Driving on pavement with 4x4 question!

I’ve had my 22 SR for a year and a half now and I’m loving it! One question I’ve always had was if it’s okay to drive in 4x4 on a straight pavement road (going 25-35mph) because I want to engage my 4x4 at least once a month to keep everything moving like is recommended. I just wanted to see if anyone else does this and if it’s okay to drive on dry pavement if I’m just going straight or with very very minor curves. Thanks!

 

Yeah, you're fine doing that. If you have any gravel roads nearby you can do it there, that's what I do.

 

It's fine to exercise it. Just avoid sharp turns or any situation where you might need to turn suddenly. I usually just do it in my neighborhood. I don't think there's any need to put significant miles on it in 4wd, just cycle the actuators. I'll occasionally exercise 4 Low in my neighborhood too.

 

Definitely fine!
You already know the drill, just avoid sharp corners.

 

Another FINE from me. Funny story.....a neighbor told me he "drives around" once in a while (clear days, on the perfect roads) in 4WD to make sure it keeps working. I asked what that meant. He said "oh, you know, just to the store and that kind of thing. But I don't think it's working because I hear bad grinding sounds when I try to turn". I said "NO SHIT!, now go change all your diff and transfer fluids immediately" then explained to him he needed to STOP DOING THAT and only do it on a REALLY STRAIGHT road when using 4wd to exercise it. It's meant to only be used in mud/snow and that kind of environment where the wheels can do their thing and slip slide away independently.

 

Not proud of this, but have driven at freeway speeds engaged because I forgot to take it out looked down at dash, saw the 4x4 light on and disengaged. Probably drove 15 or 20 miles that way going around some slight corners, nothing extreme.
It didn't damage anything, but I don't advise doing what I did.
If you're conscious of the fact that it is engaged, keyword being conscious, and don't turn radicaly all is fine.

 

Ok, I have a question to the first question. At what speed can you engage it in?

 

Someone is going to say ‘RTFM’ and someone else might know what the manual says…

For me, it’s as low a speed as possible. Remember, the front drive shaft and ring&pinion are sitting idle. Only the axles and spiders are spinning. When you shift into 4WD, the drive shaft and gears are suddenly brought up to speed. Whatever limit they give in the manual is where they think things start going from ‘maybe still ok’ to ‘don’t do that’.

I might shift at higher speeds, on snow or loose gravel, if I needed to. (But never over the limit.) Otherwise, I slow down as much as possible.

 

55MPH is the limit for 4H engagement. If you try to engage it above that it will beep and not engage until you slow down .

 

If you do it on a rain slick street you'll have even more mechanical empathy

Yeah, I decided to abstain from the obvious. But I was tempted.

Great answer / explanation / recommendations

Next questions. (hey, it IS Friday after all )

Why are there spiders in my differential? What kind of webs are they spinning? Are they poisonous? Why don't they die in the diff fluid? Is there is Raid type additive that I should be using?

 

I engage it on the straight away part of my commute on days it rains. Started this practice with my 2008 offroad, continued with my 16 4Runner, and have had success. Do the same with my 23

 

I will stick to dead stop and switch over

 

The manual says under 62 MPH.

 

I keep it around 20-25mph, straight and while coasting, not giving it gas.

 

You should add some "different" fluid to the constant joints on your drivetrains, too.

 

The spiders are there to hold everything together. They’re extremely strong and hard to kill. DO NOT try to kill your spiders or you’ll be spinning your own doom. They love diff fluid, but they do poop a lot. That’s why diff fluid stinks so bad.

TGIF

 

Consider that if you experiment and do click it into 4L, and it gets stuck and won't come back to 4H: you'll be heading home at a top speed of about 10mph in 4L with all the whining and the drama if you try and take any turns... and you will all the while be getting about 3-MPG.

You better keep your gas tank full.

 

Smart truck.

 

Is it possible for the truck to be smarter than the owner?