4wd stuck in snow

I got my tacoma pretty stuck in the snow this weekend. I was doing some backcountry snowboarding at past Marble, CO and parked my car at the entrance to what i think is Scofield pass. In the morning the snow was pretty firm, i didnt think about it softening up through out the day.

instead of backing the truck up, i thought i could turn into scofield entrance and circle myself around. there was this parking lot right there. I kinda wish i took pics just now trying to explain all this in words.

well to get the point, my truck sunk...bad. i have 05 tacoma with 32" BFG AT's. the more i tried to power out, the deeper my truck sunk. rocking it back and forth did nothing. by now i was stuck up the the bottom of the driver door.

my question is when i am in 4wd why was only my driver side tire spinning? even in 4lo the other three tires did not move at all.

at the end, it took 6 snowmobilers , a lot of shoveling, and a huge truck to pull me out. the force of the it actually bent my hitch a little.

 

Do you have the sport? Did you try 4low? Air down the tires?

 

no sport, just the trd offroad. i did try 4LO. do difference. I did think to let some air out of the tires. I dont think it would have done anything, but i have also never tried that at all.

over 50% of all were buried in the snow. it was not light fluffy, but was a little bit wet and packed in to ice.

i thought with 4wd all the tires would be spinning regardless of traction. like the extra resistance when making slow sharp turns in 4wd. i am pretty sure i dont have traction control.

 

with 4x4 and the locker engaged 3 wheels should spin. just 4x4 and no rear locker = 2 wheels spinning

 

It sounds like maybe you might have broken 4x4. In 4hi or 4lo when stuck in snow (or wherever the wheels are slipping) you should have 1 front tire spinning and 1 rear tire spinning. Sinch you have the TRD OR you should have put it in 4lo and engaged the locker, then you would have had 3 wheels moving, 2 rears and 1 front.

In snow and soft stuff, the second you feel you are getting stuck you need to change the circumstances getting you stuck, whether that means speeding up to get momentum or slowing down so the tires get traction; put it in 4, hit the locker, aidown the tires to 10-15PSI, change something. If you just keep on trucking at the same speed etc that got you stuck all you are doing is digging deeper and packing the snow under your rig into cement.

If only 1 tire was spinning, you either didn't properly engage the 4x4 or it's broken. Also, all 4 tires will only spin if you have a locker in the front and rear, which you don't (you should have a rear though, it's the only reason to get TRD OR...) (it the button that says "RR DIFF LOCK" or something like that, and you need to be n 4lo to use it)

 

my girlfriend who was standing on the outside the whole time just tells me that everytime she looked there was two tires spinning, but it was diagonal tires, not two on the same side. like the driver front and the passenger rear or the passenger front and the driver rear. she said they were trading off. one diagonal then the other.

does that make sense, is that what should have happened. i would think it would be the front axles spinning or the rear.

i did try 4low but i did not hit the rr locker button.

if my 4wd was broken or not properly engaged, then i would think the driver side front tire would never be spinning.

 

It sounds like you high centered yourself on the snow... Ask LonghornTaco all about that. As for the locker, that's the whole point of the Off-road package, use it!

 

I'm amazed people that have the locker have no idea what it's for.... if I saw some random button in my truck that I had no idea what it was for I think I'd want to find out what it was all about....

esp that button!

 

Hehe...



When it happened to me, I don't think I ever engaged 4wd until after I was stuck. Didn't do me much good. Had to be pushed out by another truck...

 

i just got the truck a few months ago. any tips would be great. thanks

 

Sounds like it was working, the tire with the least resistance on each axle will spin.



Forgot to add, you need to be in 4Lo for the Diff Lock to work

Hit the Diff Lock next time and both tires on the rear will have power regardless of one having more traction or not.



Another lesson you should take home from this is don't wait til your leaving to turn your truck around, I always park it with an easy exit in mind, you never know if conditions are gonna change or if you need to leave in a hurry due to an emergency

 

what he said!

RR locker, Locks the rear axle so that both wheels are delievered power so you'll get 3x4 (3 wheels get power(2 rear and 1 front)) as opposed to 2x4 (2 wheels(1 per axle)) in 4wd....

a normal 4x4 with open differentials will send power to the 2 wheels (one front and one rear) with the least ammount of traction. (thats what was happening to your truck without the diff locked)

 

so not to take the attention off of anybody else but.... how should my drive train act in my 95 with locking hubs in the front???? i havent had any problems yet... i was chewing through 13" inches of snow like it wasnt even there...

so do both of my front tires spin or what.... i know only one of my back tires spins....

 

if you have the trd.. with the locker engaged in low the 2 rear wheels will spin and one of the front wheels will spin.

you'll need to add a front locker such as the arb to make all 4 wheels spins together.

 

That's good... well the fact that 1 front and 1 rear were spining, that means your 4x4 is working perfectly.

Get out your manual to learn about the locker. On my 09 it needs to be in 4lo and at 0-5 mph I can hit the RR DIFF LOCK button and it engages the locker until I hit the button again to disengauge it. There should be some kind of indicator that lights up in your gauges, probably near the one that indicates you're in 4x4; if it's flashing/beeping it hasn't yet engaged. Read up on when to use it, BUT if nothing else try it when you're stuck!

 

naw man its non trd its only a 95 4x4 the first year the tacoma came out... manual shift transfercase.... the rear is non locking... i was just wondering how the front acted with the lockouts...

 

^ Locking hubs do only that, lock the hubs. The differential is still open so only 1 wheel spin unless you have a locker put in.

 

Right, locking hubs just "connect" the front wheels to power, same thing as "push button 4x4" the button just locks the hubs for you basically. A locking differential is what makes both wheels spin at the same rate constantly... I'm pretty sure no U.S. vehicle comes stock with a front locker, at least anything street legal.

Locking hubs and locking differential are completely different things.

 

So, i'm with all the other guys here..... use the RR diff lock! Without it, your 4x4 is only a 2x4 as one front and one rear tire will spin with the differential open. Therefor, It would have given you 50% more traction by having both rear wheels locked together and could have possibly gotten you out(if you didn't bury it to the frame before you engaged it)!

Here is a pic of my Taco stuck in the snow at 1am when 4wheeling with some friends. It took an hour and a half to get both our trucks out(my buddy that tried to pull me out got stuck trying to just get to me) but we were mostly prepared with multiple tow straps, a come-a-long, and shovels. I now own a 9000lb Warn multi-mount winch so recovery will be much quicker from now on.

 

damn bro... that looks like alot of frickin snow!!! how much accumulation did you have there???
my sig was my taco in the 13 inches i was talking about... i had no problems getting around... although i did get hung up once.. and that was in a "snow wake" that a city truck had made with a plow.... i just backed up a lil and gave her hell and got through with no problem...