Control Trac? Thumb up or down?

[artt]

Even w/ the lack of front diffy, I still want a late model Explorer. I dont think the Sport have control trac, but those w/ 4drs, do you like control trac? In the rain? in the snow? Can you live w/o control trac after you've used it?

We just got some percipitation here in los angeles and i was told that even w/ the pavement really wet, 4wd may not be a good idea. After his trip to Seattle, my friend raved about those nifty little AWD Subarus. Control trac sounds more like a 4-wheel traction control than awd; so what's the verdict here? Thumb up or thumb down?

Thanks.

 

[Peter Weber]

artt

Welcome to the newsgroup.
Explorer Sports do have ControlTrac. I have a '99 and it has it. I can't really compare to the AWD system that comes with the V8 (4door only). I never drove one of those or the older, pre ControlTrac models. But I do like mine.

When I go off road (or drive in fresh, fairly deep snow, which isn't very often since I live in the LA area too)) I put it into 4X4 high, or low for really steep off road terrain. I have gone off road on a fairly loose surface and the automatic transfer of power to the front can be felt under certain circumstances. But I never felt it engage simply because the road was wet.

Other people might have had other viewpoints. This is just based on my personal experiences.

 

[yob_yeknom]

THUMBS UP!! couldn't live without it

I love the Control Trac system. It's nice to be able to have it in 4wd auto and go over patches of snow and long patches of dry pavement and never have to switch in and out of 4wd. Another plus is driving in the rain with auto 4wd. If I'm pulling out of a parking lot in a hurry to get in front of another car or something I can pretty much floor it and not have to worry about just sitting there and spinning. It'll pull out just like the pavement was dry.

BTW do NOT use 4wd high on pavement regardless of how wet it is. Pavement that is only wet will not let the tires slip enough through turns and will cause binding.

 

[Stephen]

My Lexus which I drive primarily is RWD with traction and yaw control, so I can give you my experience here. When its raining and I pull out from an intersection quickly, it will spin and the VSC traction light will blink indicating wheelspin. In the snow, it does the same thing constantly, and when the road begins to incline, all forward motion will stop, and the car will actually start to slide backwards with the rear wheels spinning forward, and the VSC traction control doing its best to get the car moving forward again. The traction system is effective in rain, very much so actually, and it is effective in snow as long as the road is flat. As for the Explorer, when I pull out from a stop in the exact same rainy situation, it has plenty of traction and never slips, same in the snow. The only time I prefer the Lexus' VSC system to the Explorer's ControlTrac is when the back starts to come out. On the Lexus, the back will start to come out, the system will send an audible chime out and "VSC ACTIVE" comes across the message center under the gauges and SNAP, the car just comes right back into line, rain or snow, it even works rather well on ice. There is really no need to control the skid at all the system does it for you. On the Explorer, since it lacks yaw control the back will come out if you take a corner a little fast in the snow regardless. The 2002 Explorer will have yaw control, so it should be VERY solid.

The ControlTrac is much more effective than traction control in most situations.

 

[01EB5.0]

Control trac is great. I just wish i have a 97 or newer because you could lock them in 4WD High. Sometimes if I pull out on a wet or snowy street and really need to accel. quick you can definatly feel the front axle pulsating. if it were locked in 4WD high there would be no pulsation. Thats my only complaint. personally if i had the money I would opt for a V-8 AWD setup on the Explorer, because I have no use for the low range 4WD and the AWD system can transfer nearly 100% of the engine's power to the axle that grips, while the controltrac can transfer something around 85% or 90%. The AWD V-8 came out in 1996 model year.

 

[Jim F]

Keep in mind when asking about the Control Trac system that you may get different options. As previous posts before mine hint at, each year the system has changed either in programming or physical changes in the vehicle. Pre 95's had a different front end configuration then post 95's. What I understood when I was researching my 98 in Aug of 98, the Control Trac system was refined from 97 to 98 and I believe they have not left it alone since.

My wifes sister has a 95 sport and its Control Trac system has a 2WD setting, Auto, and 4Lo setting. My boss's wife has a 97 XLT and its Control Trac switch setup is like mine 4Auto, 4Hi, 4Lo. I believe the enhancements that Ford has played with is the step process of transfering the power to the front and how smoothly this process happens. I believe the elimination of a vaccum disconnect on the front diff happened between 97 and 98. This helps for a smoother transfer of power. The computer controls when the vehicle is in 2WD now (over 35MPH).

My point is depending on the year of the vehicle the person is driving and liking or dis-liking, the Control Trac system may work differently then someone elses option.

There are other factors that come into play regarding Control Trac is whether or not the rearend has limit slip or not. This may control the rearend better during the loose backend situation.

My option of my 98's Control Trac system is I like it. In Dec of 98 I took it up to the snow and was driving it on a widing mountain road that had about 6 to 8 inches of slush and new snow falling. I left it in Auto and had no control problems. In fact, by the time I thought to switch to 4Hi, the system was already running 50/50 transfer. Keep in mind that the 4Hi switch is on the fly (no front hubs to lock or vaccum disconnect on the front diff) so I was able to pay close attention to the feel on the steering wheel when I switched. I did not feel any difference. The reason I switched to 4Hi was a check point was coming up and I figured they were going to ask if I was locked in and they did. I guess I was lucky, there was no traffic, a good testing area for Control Trac and anti-lock brakes on adverse road conditions. I will admit, the only part that scared me during this trip was how fast the downhill on-coming traffic were taking the corners towards me. I was doing somewhere between 35 and 40 MPH with 15" Firestone AT's.

