Switching from 2WD to 4 WD ( safety issue)

Hi,

New Member here. Not sure how this all but works, but here goes...

I drive a lot to the Mammoth Ski area during the winter from Southern California.

I want to get a TRD sport 4 x 4. I currently drive a Toyota Highlander, which switches into AWD automatically and ever so smoothly.

From a safety issue, I do not want to being taking my eyes off the road to switch into AWD in a TRD.

If I get a new Tacoma TRD, will I have to face these safety issues?

 

Welcome to the forum!

The short answer is yes, you will have to manually change things over from rear wheel drive to four wheel drive. The benefit of this however is you are getting 4wd instead of all wheel drive you are getting in your highlander. Much more effective in driving in the slop.

I write this with a bit of credibility having owned both vehicles and spend a lot of time in the mountains. AWD is great, but once you have the added safety of true four wheel drive (as true as you can get in a stock Tacoma) you will never look back. The trade off is huge. Once you do it a few times, shifting on the fly to and from 4wd in the Tacoma will become second nature. A good set of tires and the 4wd will make you Uber safe and more confident on your trips too. I don’t think that you are facing any additional safety issues by having to shift on the fly. It’s super easy.

 

Great! Thank you for the quick response and your insights.

 

its literally no different than changing the radio station or fiddling with the temp controls, just a flick of a switch takes half a second.

 

Welcome to TW Mike

 

Just make sure you read the manual after purchasing your truck to learn what and what not to do in 4wd.

You will also have 4 low which can be very handy in certain situations.

Oh and welcome to Tacoma World!

 

Welcome to TW, glad you got your questions answered. To help you understand even more, I thought I would briefly explain the difference between AWD and 4WD and why you have to select it.

When going around a corner, your tires are traveling two different distances. The outside tire has a larger distance to cover. The differential is what sends power to the wheels and allows the difference in distance to not bind anything up. In a low traction situation, power goes the path of least resistance which is why you might see only one tire spinning.

In an AWD car, there are differentials at both front and rear axles as well as a third differential right in the center to account for differences between the front and the rear. In essence, it is only a one-wheel drive vehicle if traction isn't to be found, due to that path of least resistance thing.

In 4WD, you have a differential at both front and rear axles, and a transfer case in the center. A transfer case does not allow slippage like a differential. When in 2WD, the front isn't receiving any power. When you select 4WD, the transfer case engages and sends power front and rear. Since it's not acting like a differential, at a minimum you are getting power sent to two wheels. One in front and one in back.

The reason you can't drive in 4WD on a dry road, is the transfer case doesn't allow for slippage and you get binding. In the snow and offroad, it's easy for the tires to slip a little and there's no binding.




When I started typing this I thought I could explain it short and simple but realized that would probably leave you with more questions than anything. Hopefully this makes a lick of sense.

 

For clarification: You can drive in 4WD on a DRY Road, you shouldnt take any sharp turns really though.

 

That's a topic of hot debate. I would never recommend it.

 

4WD burnouts tho

 

Why do you want a tacoma? Unless you actually haul things or do harder off roading, there's no point to getting a real truck.

The Honda Ridgline has a bed for skis and has an awd system where you don't have to switch.

With a real 4wd system like the tacoma, if you're driving on snow and then you need to make a sharp right turn but the corner doesnt seem to have that much snow, you would want to switch back to 2wd, then after the corner switch back to 4wd.

Full size trucks or even Tahoe's have an auto 4wd. It's a real 4wd system but knows how to switch between 2wd and 4wd by itself. I drove a Ram 1500 with one and it was nice not having to worry about it. Just set it and forget it.

It really is just a switch though, it's not like you have to move a physical lever like a Jeep or 4runner trd. It's literally like turning your ac on, just turn the knob.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW!