Pardon me, but...

How about a manual lever that switches whether the 4wd system is operated by a lever in front of the shifter or a turn dial on the dash. Or, you could have a button that switches the lever vs. switches.

 

I approve of this idea.

 

Do you think mechanical devices are more reliable than electronic devices? Electronic devices are more reliable than anything mechanical, look at carburetor versus fuel injection. ECU's controlling the timing versus mechanical. I'm not knocking mechanical things, and there are indeed some crappy electronic things on the market these days but to suggest something is crap because it's electronic is being ignorant. If you read every post on these forums you would get the impression (I think you already have the impression) that these trucks are a living nightmare. Most people that come to these forums look to find answers to their issues and thus would give the impression that there are massive problems. I have had zero problems and just hit 2000 miles yesterday. That isn't by any means an indication(yet) the truck is awesome since I've only clocked 2000 miles but Toyota has a good reputation and the Tacoma has been a reliable brick in terms of quality and hardiness.

 

I think you are lumping reliability with other attributes like precision, efficiency, flexibility, processing speed etc. An electromechanical system is as reliable as its parts. There is no "more reliable" as far as mechanical or electrical except on a case by case basis. Sometimes a mechanical system is far less likely to fail and vice versa. Whether hardware, software, electrical or mechanical, each component in the system has a probability of failure. You can't say that a mechanical lever is less reliable than a solenoid actuator. The lever could be much more reliable or less depending on the construction of the solenoid and its respective linkage etc. I'm just pointing out that the statement " Electronic devices are more reliable than anything mechanical" is really not true/misleading. It is very complex in reality. FWIW I am a systems engineer with mechanical and electrical engineering degrees.

 

Tell that to my "Hecho en Mexico" rebuilt alternator that took a crap last week and almost left me stranded in the middle of a busy intersection; luckily, I was able to coast into the painted center island as everything, and I mean everything, shut down do to no power. Electronic devices can and do fail on a whim with no warning aside from the idiot light on the dash coming on 2 minutes before complete shutdown.

I was hoping it was something easy to fix/replace like the brushes; but nope they had plenty of life left, something else got fried inside it. I was not about to trouble shoot what it might be beyond the brushes, which I have had to replace in the past. So back it went to the auto-parts store for a free lifetime replacement....With another "Hecho en Mexico" alternator, of course .

 

Why did you stop to engage 4Hi or 4L?

 

I missed the hand crank front vent windows, blows a cool breeze across the lap...keeps the boys comfortable.

 

Old habit from having trucks without shift on the fly.

 

Oh man those were the best!

 

Do you think that this is a wide spread problem or isolated event? Do you think a tire blowout from no neglect of your own is possible with no warning and is just as likely or less?

 

So can Tires

 

I don't know, when I was growing up cars sure needed more tuneups and repairs than they do these days. That isn't a direct indication of mechanical or electronic as you mentioned but reliability is a part of that.

 

people that think its a subaru and cant turn around in the parking lot, plus with the switch you lose "transfer case neutral"

 

Yes. Reliability of everything has gone up quite a bit. Better materials and manufacturing processes is a huge part of that. Used to be 100k mile life was reserved for very few cars.

 

Aesthetically, I like the lever in a truck, especially paired with a manual. Seems kinda weird to have to shift gears going down the road, but then push a button to engage 4lo....

 

Well, here's my take is on this..... Toyota was VERY SMART.... and did NOT make this a "Push Button", because dumb F's like me tend to push the button beside it to shut off the truck..(2 push buttons beside each other is a recipe for F---k -up..)..(So I missed the "start" button).... I'm glad it's a "twist" button instead....!!

I tried to shut off the truck today by pushing the 4X4 button... I'm glad it did not put it in 4X4....

I did have HUGE moose hide mittons on and it's hard to pick a button....let alone your nose...hehe..

Don't miss the "stick-shift" on the floor....!!!

 

Y'all might wanna stop by Oxford Mississippi with your pitch forks.

I like the fact that the electronic selector is simple, reliable, inexpensive & offers more packaging options. And locking hubs? I'm in mud and other crap almost daily. Don't really want to get in the shit every time I might wanna lock in my hubs...on the fly is nice.

In my entire life I've never witnessed an electronically actuated window fail but, can't count the number of manual crank windows I've seen fail...never understood the argument.

 

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has done this

 

I have had plenty of manual transfer case shifters just refuse to go into 4wd. Sometimes things just make a fuss. NBD

 

There just something about the dial that I continue to not like - I guess its just what we are used to, and Im used to the old style system. I am also someone that would prefer manual hubs, and I at least concede that those arent practical for the majority of people.

Toyota should just give these guys a call and install these from the factory

https://www.marlincrawler.com/transfer-case/line-ups/tacobox