Toyota recommended 10 mile per month drive for 4X4’s

I don't think it's sarcasm. And he might have a point.

https://youtu.be/FVqqVlW1a34

 

I've been around @Tacospike 's posts. Some might say too many.

 

Trippy...

 

High is fine, but good idea to go in 4lo as well to get all the parts moving.

 

Why did I not know this thread would spin out of control?

 

Buy stock in Goodyear and Exxon Mobile. J/K open her up

 

On it!

 

A TRX!!!!! I'm a dummy

I was like, what's so great about workout equipment? I mean, I like using them but came out of no where



No, that is not me

 

Cross Training, yo! I just have an excavator tire in my living room.

 

I've seen more than one 4X4 refuse to go into 4X4 when 4X4 wasn't used regularly. I've had it happen to me once years ago with a Jeep Cherokee that my wife drove. It was a simple fix. Just take the hubs apart, clean all the hardened grease and oil off everything, re-lube and reassemble.

I've also seen, and paid for transfer cases destroyed by driving on pavement in 4X4. While technically possible in a perfectly straight line I don't advise it. The risk is far greater than the reward. Find a dirt or gravel road to engage 4X4.

I've owned at 4X4 since 1976. Other than the one that I didn't drive regularly I've never had an issue with 4X4 not working. I don't get in exactly 10 miles each and every month, but any time I find myself on a dirt or gravel road I engage 4X4 even if it is for a short distance of 1/2 mile or less. Nothing says the 10 miles have to all be at once.

During some times each year I easily get in 20-200 miles in 4X4 in a months time. At other times I may not have a chance to be in a situation where I can for weeks at a time. I may skip a month, but not 2 months. If it's been close to 2 months I'll make an effort to hit a dirt road. There is one about 2-3 miles from my house. I have no reason to ever drive there except to use 4X4. The road is a shortcut about 3-4 miles long. I'll drive to one end, turn around and come back home occasionally just to work the 4X4 system. This is every bit as important to vehicle maintenance as changing the oil.

Operating the switch is just as important. When I'm on a dirt road I'll switch back and forth between 4X4 and 4X2 multiple times. And I'd also strongly advise using lo range as well as locking the rear diff for part of those 10 miles.

 

$90k BUT the skewp is functional

 

I say do it. After a hunt in which we had heavy snow in the Cascades commence midway through, we hitched up the trailer on last day, turned on 4WD and nothing. Took a looong time getting outta the mountains.

 

IDK. $90k for a functional scoop sounds kinda steep. But I have been wrong before.

 

Because you're misguided and still have faith in humanity.

 

I recently ran into that blurb in the manual...
In order to abide by this 'requirement', we, of course, went out to the Rubicon Trail.

It happens to be close by...

- No, I do not think that this is quite what was intended, but seemed like a good idea!

It was very icy and snowy - and a lot of fun.
I was impressed by the Taco's ability to climb in deep snow, hard packed snow, and full-on slick ice. (It has been relatively warm lately so there is lots of ice).

This was the longest time spent so far in 4LO (and 4Hi for that matter) so I'm covered for a month... Although we may go again next week!

Of course, we did not do any challenging portions of the trail. We went up to the first river crossing which had an icy step-up of some 36-40" and although it was better and perhaps manageable a bit off to the side, we did not even consider attempting it... the point was just to play around a bit with the boys (They 'drove' a bit while sitting on my lap) and have a bit of fun... - and that they did!

There were a couple of interesting offshoots from the main trail that we tried... spent maybe an hour or so playing...

 

This has been solid advice for 4x4's since forever. Keeping the gears/bearings wet.

 

That's kind of mean but I had to

 

The T case actuator for 4WD and low range need to be lubed so they don't seize up. Also, in the front diff is another actuator which locks the live axles to the front diff. That also needs to keep moving once in a while so it doesn't seize up.

With this knowledge , you can now understand why the old school toyota pickups (pre 1995) we so sweet. All of that shit was manually actuated (locking hubs, and manual T-case shift leaver). Way less chance of not being able to shift in/out of 4wd or disengage both (or even one) of the front drive wheels. Now days with all the computer controls your truck is going to flip the F**k out like a little bitch if any of the sensors detect it can't electronically shift in/out of 4wd or low range or engage the front diff to the wheels. Thus you will be stuck on a trail. However, there is still the possibility you can manually pop off the electric actuators and reach in there with your hands or screw driver and physically do what the electric part should be doing. You can also feed the sensors voltage to trick the computer into thinking that there is no malfunction so the truck can finally shut the F**k up and get on its way.

I have often thought about doing these mods myself to my 2018 instead of doing the FJ t-case swap. Might be less work and unbolting vs a whole T case swap? just rig up a leaver to the T-case and do what the actuator does, then have a switch to that senor that tells trac control and all the other bull shit "ok we are in 4H/4L" now?



humm now that I think about it , my 1994 Sr5 4x4 pickup said ,in the user manual , that I should drive in 4wd once every 5,000 miles even with all the manual hubs and t case BS . I remember that’s when I first learned about binding on asphalt because by the time I tried to make a u turn at the end of our cu-de-sac the truck “locked it’s breaks” ( what I told my dad). He was like “nice try dummy.”

Im 37 now, and I am still a dummy FYI

 

Leaving my driveway West is paved East turns to rock after 200 feet. Occasionally I'll take the rock road to town and exercise the 4x4. Not as often as the manual suggest but occasionally. The wifes 2nd gen has the locker and I've engaged that a time or two for functional test.