4 Wheel Drive ??

New to site and looking for others experiance with a issue.
Third 4 wheel drive truck. Grand Cherokee, 2010 4 Runner and now 2018 Tacoma 4 door.
Didn’t notice this in the other trucks. When in 4 wheel drive going under 5 mph and really bad in reverse it feels like the emergency brake is on. It’s not. I’m not sure how else to describe it. In reverse at idle the truck will not move at all. Have to give it a good bit of gas and it just does not feel smooth.
Anyone else have this?

 

4L or 4H? Don’t have the same feeling in 2H? If 4L then “normal” with low gear...

 

Are you experiencing this resistance on dry pavement?

 

4H and dry pavement

 

NEVER use 4WD on dry pavement.

What you are experiencing is binding in the driveline and something is going to break if you continue.

When in 4x4, the transfer case locks the front and rear axles together and there is no differential effect between them.

This is not a problem off road as loose dirt will allow for slippage.

On dry pavement however, there is no slippage and the driveline will wind up like a spring until either something slips or something breaks.

An example of what happens when a transfer case gets too bound up



Don't do it!

Your Cherokee and 4Runner may have had an AWD or Automatic 4x4 mode which has a differential in the transfer case to allow driving on dry pavement.

 

When you go around a corner all 4 wheels need to turn at a different speed since they are taking a different route to get there. In 4X2 the front wheels are coasting and the rear diff shifts all the power to just one wheel and allows the other to coast. But when in 4x4 all 4 wheels are locked together and turn at the same speed. When on a slippery surface the wheels on the inside, the ones with the least distance to travel, will easily spin slightly on the ground. But if on a hard surface where traction is good it is very hard to make them spin and it really puts the transfer case in a bind. You might not break something right away, but you are doing damage that will wear out parts sooner. Or could do very expensive damage right now.

Many newer vehicles are AWD, not 4X4. An AWD system uses computers to allow all 4 wheels to get power, yet turn at different speeds. But will never lock everything together like 4X4. AWD is great, even better than 4X4 for snow or light duty off road use. But when things get really bad they just don't get the job done. If none of the 4 wheels have good traction they will end up sending power to only 1 wheel. The one with the least traction.

Others have the option be operated in 4X2, then shift to AWD when that is appropriate, and then lock into true 4X4 when things get bad.