2002 Toyota Tacoma 4x4

2002 toyota tacoma intermittently drags when in 4 wheel drive like the rear brake goes on and off or surging downhill or uphill. Went to town the other day and forgot to take the rear end locker button off and it was flashing at me in 2 wheel high going 65 mph going to town in dry condition. In two wheel drive works great. Used to go up hill in snow real well now you would haft to almost floor it to get up the hill in 4 wheel high or low with rear end locker engaged or not. Is it the transfer case have 230 thousand miles on it and use 4x4 alot live in snow country. Or did I screw up the rear end driving so fast with the rear end locker button engaged ?

 

Welcome to TW! I know on my 2nd Gen that if the locker button is flashing then it's not engaged. Mine did that once when I bumped it getting into the truck and was flashing on the highway.

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

You should ask this question in the 1st gen forum. https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/1st-gen-tacomas-1995-2004.4/ Welcome to TW.

 

You can drive as fast as you want with the rear end locked, won't hurt anything...taking turns on dry pavement with the rear locked is another story. But you would definitely know if it were locked on pavement when turning - the rear end would be hopping all over the place.

If the RR Diff lock light is flashing on the dash, that means the locker is not engaged but is trying to engage, most likely you had the button pressed in by accident which triggered the light. It's only engaged if the light on the dash goes solid.

As for your truck not performing as well in the snow, it's hard to say without more details...could just be that your tires are worn or too inflated and you aren't getting traction. I doubt the rear diff is screwed up, if something were wrong with your diff it would be making noise at the very least, or clunking/clattering and locking up on you.

Could always drain and fill the gear oil in the rear diff and see what it looks like, make sure there's no big chunks of metal in there.

 

Welcome to TW

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld!

 

welcome to TW sorry have no clue

 

Thanks for the info it seems to be working ok again not dragging anymore.