Drove in 4H in rain - slow turn

My neighbors wife left their Escalade in 4hi for a week after the snow all melted...its still alive---me thinks...her, however, i'm not so sure...

 

This place has a lot of crazy tangents! Don’t take things personally and you will enjoy it here.

 

Fact. And just wait until you see what Friday brings!

 

Anyone remember the bear thread? That shit was hysterical.

 

Surprising that no one replied to say that they were in fact eaten by a bear.

 

I guess we will agree to disagree on this one , what would being in 4x4 accomplish at speeds above 60 mph ?

 

Same thing it accomplishes below 60 mph.

 

Don't worry about it....I did nearly the same thing on a long road trip when i first bought mine. It started hailing and snowing and things got a little squirly. threw it in 4H on the fly and was doing way better.

 

You cant do hard turns as the wheels are independant and will have different turning radius. This causes stresses on your gears and is not recommemded unless you are on slippery surfaces such as snow or loose gravel

 

Holy smokes people

.....OP....your’re good....and no problem asking here, that’s how we learn.

You won’t damage your truck, even on dry pavement, in 4WD traversing the type of shallow mellow turns a freeway typically presents you with. In those type of highspeed freeway turns, the front and rear wheels are following the same arc, the only discrepancy in wheel speed is left to right. As long as one front and one rear wheel are travelling the same speed (the two outside or two inside wheels), there is no binding. It is only when the front wheels travel a different arc (in a tight turn) that it becomes an issue.

The bigger crime is forgetting to engage 4WD and almost sliding into a parked car. That happened to me in the snow yesterday. I took the truck out of 4WD for a brief jaunt on dry pavement, then forgot to re-engage it in the deep snow on a side street. My rear end spun out in 2WD and I almost smoked a parked car.

 

Like all the people that forget to turn off their turn signal. There is literally a light that blinks!?!
Hopefully Toyota makes a truck that can handle 4x4 on wet pavement.
You noticed the pop and thought it was not something that you want to hear. I think you are good.

 

If you turned it off during the turn, it will not disengage until you're straightening back out. As soon as the tension is relieved enough for it to drop out of 4hi, it will, usually with a clunk.

I always turn it off on a straight shot, never in a turn.

Drove mine today on pavement in 4hi in the rain. If it's been a month or two, and it rains, that's my cue to pop it in 4hi for a half mile or so (without hard turns) to exercise things up a bit. Been doing it for over 20 years and 3 different 4x's. You're not going to hurt anything unless you are on dry pavement and start getting some significant binding.

 

Oh geez, please do share your thoughts on why you think it's pointless to be in 4hi above 60

 

For fun? I take it you've never been offroading in the desert, sand dunes, wide open trails, etc?

It's entirely dependenton the situation, obviously if you're on a public road it would be reckless to go high speed where conditions require 4wd, but that isn't to say there isn't a time or place for it. Point is, it won't hurt the 4wd system one bit. Assuming you engage/disengage it appropriately.

 

Take some advice from an old guy who has had to pay for broken transfer cases.

Any time you operate in 4X4 on surfaces with good traction you do damage to the drive train. But the damage is cumulative and usually doesn't show up immediately. If you reached the point where the truck would no longer move you were right on the edge of breaking something very expensive. Probably everyone has forgotten to shift out of 4X4 when getting back on pavement and didn't notice right away. But it is something I'd advise against at all costs. But it does happen.

For the guys who insist on using 4X4 in the rain. #1 you are not helping anything, in fact you are creating a dangerous situation by doing so. While the wet pavement MAY be enough to limit the damage you are doing, you are still damaging your truck, just not as fast.

Here is why it is dangerous. When you corner all 4 wheels take a different path and need to turn at different speeds. Not a problem with 2wd vehicles. An AWD system will compensate for the cornering and send varying amounts of power to all 4 wheels allowing them to get power yet still turn at different speeds. AWD is a great system for traction on or off pavement, wet or dry. But it can't handle harsh off road conditions.

The 4X4 system in our trucks is only designed for very poor traction situations. When you corner the transfer case tries to make all 4 wheels turn at the same speed all the time, even when cornering. Since the inside wheels have far less distance to travel the only way they can do this is to spin on the road surface. At slow speeds and in mud, sand etc. this isn't a problem. But when you are going around a corner on wet pavement at 55-60 mph while in 4X4 your inside tires are breaking traction with the road and spinning. You would get BETTER wet road traction in 4X2. You are going to end up spinning out and wrecking your trucks.

If you want better wet road traction sell the Tacoma and buy a Subaru.

 

OP, welcome to TW. Before you know it, you'll get addicted to this forum like of lot of us are. Lotta good information here though. (Read the manual as well)
Enjoy your truck, .and happy off roading.

 

For some people this might be their first 4WD vehicle and they might not know exactly how part time 4WD works.

 

You'll be fine. It won't let you engage over 62 on your 1st gen. If you try you get a blinky light and an obnoxious beeping alarm. Been there, done that. I know that you won't get any alarms, blinky lights or buzzers if you accelerate faster once in 4wd. I have been up to 90mph in 4hi til I had to ease off due to free range cattle. I do let off on the gas prior to pushing the button. The manual for my '02 also says that 102 is the maximum allowable speed in 2 or 4 hi.

I disagree, this is exactly what the differential is designed to deal with. I have noticed an issue with under-steer in certain situations while driving in 4hi, but I have only experienced that when I've got the steering wheel as hard over as it will go, on tight switchbacks for example. I have noticed that it only happens while braking and that a little bit of accelerator pedal while braking makes it go away. I've never felt or experienced it while driving in 4hi on wet or snowy roads at speeds that you describe.

For what it's worth, the 2018 Tacoma Owner's manual lists 107mph in 5th gear as the maximum allowable speed in 2 hi and 4hi. You can find that tidbit in the owner's manual, page 208: https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM04017U/pdf/OM04017U.pdf

 

I would only use 4Hi for REALLY BAD WEATHER. Like hydroplanning or snow/ice conditions. (Of course dirt and such) and never make tight turns.