Tales of "shifting from 4H to 4L" or beware of snowwakes!

I have had my 05 4wd for about a year n half and never had to put it in 4L until yesterday, trying to get out of my driveway. The previous day, we were blessed with 33" of light, fluffy and sometimes granular snow which caused considerable loss of traction. At the entrance to the driveway, the town plows graciously plowed a snowwake (new word i just made up) over 5' high. I was able to rock the truck back in forth in 4H until i had a good 20' run, figuring i would plow and knock down that nice snowwake, grrrrrrrrr! I was also gambling that no cars would be coming up or down the street and pull a nice slingshot (ya right! ) into the roadway, but that was not to be.
Well there i was, stuck with all my tires just flappin in the breeze, going nowhere, the rear bumper leaving a nice impression in that dang 5' snowwake! Mind ya, I noticed half the neighbors that occupy houses right next to me gawking out their windows, watching me. With the Tacoma's rep at stake here, i wasnt about to give up! So i figure, its about time i tried that 4L thingee and see if that would save both me and my truck from the gawkers. Opened up the glove box, got out the good book (toyota owners manual), chapter 4, verse 3, downed half a bottle of southern comfort (for medicinal purposes, mind ya) and proceeded to try it out. Truck was in neutral, clutch down (damn if i know why I did that) and turned that knob to 4L. what followed was this: Discovered i had a new light on the dash saying 4LOW which flashed ominously and also discovered a new sound emitting from said dash too!! That was kinda telling me 4L wasnt engaging so i went back to 4H which shut that sound off. Tried it a few more times and samething happened again...Then I figured maybe i should drive ahead in 4H, stop, and shift to 4L, and this time it engaged!
Gripping that steering wheel, throwin the truck into reverse, and praying no cars were comin from either direction, I went full steam ahead or backwards i should say, and rammed that damn snowwake with everything i had.
It didnt budge..................
However I did get to see what my truck would look like with a 5" lift on it as i had all 4 wheels off the ground at that point After a half hour or so, my friends showed up (in a chevy) proceeded to attached a chain to the rear (after considerable digging to gain access to it) and tried to pull me out of my predicament. The chevy's wheels spun and couldnt pull until I fired my truck up and in reverse 4L, gave the chevy some help. Within seconds i was free again! Once i composed my composure (another swig at that southern comfort) i tried to get out of 4L with the same problem trying to get into it. Had to drive forward a few feet in 4L, stop, and turn the knob back to 4H which it did go into.
Ya know, I wish toyota kept that 4H 4L shifter and the locking hubs, cause my gf (the blonde) was kinda pissed that I had a few swigs of that southern comfort!

 

Dude, you are destroying the Taco's reputation. To make matters worse, you bring a Chevy to rescue Taco.

 

What an adventure i would not like to wake up in that situation but i am glad you made it through. i guess there are pros and cons in living up north. reading that manual really helps, i would not even know if 4l would engage itself with that light indicator. it's good to know. thanks

 

There was a main point to the story here. First, I should have become familar long before i needed to use it, the operation of the 4H to 4L and back. How many other taco owners actually use 4L at any time, not off road but in snow conditions like this? This was a very loose type of snow that fell at the rate of 2-4" per hour and even the chevy, a 3500HD Diesel, had problems manuvering around.
The other problem was that I did something stupid which i should have foreseen, like trying to get over or knock down a 5' drift I chaulk it up to another learning experience in life, thats all

 

let's just use this experience as a learning curve now we are aware of what to utilize when caught up in those situations especially winter season. this info is a big help for all 4x4 owners

 

Dont forget to exercise your 4X4 once every month. I remember reading it somewhere in the OM.

 

I was thinking of this story while helping a friend move to a new house yesterday.

I had to backup onto his driveway from the street. There was at least a foot of snow/ice that had accumulated where his driveway met the road.

With a leather sofa on the bed, I slowly backed into it, with 4x2 on the first try, just to see what would happen. As expected, once my rear tires got on the ice, the truck wouldn't move anymore. I then started over, with 4x4 this time. The difference was like night and day. It seemed like the puddle wasn't even there! And I was only on 4H.

 

I guess it depends on how deep you are stuck in the snow

 

i have the answer!

STOP DRINKING SOUTHERN COMFORT WHILE YOU ARE DRIVING!!

 

at least it wasnt a Ford......

 

Book actually says 10 miles a month with 4WD engaged. Let's see I have had it 5 months, 6 trips to the lease in that time, so I am only 44 miles in 4WD behind.

 

i've used 4l in truckee twice this year, i just need some better snow tires and i will be fine.

