Manual taco rear locker?

I’m having trouble engaging the rear locker on a manual 2020 tacoma. Sometimes if engages immediately and sometimes I have to pull forward about 20 ft. Any suggestions ?? Most of the time it’s not a problem but I needed it once and was already stuck so I couldn’t get it to engage.....

 

That's normal for the TRD e locker. Due to the nature of its design things have to line up for the fork to engage. Sometimes that happens right away sometimes it takes a little driving

 

If you're stuck just allow the tires to spin gently and slowly, like put it in 1st and ease off the clutch no gas unless it's going to bog then give it the smallest you can to keep it alive, slip the clutch if you have to or ride the parking brake; if you're stuck one wheel will turn faster than the other and it will engage.

 

With the TRD locker I find it best to engage it before you think you'll need it. If I'm on a technical trail I'll keep it locked the majority of the time, especially being a manual trans I'm generally in 4lo for the low gearing on most trails. I really only use 4hi for flat fire roads or snowy streets.

 

It is normal. Driving in S turns or circles may be necessary to get it to lock and unlock because like @eon_blue says the internals need to line up well enough for lock up to occur

 

Also, it's kind of a use it or lose it dealio, that's a little extreme, but what I mean my that is the 4x4 system needs to me exercised regularly to maintain lubrication and function.

This can be as simple as finding a patch of grass and engaging 4High->4Low-4Low-Locked/A-Trac and driving back and forth a few truck lengths like once a month. Even better if you can add a few low speed turns with said equipment engaged.

Regularly engaging your locker may make it engage easier, and serves as a function check that it doesn't fail you when you need it.

One more locked tip, your locker is to get *out* of a mud pit when you're stuck, not *through* one when you're pretty sure you can make it no problem.

Generally I slowly 2 High into an obstacle 4 high through it, if I start to slow and bog stop, 4 Low reverse with the locker and pray.

I learned this method through trial and error. And my error I mean a good handful of times of burying down to the frame and then bottoming out the travel too, and hours, and hours of digging.

But I finally learned to not forget about A-Trac and how that might have helped, and, a winch!

 

I played around with it a bit more and think I figured out a solution. You have to have it in 1st gear BUT if you were in another gear and stopped, shift into neutral then shifting into first but have NOT moved in 1st it won't engage until you move forward a bit. If you are moving in first and stop, shift into neutral and back to first it will engage right away. Basically you have to have driven a few feet in 1st before trying to turn it on if you want it to turn on immediately.

 

I have a 00 5 speed manual with the rear diff locker, but i haven’t seen anything about a lot of models before 04 having it? is this uncommon?

 

"The TRD Off-Road package was introduced in 1998. This package added a locking rear differential and was only available to PreRunner and four-wheel drive models that were equipped with the 3.4-L V6." - Wikipedia

All TRD Off-Road Tacoma's had the e-locker. Now if yours was a NON- offroad model, that'd be interesting. Would mean someone probably swapped the axle.