E-locker issue / periodic 4wd engagement

Hey everyone just wanted to see if anyone else has ran into this .

The 1st time I tried my locker , it was on pavement, it would not actuate . It just alarmed at me. So after looking at the service manual I had seen it needed to be driven in 4wd every so often for so many miles a month to keep everything working as should.

So after putting probably 15 miles on my truck running around town at 35 mpg I tried it again and everything clicked in and started working.

My concern is when I actually need my e-locker it's going to not work .

And I also wanted to raise awareness to the fact that apparently we should all engage our 4wd once or twice a week to keep everything operational.

Thanks

 

1) yes everyone should read their owners manual. It's there for a reason.

2) the locker can only be engaged in 4lo.

3) don't run your 4wd or your locker on pavement. You can use your 4wd in the snow/ice roads. Using 4wd when you have plenty of traction in 2wd will lead to broken axles, diff, tcase, etc. Never use the locker on pavement whether it be dry or snowy. It won't help.

4) you don't necessarily have to engage 4wd exactly 10-15 miles every month, you just have to engage it every once in a while to keep everything lubed up and functioning. Most 4wd vehicles, if not all, will have these same instructions.

 

I hope you weren't 'running around town' in 4wd...

4X4 should not be used on dry pavement unless you're going in a straight line, turning will bind up the drivetrain and can cause something to break and wear prematurely.

Find a dirt lot of local fire road to engage 4x4 every so often. The elocker is finicky, has been on the Tacoma since the beginning. Sometimes you have to drive straight and turn the wheel side to side for a few feet for it to engage. Other times, it happens right away. Its normal.

 

Yeah I knew it only worked in 4-Lo wasn't trying to actually use it I just had bought the truck and wanted to make sure all was in working order while I had a few days to return it I just wanted it to engage.

I can 100% see it being hard on equipment if I was say flooring the gas while turning or had oversized tires but I wouldn't think driving on a two lane rd in 4-HI would be that catastrophic , but I could very well be wrong . I just make sure and keep it below 45mph. I've seen people launch there trucks in 4wd pushing a lot more HP than a Tacoma and not have any problems. I've used 4wd in chevys , ram , and my tundra on intermittently icy/dry roads in the past with no problems. Again not trying to argue the point , I could be just lucky.

 

Yeah I'm kinda thinking the e-locker and crawl is kind of gimmicky maybe should have bought a sport and got an air locker , do most people switch out there e-lockers for something better?

 

I love my e-locker, don't get me wrong. I think people just have this misconception that it should come on/off like a light switch, the reality is that by it's nature it doesn't work that way.

The trails I do require 4lo most of the time, so when I hit those trails I turn on the e-locker when I go into 4lo and keep it on the majority of the time, so I know it's engaged when I need it to be engaged. I use it as a tool to help me along, not as a self-rescue or 'oh-shit I better lock the rear' tool when I suddenly need it (not saying it's wrong to use it that way, just not the way I use it).

ARB's have a better reputation for being more instantaneous, I've got nothing against them. But my truck came with the e-locker and I don't think there's any reason to look down on it. It works as it should and does what I need it to do.

I can't speak to the crawl control feature as it was 12 years away from being created when my truck was manufactured, lol.

 

Well good , that's some reassurance I guess that's really the answer I was looking for , much appreciated sir.

 

I just got my 02 V6 4x4 DBL Cab a couple months ago and noticed that in the owners manual (about engaging 4WD regularly to keep things lubed) which I had no idea about previously. I was starting to get a kind of a rotational whining noise when coasting / decelerating (without brakes) that sounded like it was maybe my right front CV. I had not used 4WD in maybe 5-6 weeks and remembered that blurb from the owners manual, so I tried driving for a few miles (on the road) in 4 high. Going back to 2WD, the noise is gone. Maybe this is common or maybe a sign I have a CV on the way out, IDK.

The other thing I didn't know was that you were not supposed to use 4WD on dry pavement (unless only going strait). I knew that was the case for lockers, but I assumed that without the rear e-locker on, it was just open diffs, thus safe to be able to turn even when you have traction. Is that not the case?

 

i just went up some crazy ass trails yesterday in a friend's 3rd gen AT Tacoma... the CC is no gimmick if you have a trail like that before you. the truck went up and down that run predictably, smoothly and with no drama. we then did the same in 4lo without CC and it was rough, slipping, unpredictable ride, and much harder on the truck.

i don't have CC on mine, being in a MT Tacoma, but i was fully impressed with that system. just not enough to ever give up my MT tho.

 

You probably should not run with the locker engaged all the time. Most of the time it isn't needed, and actually can cause you more issues if you aren't aware of them. Specifically, locker creep can cause your rear end to shift side to side on loose terrain at times, and if it's also rutted it can be a big issue. I've seen a video where it caused a jeep to roll downhill because the rear slipped into a big hole.