 

Guys,
I have struggled for 4 years with the same problem. Finally, after reading this hilarious post, I decided to do something about it. I took some of your advice and it just would not work. Frustrated, I called my dealers service guy and asked him if there was a "Service Bulletin" on the Tacoma.
In the conversation, he detailed a plan for me to try...hehe...this is soooo simple I hate it.

Step 1 - Stop vehicle (or be below 2 mph) he recommended stopping completely.

Step 2 - Be sure to "Press the clutch pedal in all the way to the floor"
Step 3 - Flip switch to 4L (you should hear the unit engage)

Now, his explanation was that there is a switch or sensor on the clutch pedal that trips the 4L piece. If you are like me, once you get to the point of knowing where your clutch releases, you adjust your seat accordingly and seldom push the pedal all the way to the floor. It was so simple that I had to laugh.
I hope this keeps you guys from having to deal with this any further.

Mike

 

Sunrunner, the MASTER, my two favorite Taco members, we learn the hard way, don't we Sunrunner! Southern comfort and the Taco manual????? .....those snow berms can be tough.
I had to use my Taco, the other night to pull a Taurus out of a gully on a dirt access rd, a young girl and her friend tried to get to my friends house and he lives on a dirt access road and it passes with in 3ft of the lake and its quite low and a depression type gully is there and she triied to go thru it, absolutely no way she should have even attempted it. The owner could not even get by so we hooked a tow strap on to the rear axle and I just backed up in 4H, probably should have tried 4L but as I did not have any Southern Comfort and I really never intend to use 4L anyway. After a half dozen tugs and my friend in the Taurus to keep things straight, it came out. Taco to the rescue, he got a hug, I got wet from putting the strap around the axle. LOL

I will get out my manual and read up on the subject. Just in case.

Currently we have had 3" of snow, freezing rain and then all rain , as usual the weatherman tried to scare everyone out of the state with all sorts of disaster scenerio's. 5-12" , then 5-10. then 3-5 plus freezing rain.
It is ugly out there tonite , cold, rain and I guess it will freeze tomorrow, that's why we were out cleaning up and throwing sand down tonite.
Hey spring is coming , sometime!
Jeff, SR5, 6spd, V6, 4x4, Radiant Red, bone stock still

 

Well, come on up to upstate NY. We have about 4 feet on the ground now and more comin

 

I use 4Lo all the time, and yes, it is frustrating until you get the 'feel'

 

No no no you've got it all wrong. He's showing that the Tacoma can climb a 5' snowwake with ease and that Chevy needed help from his truck to get out because it couldn't do it on it's own.

No I'm not a politician but I can spin things with the best of them.

 

It seems the coming of winter revives the original post, so I felt that I needed to do a sequel to it around its 2nd anniversary.

The 07 Tacoma that was involved in this infamous incident is long gone. It met its untimely passing in the same location where it got kinda stuck like a balancing beam on a high snow wake left by city snow plows. A few weeks after the first incident, heavy ice slid off the roof of the apt house where I temp resided and severely damaged the Tacoma. The Tacoma got its revenge though this year when I learned the same fate fell on the chevy truck that gave me the nudge off the snow wake, which so happened to be owned by the landlord of that chit hole of a apt house. I celebrated that incident with some Southern Comfort, obviously, lol!

I replaced the Tacoma with a 08 Tundra 5.7L with a supercharger on it. The larger, more powerful truck was needed at this time because I was hauling a 24' trailer with a vintage corvette inside, going to car shows etc. I have always owned Tacoma's and its predecessors, so in time, I started to miss having one.
A few months ago, I decided to purchase a 09 reg cab 4x4 and found a white one at the Toyota dealership where I used to work. I bought it in Nov of 08, drove it to my house, and parked it in the garage where it remains now, with only 39 miles on it. This time I wanted to upgrade it, modify it, and do whatever I wanted to it, before I drove it out of that garage. So far, this year, we have had over 4' of snow, some ice storms, and this truck has not seen any of it. The TRD wheels, navigation unit, ARE cover, xm antenna mod into the cover, lights etc from the 07 are now on the 09. I did a never done before mod on the front bumper with driving lights, which I describe in the cheap/free mod post elsewhere in this forum. Next week, we are doing a full 3" lift install on it, with bigger wheels and tires. I will post pics when this is all finished, probably around springtime, only fitting I think. It will never get stuck on a snow wake again when I drive it next winter.

The 07 lives on, and I will drink a Southern Comfort to that too!
The 07 Tacoma in better times pic

The 09 being modified pics

 

Thank you. There are several different lights that will fit in that space, but you must consider the mounting brackets that come with those lights. The ones I used had a 3M tape system. You are also limited by the space on the inside top of the bumper due to a metal support bracket in that area. I reversed the brackets on the PIAA's that I used in this installation to clear that bracket.

 

I too like the placement of your fog lights.