QUESTION ANSWERED. THANKS... Do I have a problem or do I have a locker in the front?

Test driving for a couple weeks a 2009 TRD Off Road.
I put it in 4 HI in the parking lot. Going straight is fine but when I turn the wheel one or the other front wheels either skids or pushes like the front wheels are locked together.
I have never felt this before unless there was a full locker. I've welded a few rear ends in my time so I am familiar with this coming from the rear but never experienced it from the front.
Any ideas or is there a problem???

 

You should never run 4wd on dry pavement. The axles will bind which is what you are experiencing and it is normal. Even without a locker.

 

Is the parking lot dry? What your describing is pretty typical. I experience this alot at the ski hill on warm days where I pull into the lot in the morning when its wet and slushy and then dry by the time I leave. I park in 4wd but then start to get binding when I pull out on the dry pavement once its dried in the afternoon so I just pop it back in 2wd and I'm good to go.

You'd KNOW it if you had a front locker - they're not exactly renowned for their turning ability on the front end.

 

It was wet not dry but that's not the point. Where would the binding come in on an open diff? The wheels should turn independently from each other and they don't when turned. Is it because it is not a live axle but an IFS???

Yes I know this would happen all the time if it was a locker but I have never had a 4x4 do this before and this is not my first Taco either. That is why I am asking to see what others have noticed. With an open front where is the binding coming from? Each wheel should be able to torn individually of the other and they don't.

Sorry not being argumentative just looking for a WHY if this is the norm.

 

You can and will still bind on wet pavement in 4hi, especially while going slow and with good grippy tires.

99.9% sure you don't have a front locker, Tacomas have never come with front lockers and aftermarket ones only get added into heavily built wheeling rigs. What you're experiencing is the drivetrain binding from too much front traction

 

That is the point. Even in the manual it says never run 4wd on pavement. Doesn't matter if its wet, moist, or dry. Only run it when off pavement

 

Doesn't it lock in the middle completely ? Meaning that the rear and the front spin at the same rate, the lockers have nothing to do with it. So when you turn your back wheels are covering less distance, and your front ones a bigger distance. So something has to slip in order for that to happen, if it doesn't your truck just ends up stopping.

 

No center lock on Tacomas, only AWD and full time 4wd systems (like some 4runners amd Landcruisers) have that.

We have a part time 4wd system meant only to be used in low traction scenarios

 

Because the open diffs in the front and back only allow differentiation from left to right. There is no center diff, so there can be no differentiation between the front driveshaft and the rear driveshaft. When turning, the average speed of the front two wheels is different than the average speed of the rear two wheels. Thus, to prevent binding, the wheels must either slip on the pavement or you must have a center differential.

 

So the center is allways a locked "diff" pretty much

 

This is correct.

This is not correct, the Tacoma 4WD system is center locked 100% of the time when in 4WD. There is no way to unlock it other than shifting to 2WD.

 

Here is pretty good explanation of why you may have Driveline Bind.

http://www.4x4abc.com/4WD101/def_turnpart.html

 

The binding it normal. Keep it off pavement in 4Hi or 4 Low.
When you turn the steering wheel, one wheel is rotating faster than the other and one wheel is rotating slower than the other. The differential is trying to make them rotate at the same speed.

 

In effect, yes.

 

It sounded like he was referring to a center differential to allow 4wd usage on pavement and other dry surfaces, which we don't have

 

It's not a front to back situation. The front tires are locked together like there was a locker up front when the wheel is turned.

 

I am talking left to right sorry. NOT center diff. Both front wheels turn at the same time like it had a front locker.

 

How can you be so sure that the front binding is due to lack of left/right differentiation and not due to lack of front/rear differentiation? They should feel basically the same.

If you're that much in doubt, the only thing you can do is throw it in 4WD, jack up the front, and try to spin those tires.

 

Sorry I was not talking center diff. It is a side to side front diff situation like they were both locked together and the diff as doing nothing to compensate for the difference.

 

Might want to ask in the 3rd Gen forum they are more keen to this issue!