Engaging 4x4 once a month

On the G.I. truck I mentioned above, the transfer case was frozen solid from non use. It had to be torn down and rebuild. I may have seen a couple more cases like that over many years, point being the result is the same.

The TOYOTA engineers are not making this up

 

It has nothing to do with distance. Toyota says that but in reality it’s about getting the servo motors and shift forks and ADD collar moving back and forth so they don’t stick in place after years of not moving. You can idle forward in an empty parking lot and switch back and forth from 2HI to 4HI 10 times in 50 yards. Then stop and put it in neutral and switch from 4HI to 4LO 10 times. Nothing gets bound up or stretched.

 

What you’ve described with your Jeep is performing hundreds if not thousands of 90 degree turns with the transfer case locked in 4HI. Driving a few miles in a straight line isn’t even comparable. You’re the biggest proponent of the “straight line in 4HI wrecks shit” fallacy on this site and you’re not doing anyone any favours by perpetuating that myth and spreading misleading information. Knock it off.

 

I feel bad for people who don’t actually need the 4WD once a month. Get out there and try to have more fun!

 

It is safe to drive a Tacoma STRAIGHT on a high traction surface in 4Hi for a distance longer than what you will find most straight roads for assuming tires are the same size.


Key word is straight.

Here is what people don't seem to understand... it is the difference in wheel rotation through a locked differential that will cause "wind up" in the drive shafts.

The Tacoma is "part time 4wd"

That means a locked centre differential (transfer case) and two OPEN differentials front and back.

What does that mean? Well LITERALLY the Tacoma is NOT a 4 wheel drive truck.

When you are in 2wd mode you are a 1 wheel drive truck.
When you are in 4wd Hi or low you are a 2 wheel drive trock.
When you are in 4wd lo and rear differential lock engaged you are a 3 wheel drive truck.
When you are in 4wd low, rear diff lock and Atrac then you are "Kinda" a 4 wheel drive truck.
When you are in 4wd low, rear diff lock and turn on your front aftermarket locker... you are now a 4 wheel drive truck.

It's when you make a turn in anything other than a 1wheel drive system that you need to take into account the "differential" in wheel speed (pun intended)

When "4Wd" is engaged on the tacoma 1 front drive wheel and 1 rear drive wheel (quick explanation so this does not become a 2 hr lecture) must have the same rotation.

When you make a turn the front and rear wheels do not follow the same path.



Since there is a "differential " in the distance travelled than means there will be a difference between the front vs the rear driveshaft will have to rotate.

The Tacoma does not have a centre differential (AWD vehicles do) it has a transfer case, which LOCKS the front and rear driveshafts to the same speed.

Now some homework for the people that are outright wrong when they say you can't drive a Tacoma in 4 Hi straight down the road...



Then this....



The reason why it gets worded in the manuals and in some videos with the warning about high traction is that they cannot think of all the ways that people will screw things up.

It would take a long list of things like
"don't drive on pavement using a undersize spare on the driver's front side"
"Straight means straight, on and off ramps are not considered straight"
"Drive wheels must be same diameter and traction type"
"Rapid acceleration can cause windup because of uneven traction on drive wheels even when driving straight"
etc etc etc...



Then lets see if you can understand the concept of a Part time 4wd system on a Tacoma...

If I have 2 30" dia tires and two 31" diameter tires....

I put 1 31" tire on the rear right position...
I put 1 30" tire on the rear left position...

Where do I put the other 31 and 30" tires on the front?
So I can safely drive in 4wd down a paved road STRAIGHT?

(I could even do a light slalom pattern so long as I kept it even for a short distance)

And yes there is a correct answer! And yes it will be perfectly safe for the drivetrain!

 

Just drive it like a car, that's what most of you have bought it for anyhow.

 

I think that the fact that some TW engineers dare us to drive on dry pavement in 4ON4 without the TC caving is a statement of the good quality work TOYOTA engineers have done, and not that they’re giving us a bunch B/S about how we ought not drive on dry pavement while on 4ON4.

So I gotta ask…Will it hold?? Do you feel lucky?

 

That sounds miserable.

 

That’s my thinking unless it disengages when not engaged or something idk.

 

Exactly. 99 percent of people don’t use it more than once a year if at all and it’s fine

 

Everything is rotating, from my understanding. It's just not engaged to receive power. FCA developed a system to physically disconnect the front wheels from the 4x4 system when 4x4 isn't being used and implemented it into the Jeep JL as well as the RAM trucks. No one else has a system like that and thus, everything is rotating.

 

So, seems like it would be lubricated so only thing not moving is actuators etc

 

Not necessarily true. There have been some reports on this site of Actuators being 'stuck' from lack of use (and from water intrusion). It's better to use it occasionally to make sure there are no surprises when you do need it. A week ago I drove 40 miles in a snowstorm in 4Hi. Was a nice feeling knowing that it would work the way it's intended to because I use it regularly.

 

This isn’t completely true. If all 4 tires have equal traction all 4 wheels are putting equal power to the ground. If one tire on the rear and one tire on the front have little or no traction all power will go to those two wheels through the open diffs. In that situation you’re 2WD and hooped. That’s where the locker is magic. 3 wheels are forced to turn at the same speed.

 

I agree! Seriously, get out there and have an adventure once in a while!! Some of you would be amazed by the places I've found just tracing a dirt road back into the hills for a few (or many) miles.

 

That’s what I’ve been saying lol

 

an excuse to take it into the woods once a month.... or week

 

So the TOYOTA engineers got it wrong, or we got the wrong OM! Huh!

 

Yes! This forum helped me solve the lost standing issue of accidentally engaging 4wd while trying to adjust A/C.

 

This is not entirely true. I understand what you're trying to say, but it is not correct. When you're in 2WD you are NOT a 1 wheel drive vehicle. The differential delivers power to both wheels. However, when one wheel gets less traction than the other, that wheel begins to spin freely. If it were truly one wheel drive, you'd need to constantly input steering to counter the drive of one wheel. Alignments are done for the truck to go straight; not to constantly counter the "one wheel drive." Let's not even start on the tire wear issues.

Same with 4x4. You are, in fact, a 4 wheel drive vehicle. However, due to the open differentials, one wheel spins freely when it loses traction.

Also, if it were truly "one wheel drive," systems like crawl control or ABS LSD would never actually work.