How much drive time do you need to get in 4 lo?

I got my truck stuck in a pretty deep ditch but I feel like I could have gotten out if i would have been in 4 lo. When I went to put it in you could tell it wasnt engaging into that low gear? I got a buddy to pull me out but that was only after I spilled my beer all over my lap. I went to put it in afterwards and it engaged. Do you need a certain amount of drive time to make it engage?

 

There's your problem ^

edit: What do you mean drive time? When engaging 4L you should be stationary. Were you in 2WD when you got stuck?

 

lol fair enough, but dont get on your high horse. Does it need drive time to engage in 4 lo? Fyi I was on private land and had no passengers.

 

^^LOL probably didn't help either. But you need to be in either Neutral or 1st gear to engage 4Lo, 4 Lo is not shift on the fly, so no driving time needed.

 

Put it in 4Lo before you get stuck! 4Hi is for driving on snowy or higher speed runs. Wheeling in 4Hi puts extra strain on your clutch and motor.

 

I thought with manuals you had to be stopped with the clutch pedal down... what's being in 1st gear have to do with it?

 

Were you in 4Hi already when you got stuck in the ditch? In my experience, no driving distance is needed to go from 4Hi to 4Lo.

 

I was in 4hi and when I got stuck I put it in nuetral and popped it in lo. I was just doing donuts in this field and attempted to drive up a manure pile when I backed off the pile there was a 5 foot creek bed I dropped into. I can feel 4 lo and I could tell it did not engage. I wonder if it is messed up. I did not know driving in 4hi was bad I just dont like driving in low when I am trying to go faster than 5 miles an hour. I find it amazing how versatile this truck is I am just hoping I didnt mess it up.

 

Yea I didn't see he had a 4 cyl man. I just saw 5 speed I assumed automatic. Yea in that case he just needs to have clutch engaged and not moving.

 

From the manual:

Note the clutch switch typically requires you to floor the clutch pedal to trigger (i.e. more pedal travel than what you usually need to shift gears).

 

Flip down your visor, there are detailed instructions for engaging 4wd hi and lo. As others have said, truck needs to be stopped and in neutral to engage 4lo.

 

Lol I was going to say that too but I didn't know if all models have them there. There are directions all over the place. I have those in the visor, and my faded locker instructions on my driver side door.

 

Oh yeah you have to completely push in the clutch to get it to engage learned that the hard way. Thanks for the help guys I just went out and put it in 4lo and it worked maybe it wouldnt engage b/c my truck was sitting at about a 75 degree angle? the fluids and what not

 

There's absolutly nothing wrong with driving in 4H while offroading... you drop down to 4L when the terrain calls for it. Since you have a manual tranny you need to stop and have the clutch pedal all the way in... automatics need to go into neutral.

 

I drive mine in 4 lo 15 to 30 miles a month. I try to do it daily but at least several times a week.

Given that yours engaged shortly after you got out of the ditch, I doubt you have a problem. I'm betting you had the drive train bound up and that if you could have unloaded the strain on the system it would have worked.

 

I know my manual says 10 miles a month but I rarely get that. I just grease my u joints regularley and engage and disengage every couple weeks so I know it's working

 

awesome, just a great story guys

 

If your mentioning that because of the monthly engagement thing Toyota says to do you know 4H accomplishes the same thing right?

 

Private land and only risking your own neck doesn't matter here - TW doesn't condone drinking and driving at all cause it's a stupid thing to do.

You've gotten answers to try...Tip your servers-Good night.