 

[Ru Dawg]

Well, never drove anything AWD, but my 95 XLT has control trac and a 3.73 limited slip diffy. The lsd definetly helps. Around tight corners in the snow I've slid the back end around (somewhat on purpose by my part!), but with just a slip correction with the steering wheel she's right back on track! Control trac has done nothing but good for me. I've had her in snow, ice, mud, deep soft sand, steep hills off road, never had a problem(*knocking on wood*!). Once in a while when it rains real good and the roads are really wet I'll put 'er in 4AUTO at a red light, the give 'er lotsa gas and as soon as the rears slip you feel the fronts grab right away and you're off like a bullet!! Well, maybe a pellet!

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by 95XLT
Control trac is great. I just wish i have a 97 or newer because you could lock them in 4WD High. Sometimes if I pull out on a wet or snowy street and really need to accel. quick you can definatly feel the front axle pulsating. if it were locked in 4WD high there would be no pulsation. Thats my only complaint. personally if i had the money I would opt for a V-8 AWD setup on the Explorer, because I have no use for the low range 4WD and the AWD system can transfer nearly 100% of the engine's power to the axle that grips, while the controltrac can transfer something around 85% or 90%. The AWD V-8 came out in 1996 model year.

Actually my brochure for my '97 Explorer states that the Control Trac can transfer up to 97% torque to the front wheels. The AWD can transfer nearly 100% torque to the front wheels. The main difference between the two is that the AWD is supposed to be smoother in its transfer of power than Control Trac.

 

[Yomie]

I have a '97 Sport Control Trac, with the 3.73 Ltd Slp rear end, and 4auto-4hi-4lo. I am in the snow and in the 4auto position, if i go around a corner accelerating, when i would normally loose the rear end, The control trac feature doesn't allow me to loose it. It helps alot in snowy and wet conditions. Don't get me wrong, if i REALLY try I can loose the rear end, but under normal driving conditions it keeps the truck in line. I have noticed a few times while driving straight and hitting a patch of ice, my back end will slide and you can feel the front end pull and keep the truck straight. I love the control trac feature and if i get a new explorer i will get it again(if still in production)!

My only complaint towards the systen is that when the front wheels first engage, there is a jerk(of course) and also a slight noticeable 'CLUNK' or 'THUD', if you know what i mean. Is this normal with the Control Trac feature?

 

[Robert]

Somewhat normal, it depends on the surface. If I am on pavement and hit a patch of ice it can clunk if the front tires are on pavement when the transfer of torque occurs. When I am in sand, I don't notice a clunk. It just starts moving.

 

[artt]

Looks like kudo for control trac. Thanks for the advices.

The variations in different model years probably explain why I've heard some mixed reviews; I think they were just annoyed by the noises and jerks it makes. 02' Explorer is really the ultimate soccer-momobile; my jaw dropped when I read the list of goodies (IRS, new tranny, stability control!)

 

[Jim F]

Vacuum disconnect

Is 97 the last year they used the vacuum disconnect on the front diffy or was it 96? If it was 97 this is why I have not felt this clunk people talk about when Control-Trac kicks in.

 

[Tom Wilk]

I'll stand on the side of approval of the control trac system. It works quite well, and only occasionally do I even notice it shifting into 4wd (usually when I get on it fairly hard on a slick surface). When it does engage, its nearly always smooth. When things are really slick, I just lock it into 4-hi to avoid any transition lag problems.

Jim F. - Take a look at your front differential. You should be able to see readily if there is a vacuum disconnect device on it. It will be mounted to the housing not on the pumpkin, but on the longer side of the housing. If there isn't one, it will look like a plain tube extending from the pumpkin to the one side, with a very short tube on the other side.

My personal belief is that the vacuum disconnector went away when they went from a 2wd-4auto-4low system to a 4auto-4hi-4low system. There would be an unnecessary delay in 4-auto while the disconnector engaged, so it was omitted when straight 2wd was no longer available.

 

[Tim K]

when we got our snow here in PA I tried to spin some doughnuts in a parking lot....I could get the back end to slide maybe 3 feet before straightening out. It wasn't as fun...but it was impressive how the control trac worked.

 

[Yomie]

on my '97 it doesn't have the vacuume disconnect.

And about the 'CLUNKING' it only does it when i'm at a complete stop and start accelerating, It doesnt do it all the time.

[Edited by Yomie on 01-11-2001 at 05:12 AM]

 

[Robert]

My '97 doesn't have the vacuum disconnect either. It went away in '96 or earlier.

 

[Jim F]

Tom, I already know where the vacuum disconnect is located, what it looks like and that my 98 doesn't have one, but thanks anyway. I was wondering when it was eliminated. It would seem to be 95 or 96. Since my wifes sisters 95 sport has a 2WD selection with a vacuum disconnect and the 97 does not have one, anyone with a 96 here?

As for the thunk, this could be the limited slip clutch locking in. I have felt that when punching it on a patch of snow on one side of the truck. I felt a thunk and accelerated away from a stopped position with no noticable tire spin.

[Edited by Jim F on 01-11-2001 at 08:47 AM]

 

[TPLYNCH]

I believe that the system was improved in '97 to eliminate or improve the transfer to the front wheels since I remember seeing threads about clunking and choppy feelings from the front end when the auto kicked in. I was out clowning around in my '99 after we got 15" of snow in NY and the system works great. Smooth as silk to me. I could get the rear to kick out a few feet, but as was said above, a slight correction on the steering wheel and it would track straight as an arrow.

 

[rickhale]

Newbie

SO, IF I am understanding this whole Control Trac stuff, when my 95 XLT is in 4WD AUTO, when the rear slips at all, power will transfer to the front wheels? IF this is true, can I test it on wet pavment or gravel or what? I like being in control on the system and I have no control over this 4WD HIGH setting. I just want to know that it does work. 4 LOW works fine and dandy. How should I test the AUTO?

 

[artt]

Try this post:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=10166