Help! I can't use 4WD!!

Hi! I'm new here. I got my 2002 2.7L SR5 Tacoma a few months back and noticed a problem with it. When I shift into either hi-4 or lo-4 the truck has incredible difficulty making a tight turn. I strapped a gopro to the side so that I could take a look at one of my leaf springs that has rusted off at one end (getting it repaired soon) and noticed that I can actually hear the tires rubbing the road when I try to make a turn. I can see that its not the rear wheels in the video, so I assume it has something to do with the front differential (that would only be active in 4x4 mode)
I think that turning on 4x4 somehow locks up the front differential.. does anyone have any insight?

 

Im just going to make the assumption that you are just pulling people legs, because if you are not.....this is ridiculous.

 

PLease tell me you are not in 4hi or low while driving on pavement.

 

This is normal of the binding on all surfaces when putting it into 4 wheel drive high or low, especially on asphalt, so I would not worry about anything.

 

Lol lets see where this goes. Im gonna second the notion op is on pavement while in 4wd.

 

I question the legitimacy or this thread due to many thing. The op has 1 post. They seemingly know what a locked differential is and how it works or at leas is aware of it, but doesnt understand how a basic 4wd system works???

Im calling shinanigans.

 

thank you.
Pardon my inexperience with 4x4s.. i'm relatively new to trucks in general (only a few months)
I use hi 4 for icy or extremely wet conditions (and on the dirt roads around here) I only asked this because I noticed such a drastic difference between 2wd and 4wd. I also wasn't sure if the front differential was supposed to lock up with it not being a TRD.

 

No tacomas have a locker in the front unless it was added by a previous owner as aftermarket. And if yours did have one you probably would have made one turn on a dry surface and either bound up broke something.

 

okay. sorry..
so.. am I not supposed to use hi-4 to try and gain traction on ice? I don't use it on dry pavement

 

It is all ok , It being TRD or not does not have anything to do with the 4wd unless you have a locker, TRD is a package but if the front wheels are turning without any noise when moving it is all ok

 

You are, its just that true 4wd (locked center diff/transfer case)binds when turning. Always. On pavement its hugely noticible and on ice or snow its less.

Sorry for the amount of crap, its just lately there have been some rodoculous threads some of which were intentionally trolling.

Its just your situations seemed so obvious 9/10 people would have thought the same.

 

Okay. Well thank you for your help. No one I know has a truck, so its all new to me.

 

Don't make tight turns in 4wd. You can use 4wd on ice, snow, sand, mud no issue, but I would avoid super tight turns. I wouldn't really use it in the rain, the 2.7 shouldn't have an issue breaking traction in the rain haha. You're fine using 4wd while driving straight, it's turning you'll have an issue.

The issue you're running into is normal for a part time 4wd. The front and rear tires travel at different speeds in a turn, and The transfer case does not slip to allow a difference in speed between the front tires and rear tires. Thus you get the binding and the truck will buck and shake.

 

Thats why we are all on here , we all are learning new things from each other and that is what this website is all about

 

honestly. don't make ANY turns whatsoever in 4wd hi or low while on anything harder than packed down or wet and then dried to a hard state dirt. though your front diff doesn't have a locker, it still turns slower at the front axle than the rear does. and your x-fer case IS locked. it does NOT have a differential. so with the front axle moving slower than the rear, it will cause binding.