/Crawl" button. I found it most useful for downhill instead of uphill, since it applies brakes as necessary to keep the desired speed. No problem turning the knob while driving, it just changes your speed. I found DAC/Crawl to be a very nice feature to assist 4 wheeling, but not sure it really adds much capability to do more serious terrain.

As an aside, I made sure to pay attention to transmission fluid temps after reading others experiences with overheating in various 4wd circumstances. It was no problem, stayed in the middle of the range the whole time. Maybe due to only 6ish miles, low OAT (45-60F), or keeping it in 4L the whole time.

Just finished first serious 4wd experience in 6th gen off-road. In SW Colorado, took Nellie Creek road from 9.3K feet to Uncompahgre peak trailhead at 11.4K feet. Not sure the linear distance, but I'll guess maybe 6 steep miles. Found the DAC/Crawl control instructions in the manual to be confusing, so just pushed the button to see what happens. You gotta be in 4L to use it, since it's designed for extremely low speed. There are 4 or 5 speed positions (ultra-slow to slow) that can be set using the twist knob surrounding the "DAC/Crawl" button. I found it most useful for downhill instead of uphill, since it applies brakes as necessary to keep the desired speed. No problem turning the knob while driving, it just changes your speed. I found DAC/Crawl to be a very nice feature to assist 4 wheeling, but not sure it really adds much capability to do more serious terrain.

As an aside, I made sure to pay attention to transmission fluid temps after reading others experiences with overheating in various 4wd circumstances. It was no problem, stayed in the middle of the range the whole time. Maybe due to only 6ish miles, low OAT (45-60F), or keeping it in 4L the whole time.

Just finished first serious 4wd experience in 6th gen off-road. In SW Colorado, took Nellie Creek road from 9.3K feet to Uncompahgre peak trailhead at 11.4K feet. Not sure the linear distance, but I'll guess maybe 6 steep miles. Found the DAC/Crawl control instructions in the manual to be confusing, so just pushed the button to see what happens. You gotta be in 4L to use it, since it's designed for extremely low speed. There are 4 or 5 speed positions (ultra-slow to slow) that can be set using the twist knob surrounding the "DAC/Crawl" button. I found it most useful for downhill instead of uphill, since it applies brakes as necessary to keep the desired speed. No problem turning the knob while driving, it just changes your speed. I found DAC/Crawl to be a very nice feature to assist 4 wheeling, but not sure it really adds much capability to do more serious terrain.

As an aside, I made sure to pay attention to transmission fluid temps after reading others experiences with overheating in various 4wd circumstances. It was no problem, stayed in the middle of the range the whole time. Maybe due to only 6ish miles, low OAT (45-60F), or keeping it in 4L the whole time.

Where do you find the transmission temperature display?

 

[timelapse]

Where do you find the transmission temperature display?

You’ll have to manually add it to one of your dash display layouts.

 

[jimr]

You gotta be in 4L to use [DAC/Crawl].

Based on responses here and rereading the manual, looks like my above statement is incorrect. I don't want to say much more since I'm still new at this stuff. But, it looks like "Crawl" requires 4L (end of pg 415 in the manual), and "DAC" requires 4H (top of pg 420). I only used the system going downhill on my recent trip. Since I was in 4L I must've been in "Crawl" mode? The system was helpful particularly in one extremely steep spot due to mud, rocks, and uneven terrain. The extreme enforced slowness helped prevent bottoming out, which otherwise could have happened due to the steep downhill.

 

[coloradomarmot]

I think that's right based on what I saw with the dash indicators on my last offroad trip. DAC: 4H, Crawl: 4L. MTS works with both (and changing it off auto definitely made a difference on a dusty/rocky trail).

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