4-LO Question

2004 DC SB 4WD J shift V6. ~168,000 miles. Was over in Moab last week. 4-HI worked as normal throughout. Went to put the truck in 4-LO and the TC lever would not physically move into that notch. After much messing with it, I finally got it to go into what looked & felt like the right place, but as soon as I moved the shifter out of "P" there was a gear grinding sound & the TC lever popped back into neutral. Last time I used it 4-LO worked as normal. Any help in diagnosing would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like 4Lo was not fully engaged
Perhaps you never let off on brakes causing partial binding under tension. PutTC in 2Hi
Tranny in D
Move a bit
Stop
Tranny in P
Foot off brakes
Shift TC to 4Lo
Tranny to D
Remember the TC has 150,000+ mi. on it as it is always driving the wheels wheather in 2Hi 4Hi or 4Lo
Admittedly I have 0 experience with AT Tacomas so please don't bust on me for using 4Lo with AT in D.
My experience with ATs has been Jeep Quadratrack with locking hubs and 4Lo in D1 ONLY as this locked all 4 wheels and both diffs.
If I did have a AT Taco with D1 I would stay 4Lo D1 only.

 

Were you stopped? I always find its a little easier to get it in 4lo if you're coasting at about 2-3mph.

Heres the blurb in the manual:

 

Aren’t you supposed to be stopped with the transmission in neutral before you shift into 4-LO?

 

You can be, but you don't have to be.


EDIT: Apparently, not true in all cases. With a auto, you have to stop.

 

I know the manuals say the truck can be moving but on both my former 1993 automatic pre-Tacoma and my current 2003 manual Tacoma, both with J-shift transfer cases, they’d grind if I tried to go into low range while moving.

 

@0xDEADBEEF
Please post blurb from the manual for Jshift (Buttonless)

 

I always make sure 4HI is fully engaged, then while stationary in neutral or park with low idle I put it into 4lo.

Some trucks can shift into 4lo on the fly, I had a jeep that would do it, and I felt like a damn magician when it worked.

 

Ah sure enough. Page 105 for the automatic says stop.

But if you go to page 104, for the manual, you can coast.

Thinking about it, I wonder what the difference is. If you put the auto in neutral, I would think it would be like pressing the clutch on the manual. Hmm.

 

@0xDEADBEEF
Owners manual you quoted is 2000.
OP has 2004 Buttonless Jshift AT
Can you post the 2004 blurb
Thanks for all your help

 

Page 142

 

Nothing like a J10 V8 AT Quadratrack
One mean monster machine
One Vacuum switch with multiple select
Bitch would burn out on all 4
Flip the switch and burn out auto shifting to 1Hi and and hard chirp going into 2hi
6 mpg not so cool.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Truck was stopped, with transmission in "N" & "P" both, foot on & off the brake, no joy either way. No recent work done on truck. Is it possible something in the shifter/linkage got loose or out of adjustment? Does it have a bushing like the M/T shifter does? Again 4-HI works as normal.

 

BUMP

 

I would try it again. If it doesn't go easily, roll forward a bit, and do it again. It also sounds to me like it wasn't all the way engaged and so it just popped out.

Its kind of a tough one to diagnose over the internet too.

 

It does have a bushing or shifter seat just like the MT, though it is a different size. I have seen this seat disintegrated on multiple Tacoma’s after taking them apart. Those Tacoma’s still shifted into 4 low but the new seat certainly made it easier.

 

Try holding pressure on the shifter when going back to drive, or rolling slowly in nuteral.

 

Any chance you have a part number for the bushing. I didn't see it in the parts diagrams I use.

 

I’ve only purchased the replacement from marlin crawler, you’ll need the blue one for the transfer case.

https://www.marlincrawler.com/trans...r-parts/heavy-duty-shifter-seat-forward-shift

 

Thanks for the link. Went out and tried shifting into 4-LO again & it went in like butter. Don't know what the problem was. Operator Error?