Trouble moving in 4wd

Haven’t used 4wd in approx 3 months, just tried using it today and the truck struggles to move. When I let off the clutch, I have to give it a massive amount of gas to get it moving on flat ground, and when I started rolling my steering wheel started shaking and my whole truck feels rough. Has anyone experienced similar after not using 4x4 after a few months?

Back story, I had no choice but to run my truck in 4Hi just on the front driveshaft because my rear driveshaft was getting worked on, essentially turning my truck into a front wheel 2wd truck. But I had to drive like this for a month because the shop working on my driveshaft was giving me the run around for an entire month. I’m wondering if running my truck in 2wd on the front wheels has something to do with my problem now. Since I got my rear driveshaft back 3 months ago, I haven’t had to use 4wd until today and that’s when I noticed the problem.

 

Bump.

 

If you were driving on pavement while you were using the front drive only / 4WD as you said, I'd be looking at the front axle shafts / axle joints. You may have worn them out while driving, then they set up when you went back to 2WD. Time to jack the truck up and start turning wheels.

 

How are you using the 2L-4H-4L knob?

 

I was thinking something along the lines of this. Maybe I just drove it on my front wheels for so long, and then not using them for 3 months, something in the front just slowly started to build up or something. When I put it into 4wd yesterday, it would roll maybe 1 foot and then the truck would feel like your applying the emergency brake at the same time. When I jack the truck up to shake and rotate the tires, does the truck need to be in 4wd?

Just like normal, turn it into 4Hi, wait for a bit, then slowly roll forward till the light becomes solid. When going back to 2Hi, turn the knob, wait a few seconds, then reverse to disengage.

 

Not to sure what you have going on. But I did the same thing as you years ago on a 92 4Runner. I had ruined the drive shaft so I drove it for 2plus months in 4wd ( but front only) until I saved up the cash and then waited for the new drive shaft. Every thing was normal when I put it back together.
Hope it nothing to serious...

 

Thanks man. I’m hoping it’s nothing too serious, but just the way the truck felt yesterday when I initially engaged the 4wd and tried to drive it, it definitely doesn’t feel good at all. I put it into 4wd in my driveway, reversed it and noticed a slight hesitation in the trucks response, pulled out on the main road in front of the house, and when I tried to drive forward that’s when I really noticed the truck wasn’t working right. I was mainly scared that the truck was gonna be stuck in the street because the road is on a grade so I would’ve had a hell of a time trying to push my truck uphill to get it off the street, and then uphill again to get it up my driveway and into the garage.

 

So you were turning 90 degree corners in 4wd on asphalt / concrete?

 

started my turn on gravel from my driveway. If I ever need to turn, my truck is never stationary, it’s always moving. When I finally stopped on the asphalt, my tires were already straight on the road. By the time I was physically on asphalt, trucks orientation was approx 20-30 degrees from being straight on the road so no aggressive turning happened on pavement.

 

Yep things will really feel bound up if your turning on dry hard ground ( pavement is the worst). I don’t know the answer to this question, but is it possible to put the drive shaft back in wrong? As in the u joints need to be oriented a certain way?

 

after my mechanic put it back in, a few days later I noticed a slight vibration around 35-45 mph, and through research on here, especially with my lift and brand new mud tires, I’ve found a multitude of reasons as to why I might be getting vibrations now than before. I just haven’t had the time to properly diagnose the vibrations but hopefully I’ll be getting to that soon.

 

Any time you’re turning on a dry grippy surface it’s going to bind. Get the truck straightened out on a piece of road, then try again.

Was the rear diff worked on? Binding can be caused by mismatched ratios in the diffs or tires that are different sizes as well.

 

After this happened, I took it to my local sports complex with nobody around and tested it again. This is when I really noticed how bad it was. Pulling forward in first gear, I’d have to slide the clutch out slow as hell and give it a shit ton of gas before it wanted to move. When it did start moving, it just felt like absolute shit. Truck just felt like it wanted to stop even when giving it gas, steering wheel was shaking, and front tires felt like they were completely flat. Nothing in the rear was ever touched besides when they had to remove the driveshaft.

 

Have you tried doing this in dirt where the wheels can slip a bit.

Also are all your tires worn down the same?

 

Haven’t tried it in dirt yet, I might do it this morning before I jack the truck up and start spinning tires. All tires worn down the same with identical air. Bought them 3 months ago but they only have about 210 miles on them now.

 

Stretched chain in the transfer case? This is a very strange problem.

 

Just took it to my mechanic a few hours ago. While waiting for him an older gentleman started talking to me about my truck, come to find out he had a problem with his 4wd a few weeks ago and they traced his problem down to the actuator not engaging correctly. Told him and my mechanic that my truck feels like it engages into 4wd and disengages like normal, just feels like something binding up in the front end which makes my truck feel like it’s being held back when going forward. I’ll be taking the truck in on Tuesday and they’ll let me know what’s the verdict. I’m hoping it’s just my cv axles, my passenger inner boot has a small tear in it so if the cv axles have gone bad, they can change them out and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

 

Look at the side wall on the tires to make sure they are all the same, sounds like one or two are different size.

 

All the same, it only felt like they were acting weird when I noticed the 4wd problem yesterday. Running in 2Hi all tires roll perfectly fine. When I first got the tires, I actually had 1 sent back because the date manufactured on 3 of them were 8-2019 but 1 was dated 03-2018, so I told the tire shop that if I’m paying for brand new tires, I don’t want a tire that’s been sitting for almost 2 years. They never had someone do that before but coming from driving tractor-trailers, I’m a little anal when it comes to my tires being equal. A year apart makes a difference when you start seeing one tire get hairline heat/stress cracks along the sidewall and 3 others are fine.

 

Just out of curiosity, did your truck drive on pavement without binding in 4wd before all this?

Do you have stock gears? Does your truck feel like its trying to jump while rolling?