Do you have to be in 4H to shift to 4L?

I leave mine in 4HI overnight a lot when we have snow , no issues

 

Way the hell up there, probably easier to say you put it in 2wd once in a while

 

Where I live we don't get a ton of snow all the time , but some years we do .

 

Like he said, you should be able to rock back and forth a bit to lock 4Hi, then 4 Lo if needed. I leave mine in 2wd all the time, and switch to 4Hi if my driveway is a bit slick, or snow dumps on us over night.

It *does* take a while to engage at first. If you use it more often (manual says it needs 10 miles/month to keep it lubed up) it will engage faster. Also, it helps to swerve side to side a bit to help the splines line up and engage easier.

 

Yah, it varries, sometimes instantly and sometimes a few feet away... never blocks or even one block in distance.

Also, to practice going into L4, you don't need to be on dirt if there isn't any nearby. 4WD Hi and Lo are both the same mechanism with 4 Lo going through some additional gears... You just don't go at the same speed as in high range... When on pavement, you will be fine if you avoid steering for a short distance.

So just pop it in to H4, then L4 on your street and drive a short distance and observe when it kicks into 4WD and then into Low Range... and back out again.

 

Easier said than done. It's a city street so the high traffic and the fact that it's a hill means the nice snow goes straight to hard packed and almost ice. It's like trying to shovel ice. Luckily for me I work close enough to home that I don't drive, so it's not a daily occurrence, but on the down side that means the snow and ice gets nice and packed around me.

Sidewalks are the same story. If you can't shovel it the minute the snow falls it's practically impossible.

Mine does, I have to drive a while, slow down, speed up a bit, but I've only had it for about 3 weeks, and only tried putting it in 4H 3 or so times. Haven't tried the 4L yet. Who knows how long it had been since the previous owner tried it. I'll start doing it on a regular basis and see if I can get it to start doing it quicker. I'll try parallel parking it in 4H and see how it goes. If I can do it easy enough it'll pretty much answer my question.

 

this is confusing, and i'd be scared to mess something up, i'm gonna avoid those buttons

 

It needs to break in. Three weeks isn't enough, especially if you don't drive it every day. Everything in general didn't seem to really settle in and smooth out for me until around 40,000 miles. Shifting, idling, 4wd, etc.

 

1st gen manual shifter FTMFW!

 

I bought it used with about 76k on it, so it's broken in, but who knows how long it sat on the lot or how often, if ever the previous owner ever used the 4wd. I've got some driving to do this week. I'll start using it on a regular basis and see how it does.

 

I lived in the city and have been through it. If it's iced up, it's not a great idea to go plowing through it with the truck. Ice can do a lot of damage to the underside of the truck, epecially if it grabs wires and brake lines on the way through. Get a decent shovel, not a snow shovel, a round tip shovel meant for dirt and you'll get through the snow just fine. If the truck will plow through it, it's not solid to where it can't be shoveled out of the way.

I stand by my previous statement, don't be lazy and shovel yourself out

 

Its good to shift into 4H when youre on dirt/gravel even when you don't need to, just as a good measure to get everything moving smoothly every once in awhile. Toyota recommends putting it into 4wheel drive once a month, but even I cant do that.

As far as leaving it in 4H or 4L overnight; it doesn't do a damn thing to the truck. We camp 4-5 days in a row and never take it out until I see pavement. My motto is the more you use 4x4 correctly, the better.

 

BRAVO!!!