95 3.4l V6 4×4 ISSUE

Hey everyone I have a 1995 Toyota Tacoma with a marlin crawler transmission, warn manual hub lockers, and ARB front and rear air locker setup with the compressor. I have a switch for the rear and front and a switch to turn on my compressor alone. I recently went off roading and noticed something really weird. When my truck was in 4 high or low with my front lockers activated and my manual lockers on the 4×4 position my driver side wheel would spin like it is in 4×4 and it got power but my passenger side however wasn't getting power at all... I can't find anything online that I could pinpoint to see what the issue is. I was reading other threads but nothing like what I got going on. I am wondering if my front diff actuator might be the issue but again seems weird my left side spins and gets power but my right side doesn't do anything. When in 4×4 with my hub lockers and the transmission in 4×4 my hub lockers will only lock on the left side and I have to manually go under the truck and turn the cv axle shaft to hear the right side click and lock. I did diagnos and check my hub lockers but they both do lock after switching them opposite sides.my 4×4 light doesn't come on either when in the 4×4 high or low gear. I do know my actuator is not electronic it's vacuum, I just want to see if anyone has an idea before I start taking my diff apart and try to see what the heck is going on. Idk even where to start lol .. Please help if any ideas thanks!

 

When you say "manual lockers" you mean manual locking hubs?

BTW, if you got manual locking hub, you won't have a front tube actuator as you mentioned. Unless the PO or you swap to manual locking hub without changing the clamshell ADD tube to manual.

If you're running the ARB wiring, IIRC you're not able to engage the front locker before engaging the rear. Meaning, the rear must be engage before you can engage the front. They're not standalone yet standalone unit, lol. So if the rear is not engaged, the front can't engage, hence not diff locked so it will operate as an open clamshell.

Change those POS Warn out for real Aisin locking hubs. That might be your issue as well.

 

Yeah this is confusing.

The dial on the front of your wheels, simply engage/disengage the front cv axles.

This does not mean you are in 4x4 since power isn't being applied to them while in two wheel drive rather, the cv axles simply spin when the wheels turn.

You need to have the cv axles engaged (manual hubs turned to lock) for you to utilize 4x4 when you go into four wheel drive.

A locking differential is different from that, in that it will prevent one side from slipping if it looses traction in relation to the other (all while already in four wheel drive).

If your cv axles are not engaging, there's a chance the manual hubs were not assembled properly. Just get yourself the Aisin hubs that come standard on these trucks and install that instead.

Super easy to do, and if you find a used set they're super easy to rebuild.

 

Yeah so they are manual hub lockers and I know about the rear needing to engage for the front, that's the thing when my hub lockers are put in 4×4 and my rear air locker is on first, then my front air locker, my driver tire will act like it's in 4×4 (when I push the accelerater it spins. But my right side does nothing. This happens when everything is supposed to be locked but my right side isn't getting any power to the cv axle to spin the wheel. It doesn't make any noise at all like anything is broken...

 

Also I diagnosed the manual hub lockers and they both do lock the left side like it should, I swapped both to the working side that gets power and locks and they are good. Just not the right. So I know the hubs lockers are good. When they break I'll def upgrade!

 

You reference "front diff actuator" in your orginal post, can you verify what you actually have? Pictures will help.

 

Yes , give me some time to check it out and take a pic I have my skid plate covering it and I'm at work but thanks for the help this far my good sir! I'll reply with a pic soon

 

The incorrect verbiage is kind of what others are finding confusing.

 

My bad for the verbiage I'm not a pro like y'all, I'm still trying to understand the 4×4 world haha.

 

It's just weird and hard to explain haha

 

To me it sounds like your issue is that there is no locker engagement up front, therefore 1 wheel spin. You have verified that the rear is locking when selected?

 

I seen some shady AF deal in the past. Went with a coworker to look at a tacoma with arb rear locker. I test it, compressor continued to cycle without turning off. Seemed weird but owner stated it recently developed a leak and the compressor stayed on when engaged. Overall, truck was good and a decent price so he bought it. Thinking it was an easy fix, the next day, he pulled the third member and it was an open diff. Air line into the third goes no where beside pumping air into the housing and venting through the housing vent.

Hopefully that's not OP case.

 

OOF

Tell me that was in our county

 

How did you know, lol. PO played the "well, I bought it like that and never took it apart". Long story short, my coworker got shafted without Lube.

 

Why do you think I never bought or sold a Yota out here

The people buying, are too broke and the people selling, are too shady

I don't even do fab work for the Yota dudes out here

 

True statement for majority of the people here. Locals wanting it for pennies on the dollar. Vultures....

I like it when they say "built, offroad ready, will get you anywhere" and it's litterily body lift, spacers, and light bar before lockers. Or better yet, when they say "high clearance" is just missing the front and rear bumper..... But this one will trip you every time, lift it so high to clear everything.

 

I would get stopped so freaking often when they'd see my Kings on the 4R, or just the Land Cruiser itself lol

But you're right, these SAS'd trucks I've seen are so freaking tall. Even from 10' away you can see the nasty fab-hack job they did with the cheapest TG parts possible.

 

I can confirm the real lockers do lock. My compressor turns on and they both lock rear when I select the rear locker. The front does also but only the left side. The right side definitely isn't locking but when I went off roading I thought I was in 4×4 until I got stuck in some sand, and noticed in the video my bro took all three of my tires were spinning and digging except the front passenger tire. It was kind of just trailing along not spinning lol. Pretty interesting situation. Is it possible something can be broken in the front diff? Like some missing teeth on one of the gears?

 

Your description still makes it sound like the rear diff is locking up but the front diff is not. None of what you have described verifies that the front diff locker is engaging. Do you see an air line going to the front diff? Does the compressor turn on and then off quickly, or does it continue to run on?

 

Correct the rear diff is locking but the front isn't fully on both sides only the driver side. The passenger side wheel doesn't even sound like it tries to engage. I did test both of the warn manual hub lockers and they do both lock the working front driver wheel. I basically lifted the front end put it in 4 lol and 4 high, made sure it was in gear, and then put the warm hub lockers to 4×4. I then tested them the way they were on each side, and the right side didn't lock just spun. I Took them off and put left hub locker on right and vice versa, (This was also done with my rear air lockers engaged first then the front air locker.) After doing the same steps, the hub locker that was on the right side locked the left wheel and the original hub locker that locked the left wheel wasn't locking the right wheel. It just freely spun. I'm going to be installing some light pods tomorrow so while I'm doing that I can take pics of the front diff to see if I have the right setup because I'm pretty sure I see a front diff actuator with some kind of hose line to it.