Do the monthly 4 wheel drive 10 mile exercise?

This is my first time hearing this. Where is this explained in the manual and why wouldn't the dealer mention this during delivery?

Anyway, good to know and makes perfect sense.

 

I too find a straight road and engage 4x4 and do the 10 mile exercise. I live 45 minutes from nearest dirt trail, so highway usually suffices for me.

 

^This. And the fact that the stealer only cares about stealing money from you. They don't care too much about you after they have sold you the vehicle. Hence the manual--Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. does care.

 

I also didnt know about this, but I have an excuse to get some off roading in tonight

 

Why run 4WD on dry asphalt? Every recommendation I ever heard is don't do it.

You don't necessarily need 10 contiguous miles of dirt road to exercise the 4WD. You can run the truck around a dirt lot a few times a month. This is the planet earth, it may be 60% water but there's still plenty of dirt everywhere.

If there's rain on the road, then flip it into 4WD to get the recommended exercise. Last I heard it rains just about everywhere on the entire planet, and where it doesn't there's plenty of dirt.

 

But dry asphalt DOES allow enough wheel slippage? LMAO.

 

Driving in a straight line while H4 is engaged and on pavement doesn't overly stress the drive train. To further reduce any stress I'll sometimes, not always, shift into neutral and then engage or disengage H4. I've been doing it for 3 years with no ill side affects. I've also spoken to a Toyota drive train specialist on the subject and he said it was fine too.

 

i do it..about one mile. at my bowrange.

 

So, let's review. It's OK to run 4WD on dry asphalt if you don't turn.

But it's NOT ok to run 4WD on a rain-slicked road because there's no slippage at the wheels.

And on this dry asphalt, you're getting slippage because you don't turn?

 

Eh, that's not the proper way to exercise 4WD. 4WD needs slippage somewhere among the four wheels, otherwise there is the potential for damage. To advocate otherwise is irresponsible, which is why every 4WD owner's manual says "DO NOT PUT THE VEHICLE IN 4WD ON A DRY HARD SURFACE ROAD".

There may be a caveat in there that says "only if you have to, but go back to 2WD as soon as possible". There's no way you should be putting the truck into 4WD on a dry road to exercise it when there's other alternatives.

 

4wd is absolutely fine and will not hurt anything on dry pavement AS LONG AS you don't turn at all.

 

Finding 10 meters of straight road where I live is hard enough...let alone 10 miles.

 

Yes, "no" is a complete sentence. Please do tell documented reason(s) not to put it in 4X4 while on pavement?? A few exploded transfer cases does not constitute a major problem. The owners manual does not say yes or no about pavement in H4, it say to use it if traction is needed...... they only state L4 is for power and off road. Seems if the engineers at Toyota say you can switch into or out of H4 an H2 at any speed below 62 MPH then a little pavement running in 4x4 each month while on your way to or from work should not hurt.

It says 10 mile a month but you don't have to do it all at one time..

 

I disagree. It will not hurt in H4. I also challenge you to find that cautionary statement in the owners manual. lol I can't find it, or it does not exist in our owners manual. My information came from Roger M. a Powertrain product specialist at Toyota Corporate.

 

Doesn't need to be perfectly straight. Sharp turns are a problem because the front wheels need to move faster than the rear wheels. Gentle turns (including cloverleaf highway onramps) are fine. That's why the placard on the sunvisor says to avoid sharp turns in 4x4.

 

Every 4WD manual ever printed says do not run 4WD on dry pavement, but it's ok to ignore that because inexplicably you can't find dirt. How can you be unable to find dirt?

 

There is slippage on a rain-soaked asphalt road. There is no slippage on a dry asphalt road. So why run 4WD on a dry road if you can exercise the 4WD on a rain-soaked road? Makes no sense.

 

I just checked and double checked in my 2011 manual. It does NOT say not to run in 4wd on dry pavement. The little card in the visor has no warnings, outside of not shifting when cornering or when a wheel is off the ground and spinning. In fact, looking back to 2010 (if I remember correctly) the only mention in the manual says that it's not recommended because it will cause "poor handling and premature tire wear".

I've turned sharp more than once on dry pavement. Of course you can feel the driveline bind just like you can on dry dirt. In both cases, the amount of power required to get wheel slip and continue from a stop is very close to the same. There isn't much weight on the rear end in these vehicles and as most of know the rears slip quite easily. Now if someone put a thousand pounds of bricks in the bed and did the same, would it put a severe strain on the driveline? I'm sure it would. But as is with such little traction in the rear end, I don't really think it hurts; hence the lack of any warnings anywhere in the truck's documentation.

I think a lot of this fear comes from stories told by Old Foagy McJackoffton, who owns the local lube shop. Once he saw an 80's American POS 4wd with a blown transfer case, and it happened when the driver turned on pavement when in 4wd. He concluded that all 4wd vehicles have transfer cases that will fail under these circumstances, and has told his customers this for the last 25 years.

I trust Toyota engineers and their lack of warnings way more that I do Old Foagy McJackoffton's anecdotal advice.

To answer the original question... I do my exercise on dry pavement with shallow turns. Not because of worrying about damage, but out of not wanting to wear tires unnecessarily.

 

Actually there is enough slippage in the rain. Better than exercising the 4WD on dry asphalt for sure.

Like I said above, you don't have to go 10 contiguous miles every month. Just a little bit here and there each month is fine. If you happen to catch a rainstorm, go ahead and put it into 4WD for a little bit, you'll get the slippage necessary, a lot better slippage than dry pavement for sure.

 

.
. . . Sub'd . . .
.