First Time Truck owner with lot's of questions.

Um no. This truck is rear wheel drive by default. It is also a part time 4WD not an AWD. You have to shift it to get to 4WD. You do not use part time 4WD for rain. You use it for snow or mud. AWD helps in rain. Please read the manual before making anymore assumptions.

 

Any time tires spin when you want to move is why you have 4WD. Use it! Mostly on unpaved roads or in snow, on beaches, climbing hills or wet boat ramps. The data on the sun visor card is good.
The 4WD increases where you can go, greatly... Live a little!

 

Welcome to TW. Lots of good folks here with lots of info. Observe and take note on many topics that appear. Also a great resource for noobs here.

 

I have a 2016 and it is on the driver's side on mine. I think you have to put the visor down to see it. Just a summary of what is in the manual.

 

Heck, just the sound of plain old 4low is enough to think your truck has something not right.

 

@dee151_TRD

**Subscribe to the page**

When in 2W drive, power goes to the rear wheel.

Skip to 6:00 minute mark for this reference point.

 

Bro I been watching his videos for the last 2 days lol, he spits out good info...
and I am already subscribe

 

Welcome to TW

 

@dee151_TRD

I figured the rear wheels were turning in 2W drive and the fronts activated in 4W...but wanted to confirm. (It's probably in the manual too!) lol

It's my first truck 4X4 truck too and I'm learning too!

 

I have 153k miles on my truck and I don’t think I’ve ever had it in 4wd low. High yes, low no…

 

I've got 18K+ miles on my truck and I've engaged 4L once.

Not the same for 4H.

4X4 (4H) is engaged on straight-aways going less than 60mph at least monthly.

 

Howdy! Not sure if this was already answered in 3 pages of responses.

NO. And YES. If you come from a car with a tiptronic, THAT is a "manual mode", some people think S is "sport" mode, it's sequential mode. When you select S#, that # is just the highest gear the truck will go into. You can go into first in S5, and S6 = D, since the highest gear it allows is 6th.

I use it all the time. 5th is in a normal rev range on the highway at 70 and doesn't hunt for gears as much if I'm in the mountains. 5th and 6th are both OD, so it'll drop to 4th for torque. Then hunt back up for 6th. If you leave it in S5, often times it has enough torque, and when it DOES need to drop to 4th, it only goes back up to 5th. A lot smoother drive overall, and MPG negligible difference (some have even said it's BETTER MPG, I don't have enough data for that though )

This is NOT "manual" or tiptronic, all it does is limit the highest gear. My old mazda was "manual" mode, which was a lot of fun. This is not. Also, up and down are backwards.

Why use S6? First - when you drop it into S mode, it defaults to 4th, so if you want to drop it into 5th, if you aren't quick enough, it'll go to 4th first. Sometimes that makes you scream in revs Second - there IS also something different between D and S6, I THINK something about auto LSD or something like that, but something that unless you're in a super specific scenario, you'll never notice. I remember learning about it about 2 years ago and then it immediately left my brain.

 

Very good explanation of the S-drive function.

I have OTT Tune 8.0 with Gear Lock (which is already active in S-mode) and I use ECT for more direct feel in torque.

Throttle response is quick...even with my Mild/Light sauce.

I'm still getting the same MPGs...at least, I haven't noticed a degradation at the fuel station. (365+ MPGs per refill tankful on average)

 

I live in Moab and just about every time I go offroad I'm in 4lo. Just my personal preference, but I use 4hi on gravel roads and such. However, as soon as I need to go up a steep rocky hill hill or bump up a ledge or go nice and slow down a steep hill I'm in 4lo.

From my understanding, 4hi has the same gearing as 2hi. 4lo changes the gearing to give you more power.

I mentioned to a coworker the other day how much I love 4lo in my Tacoma and she was shocked that I even use 4lo. She said she only ever uses 4hi and I was like, "Well, we probably don't go wheeling on the same trails then."