 

x2 I wouldnt engage it and keep it on. I know its finnicky, but it tends to lock and engage in low traction and full tire spin situations (which is when you need it anyway) and that acts like the "rocking back and forth" motion it needs to engage properly. I've only used it a couple of times when I didnt want to try very hard (thick clay mud) and testing it out which I've noticed it doesnt like to disengage easy without the rocking back and forth or driving a few feet. Its nice if/when you need it but dont use it like a crutch - you'll learn about trails and your truck and improve your driving that way.

 

You can always have an air locker system installed. If memory serves me correctly, you can get this done for maybe $1500 in parts and labor.

 

I thought I had issues with mine as well. I engage it every now and then on a gravel road and I'd say 80% of the time it works just fine. When it doesn't it's because it will lock in according to the dash light then after I drive a few hundred feet the light begins to flash. If I shut off and restart the truck and go through the procedure again it locks in just fine. I would like to think if I actually had wheel spin it would stay locked in, I haven't had this yet though. I still do like my truck but it's worth noting that the Ford F-150 locker can be locked in in 2wd far more useful than our dumb system for say pulling a boat out. Also the Ford can be driven some insane speed like up to 60mph with it locked don't quote me on the speed though.

 

your elocker will work when you need it, but it doesn't have it's own synchro

...always expect to need to 'jiggle it a bit'

you MAY need to nudge the truck to and fro a few feet
to get it to lock in any condition. or hit the button 20 feet before you need
it and creep along so it can sync

my 4runner elocker was tight when new, but over the years it started
to engage faster and faster...but still every once in a while it was fussy
and I needed to stop/rev/forward a tiny bit to get it to 'ClaNG' in

 

Driving on pavement to exercise your 4WD every now and then is fine, and the people who say *DOOM AND GLOOM! ITS GONNA BLOW UP!* have no idea what they are talking about. Simply go rock crawling or go to Moab on slickrock and see 4WD Toyotas engaging 4WD on worse than pavement. What you should REFRAIN from doing in 4WD on dry pavement is what I like to call "parking lot turns." Those tight 90 degree turns will cause driveline binding on dry pavement. Then what will happen is your front tires will want to bind and then finally slide. It will cause a jerky motion. Normal roads are fine. I have a stretch a few miles from my house that is kinda straight for about a mile and I engage 4WD there a few times a month or so. So, keep away from tight parking lot turns and you will be fine. Just don't forget to disengage!

 

I've always done it myself (7 4wds in 30 years). Letting the software take control will be a new experience. I'll experiment too. Soon driverless Tacomas?

 

I can see you've never paid to have a transfer case replaced, I have, and know what I'm talking about. In my case the truck was a 1970's era Jeep truck with full time 4X4. Basically it was an AWD system that used vacuum lines to lock the transfer case into true 4X4 if needed. Unlike some people today I was smart enough to know not to operate with the transfer case locked, but not experienced enough to recognize that the vacuum lines had gotten swapped and I was in 4X4 even though the switch on the dash said otherwise. It only took a couple hundred miles to break the transfer case.

When you operate in 4X4 on dry surfaces the damage is cumulative. It doesn't break immediately, but the wear is there. You might get away with this for years if the miles is limited. It may well be the next owner that has it fail, but that doesn't make it a good idea Those guys operating in Moab are working in extreme conditions and regularly break stuff. But they have no other option to get into the places they go. There is no reason to operate your every day driver in 4X4 on pavement. Find a dirt or gravel road and shift into 4X4 a few times each year.

 

Yeah I've learned that there are situations where you don't want the rear locked, namely when you're trying to get up a narrow hill and there isn't enough traction...a locked rear can cause the back end to swing out sideways while it's trying to find grip. I almost learned that the hard way early on, so now if I have any more than a second or two of wheels spin on an obstacle I'll stop, roll back a bit and try a slightly different approach. Not to mention, with the rear locked you have a bigger chance of blowing up your rear end if you're spinning the tires like crazy and they suddenly/abruptly catch traction. Seen it happen, not pretty.

 

Correct, 4wd doesn't have a center differential like an AWD or "full-time 4wd" system does. Turning on dry pavement in a 4wd vehicle will bind up the front drivetrain if they don't have a way of releasing that tension. Hence why you want to be on a surface that isn't really dry or solid. Once or twice probably won't ruin anything (unless you're really unlucky or taking sharp turns at speed with throttle) but it puts unnecessary strain on the drivetrain and can wear the components out a lot faster.

Oh and regarding the first part of your post, have you checked your CV axles for play? They should have hardly any play in them if at all when you pull on them by hand, if one or both is loose that could be the noise you're hearing. And if you're driving on dry surfaces in 4wd often then I could see that being the cause.

 

Ah, that makes sense - I didn't realize there was not a center diff. Thanks!