How important is 4x4?

Hey guys,

I got my Tacoma when my last car was totaled and I had the opportunity to buy a new daily driver and decided to make it double as a camping vehicle. With the budget I had, and the time frame, I was forced to settle for a 2004 PreRunner Xtracab 2.7L.

Well, the rear leafs are looking pretty sad (I'd want to use this opportunity to upgrade all around) and I'll be needing new brakes soon. Before I invest in all of that, I wanted to ask you how important you think having 4WD is for my situation:

As I said, I daily drive this truck, and will for the foreseeable future. In my spare time, I use it for camping trips, based out of CA, so it's like 80% freeway 20% road trip/camping. Of those trips, I'd say 40% are in established campgrounds accessible to anyone. The other 60% is forest/fire roads and dispersed camping. I don't really aspire to do any crawling, but I do want to expand my horizons by really getting off the beaten path to see more of America's wilderness.

What would you do in my situation?

Keep in mind that in CA, it's not easy to get a 1st gen Tacoma in 4WD that has less than 250k miles (which I'd prefer), and they still run just at the edge of my budget anyway.

Here it was at Cottonwood Canyon outside Joshua Tree recently:

 

In my case when living in SoCal, I never thought I would need so didn’t buy it. Then I was relocated to a state that got snow and bad ice storms and didn’t have it and wished I did. Then I was relocated to Reno and my dad/sis are in Sacramento. Trying to cross the mountains in the winter is terrible. Fortunately we have an AWD cr-v that helps with those trips if we have to cross in the bad weather.

 

I would say no it's not necessary, but it would be safe to invest in a winch and winch bumper, so if you were to get stuck you could pull yourself out.

 

Rather have it and not need it, then need it and not have it

 

Im not super qualified to answer this but Ill give my input. Id say you don't really need it, a decent set of tires will get you as far as it sounds like you'll want to go and if thats not good enough then get a rear locker.

 

I would say it’s pretty important. However majority of my camping grounds are somewhere it’s hard to go to even when it’s labeled “camping site” on a map. Reason being is I currently am stationed in Louisiana in swamp and mud pit land. Before that I was in Arizona and would need 4x4 for the dunes/sand.

Again most of my camping site does not receive cellular signal (I have a ham radio for emergency) so if I get stuck and Im not in a group, I’ll have to keep winching myself out cause I’ll get stuck a lot with a 2wd.

 

4x4 and wench/bumper is a must if you plan to go camping alone. You'll need to find ways to get out of tight spots so a couple of tow straps will be helpful.

 

Myself I owned one 2wd truck never again !!

This is me if I have a Truck it is going to be a 4x4

It all comes down to how you use the vehicle

Now a empty 2wd would not make it out my drive way

 

speaking as a central coastal californian, who bought a tacoma 4x4 trd offroad about 2 years ago...

1) 4x4 means not having to stop and put on chains in the Sierra in the winter. thats a big win.

2) off road driving, ground clearance and good tires are the single most important thing. IMHO.

3) use 2x4 to get in, use 4x4 to get out. just sayin'.



I was very happy to have 4x4 *AND* a fresh set of KO2's when I went over North Pass in Death Valley in January in foot deep slush and mud.

 

This says it all. Get a 4x4.

I started with a TRD Off Road Prerunner, and it did pretty well in most cases. I loved that truck, but there were times when I got that thing stuck bad and wished to god I had 4wd. Now that I'm a 4x4 guy, I always answer the 4x4 question with this: With a 2wd, there is a very well-defined line between can and can't. The most important thing I learned from having a 2wd truck was how to get a 2wd truck unstuck.

 

The other side of the coin is thinking you can go just anyplace some people tend to get over confident !!

 

At least get the TRD edition to have a rear locker

 

speaking as a central coastal californian, who bought a tacoma 4x4 trd offroad about 2 years ago...

1) 4x4 means not having to stop and put on chains in the Sierra in the winter. thats a big win.

2) off road driving, ground clearance and good tires are the single most important thing. IMHO.

3) use 2x4 to get in, use 4x4 to get out. just sayin'.



I was very happy to have 4x4 *AND* a fresh set of KO2's when I went over North Pass in Death Valley in January in foot deep slush and mud.

oh, and if you trailer boats at boat ramps, 4x4 is very handy when the back wheels are in the slime at the waters edge.

 

I've gone to many fun camping / hiking spots around the Sierras and the deserts with my open diff, stock suspension prerunner on 31" baby off-road tires. The one time I got sketched out with it was when I was going down a super rutted, pretty steep, off camber trail out by Barstow's Black Mountain Wilderness Area. I thought to myself, if I ever had to get back up something like this, the lack of control from being able to crawl up with either a locker or 4x4 would be super sketchy. Even going up in locked 2wd I think would be a concern because the front tires wouldn't get as much traction to keep them moving where I wanted them to in the ruts.

Here's what the terrain looked like viewing north up to Death Valley National Park. The sketchy section was between where the picture was taken and where you can see the road. You can see the trail on the lower left hand corner of the screen.



I quit building my prerunner after that. I bought a 4x4. Since you have a first gen, you can do the conversion - my 2nd gen wouldn't be easy to convert without significant fab work so I just bought a first gen 4x4 and built that (still am building). If you read up on where you're going beforehand and make good judgement calls in turning back from anywhere you possibly could get stuck, then you'll decrease your chances of getting stuck a lot.

Like @RedManRocket said, a winch will help and there's plenty of 4x4's that get stuck in soft sand, too. Unless there's rock crawling, soft, deep sand, or steep dirt roads like I previously mentioned, you should be fine if you exercise proper judgement and keep your momentum as needed when there's a chance you could start slipping - inertia saves lol.

 

One time on a city street I was blessing my truck for 4x4. Turning around I did not notice that the hedge I was digging in was growing on a missing shoulder (about 1 ft drop) and the both front wheels dropped down from of pavement setting my my truck on a skid plate. There was no way to pull back just using rear wheels, winch or even tow without ability to lift the front up. That was one of the "oh shit" moments, not only for me but for other cars too as my Tacoma blocked this narrow street entirely.

So I just jumped out to put front locks on (I have manual locking hubs), set 4L and slowly pulled back on my own. Front wheels just climbed up back on the pavement. It took about 30 seconds to free up myself and the traffic.

This whole story proves that 4x4 in a hands of dumb drivers (that's me) can be a real life saver even if you never go off the pavement (purposely I mean).

 

My dad has always had 2wd trucks and has never had any problem getting where he needs to offroad. Then again, he is fairly cautious and has a pretty good gauge of what his truck can and can't do. I choose 4x4 personally to keep it dummy-proof, but a 2wd with good tires, some height and someone smart behind the wheel, most of the time you'll be just fine. Carry some chains for weather and recovery gear so you can either get yourself out, or help someone get you out.

 

Just saw this the other day and glad I went with 4X4...

https://youtu.be/yMLHtApOCwc

 

Watch the video I just posted above. in this terrain the 4x4 made all the difference in the world.

 

VERY solid advice

 

I have a Prerunner. We hunt, and camp frequently. Honestly, I've had my Taco in spots a lot of people would avoid in a 2wd. It's not uncommon for us to be 15-20 miles from pavement. I've crossed creeks, driven up and down rutted fire roads... and the Taco has always gotten me in... and back out.

Now, with that said... I'm currently collecting parts to do the 4x4 swap.
2 reasons:
I get nervous going where I want to go when it rains for extended periods.
I'd like to be able to drive by signs that say "Chains OR 4X4 required."