Damage from Tight Turning in 4Hi?

I just leave it in 4HI for situations like that, Unless you're turning sharply you won't have any problems. I wouldn't recommend it, but you could drive all day long on bone dry pavement in a straight line with no damage to the tcase. Problems come from differing wheel speeds (from turning) causing the driveline to bind up.
If you've ever watched a drag car with a spool make a sharp turn you'll notice the inside tire will chirp and skirt on the pavement because it's tied to the outside tire and is trying to go the same speed and cover the same distance as the outside tire. Similar situation to the transfer case; your front and rears are tied together and always want to go the same speed/distance during a sharp turn.
In a straight line, or even relatively straight line everything is going the same speed so everything is happy.

 

yea, the problem is that I encounter this situation on mountain roads, that do have sharp turns. Which is why I'm confused as to what I should do.

 

Like switchback sharp? What kind of speed are we talkin?

 

I would keep it in 4hi the whole time. I did that going from Bishop to Tahoe a couple winters ago even though there were stretches with no snow on the ground, but it was wet most of the way and cold enough to snow and I didn't want to risk it in 2wd. Was totally fine.

I know mountain roads are different than a highway but I really don't think it's a big deal, tight turns in a parking lot at 5mph or under are one thing but more gradual turns on a road at higher speeds are far more forgiving.

 

yea, a couple tight switch backs, (not like fire road, tight, but what you'll most encounter on a paved mountain road), speeds if it were dry would be about 5-10 mph, sometimes wider, so maybe about 20 mph in dry conditions type turns.

Since I know you're familiar, Ryan, I'm mostly talking about the roads going into and around Big Bear. Highway 18/38 type stuff.

 

Oh yeah whenever we take the highway back down after a snow run I always keep it in 4hi until we get beneath the snow line and where the road starts to get dry.

I did bust a CV axle once in Big Bear turning off the snowy highway into that Valero station in 4hi, once I got onto the covered concrete part it snapped. I should have put it into 2wd before making a slow tight turn like that in particular. But I'm convinced that axle was about to blow anyway and that just did it in.

 

I'm gonna take odds in your favor and predict your gonna be just fine.

How do I know? Because I hit that 4X4 knob which is right next to the A/C fan so many time by accident on dry land that if the drive train was that fragile it'd be destroyed by now.

Cheers!

My only worry now is...

 

Great feed backs... Always read the manual...
Tacoma’s recommends 4hi not to go over 60-65 miles in high..to be safe..
What is the highest speed in 4Lo..? Not sure ,I read up to 30 mph?
Most say stay under 10 mph?
Aloha,

 

Around here for roads like that I just leave it in 4Hi since the truck weighs next to nothing I'm not too worried about breaking anything. Also the 4x4 engagement seems to be finicky with these trucks so I don't want to get stuck in 2wd coming out of a turn.
In my F250 I tend to flip back to 2wd for turns like that but 4x4 engagement is almost instant in that truck no matter the steering angle, load etc. which is awesome. That and it weighs close to 9900lbs so it might not be as forgiving to leave it in 4HI as the Tacoma is.