Manual 4x4's, anyone?

What's AFAIK? I have a push button on my 4x4 shifter.

I also have the rear diff lock, the instructions on my door say something like "DON'T USE IT UNLESS YOU ARE STUCK AS FUCK" Not planning being in a situation where I have to use it....

 

AFAIK = As far as I know

You can use your rear locker when you need the extra traction. I use it wheeling on rocks all the time.

 

personally, I would put my truck in neutral (while coasting or at stop), and push the clutch to switch from 2wd to 4hi. only because I didn't want to risk damaging the x-fer case or any gears in anyway whatsoever. but I might change that cause of what @Indy said.

if youre in 4wd, high or low, never turn (slightly maybe) on hard surfaces like asphalt or concrete, packed down dirt and softer only! the difference of rotations in your 4 ties will cause binding and you will literally get thrown around in your cab. plus youll wear down your tires very quickly, and potentially damage some gears.

what area do you live in? maybe some of us can suggest some trails in your area, or check out dirtopia.

you ddon't ever need to put more than 87 octane in your truck, unless you have a supercharger or turbo.

change your engine oil every 5k miles with synthetic. and your gear oils every 30k (rear diff, x-fer case, tranny, and front diff).

if you don't have a lift and think youll need one for off roading. get this one at the very least.

have fun!

 

Yep on the afaik, just internet slang.


Lockers remove ALL differential action from the differential, locks both axle shafts together. A standard open differential allows either wheel on an axle to turn independently of the other. So when you turn the outside wheel can turn faster than the inside wheel etc. It's the way 99% of vehicles are all the time. The downside to a differential action is when 1 wheel is on a no traction surface and the other wheel as full traction. The wheel with traction will do nothing and the one with no traction will just spin spin spin and not do anything constructive besides make you cuss because you're now stuck. In 4wd if you have 1 wheel on each axle on ice, you're just as stuck as neither axle will do anything besides spin 1 tire. Engage a locker though and you will turn the unmoving wheel at the same rate as the spinning wheel and you get to move again. Off road a locker is a very nice thing to have. For day to day life, they're useless most of the time.

For the most part you only want to use a locker on loose surfaces, just like 4wd. If you are locked and turn on pavement the outside tire will get drug through the turn as it can't turn at the speed it needs to. You'll get tire squeal and do some extra wear on your tire. You likely won't do any damage to the truck, but you're going to draw some looks. Same rules for engaging a locker as 4wd, don't do it while tires are spinning or bad things may happen.

 

change out all the fluids for piece of mind. It is very important not to have the 4WD in on dry surfaces. Part time system. somebody already mentioned that but it's a REALLY good thing to know.

 

OP needs to post a pic of this mysterious J-shifter/button combo...

I always engage 4HI/LO at a slow roll, clutch in. Same with the rear locker, but usually turn slightly to aid it lining up.

Full wheel lock in 4 wont break anything, Ive done it more time then I count with the suspension all the way drooped/full bump

A nice little trick I read on the internet many years ago, throw it in 4LO when your in super slow/constant stop and go traffic, WAY less clutch action when crawling in gear haha

Congrats! Now go drive it offroad until you get it stuck, then, learn how to get it unstuck! Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

 

The shifter is like this picture below. I have the exact same setup as OPs.

And that's an interesting tip. Pardon my newbness but can you completely stop in 4lo without stalling? And wouldn't 4lo be really bad on hard pavement?

 

Ive seen that one with auto like yours, but she said hers is a manual, which is what Ive never seen it with the button.

No, not a complete stop (with stick) but its crawl speed is super slow, I think 4th in 4LO is the same as 1st in HI, so it just reduces the constant clutching to a more normal rate. I couldnt imagine it putting much stress on anything at >10mph

 

I have a manual and push button lever. That's just a quick photo I found on Google to show to you.

 

Oh woah. After some googling apparently it was a option for the last few years of the first gen.

 

@Indy made very good points about switching. being an auto myself I've engaged 4wd over 40mph but never above 50 (sticker says 55 I think). I have driven at 60mph in 4wd without problems (highway in snow).

one thing to clarify, TURNING on dry hard surfaces is the problem. If you're going in a straight line no worries, just make sure you disengage 4wd before doing anything else. I routinely engage 4wd while driving to work as I have long slow stretches going through a tunnel (no turns) and then disengage after a minute or two (keeps things lubed up and working)

and yes I noticed if I let off the gas a little 4wd engages faster as it lets the synchros line up easier.

I also saw it mentioned for diff lock, unless grey wire mod she can't use in 2/4Hi, only 4Lo

 

You can engage 4HI up to a considerable speed (I've never tried above 40-45 personally).

I've owned a 96 with the J-shifter and now I have a 2001 with the button. I like the J better but having the 2LO mod is really nice. I was thinking of moving the 4wd button somewhere else and putting a HI-LO shifter ball on, but haven't bothered yet.

If OP (or anyone else) wants a good explanation for open vs. locked differentials then

 

Ok, educate me on that button. What's it do that the shifter doesn't? I'm an old school on off road but relatively new to taco's in particular, never seen that before. Does the stick just do hi/low and the button itself kicks in the front end?

 

This is me:

 

It's never too late to shut the fuck up and mind your own business

 

Yep!

 

Pretty excited about it. Thanks!

 

The lever is always in the Hi position. When the button is not pushed, it's simply in 2Hi. The button can be pressed anytime under 55mph to "instantly" shift on the fly into 4Hi. Then once 4Hi is activated, (you have to be stopped and in neutral) and you move from H to N then N to Lo. Once the lever is in the Lo position, you're in 4Lo.

Downside to this setup: the actuator for the button can fail.

Upside to this setup: You can use Lo gearing in 2wd and 4wd.

 

Interesting. I've had the on the dash push buttons for everything once or twice and the sticks in everything else. I've never had an in between option. I tend to distrust any form of actuator for the front axle since I had one go out when I REALLY needed 4wd.

My old jeep YJ (square headlight wrangler to many of you ), the transfer case was manually shifted but the front passenger side axle shaft was a 2 piece unit. When you shifted into 4 wheel a vacuum actuator slid a collar over the 2 pieces to lock them together, and then you had 4wd. If that collar didn't move, you're stuck in rear only. The upside to jeep was they didn't have to use balanced pieces up front as for the most part they didn't turn at normal speeds. The downside, if you're on an ice covered mountain elk hunting, left all your survival gear back at camp, and it's hitting the sub 0 temps, an old vacuum actuator likely will fail to flex and give you 4wd and instead will strand you to die. That makes for an interesting evening to say the least. Once I got back home I took the actuator apart, slid the collar manually, then ran a screw through the vacuum motor so the collar couldn't move. Solid axle from that point forward with a few vibes at highway speed, good trade-off imo. Jeep went away from the 2 piece axles in the TJ, (round headlight wrangler starting in '97, and the current version is the JK )

Then you've got old school, my only current jeep is a '58 willys cj5. It's got 3 sticks, the transmision (with R where most 1'st are, 1st where 2nd should be, that takes some getting used to) and 2 tcase sticks. 1 for 2/4 and 1 for high/low. Ride's like an old jeep but plows my driveway very well.

 

I don't think I'll be stalked. I'm not very nice but apparently you are. What's wrong with my grammar?