Front wheel hard to spin

Last weekend we replaced the wheels / tires on my son's 2004 4WD Tacoma. When we mounted up the left front side we noticed the wheel was hard to spin. I thought maybe we had a caliper clearance issue so we put the original wheel back on and it was still hard to spin. This whole time only the left front wheel was off the ground and the truck was in 2wd. We moved to the right front and noticed the same thing. I'm guessing perhaps the front hubs stay locked in full-time so that's why the front wheels don't spin freely when only one side is off the ground but can someone confirm that's normal? Thanks!

 

The front wheels should not be hard to spin regardless.

I'm guessing your '04 does not have manual hubs so it may be that the ADD (automatic disconnect differential) system for engaging the front wheels is still engaged. What position is the 4wd lever in?

What happens when both wheels are off the ground at the same time? When 4wd is not engaged, each wheel should spin freely and independently. When both fronts are in the air and the 4wd button on the shift lever is not depressed, can you manually rotate the front driveshaft where it comes out of the transfer case?

 

My tech buddy said something isn't right, he's going to have a look in a couple days. I'll post results. Thanks!

 

Sticky calipers which trashed my pads and rotors I installed 10k miles ago

 

Hate when that happens. Glad you found the problem and it wasn't something stupid expensive.