Info on 4x4 4h

If you get your truck off road and peel around in the dirt in 4wd, you just might have fun!

Welcome to The Forum!

 

Can it be that hard to find a sandy or gravel dirt road up in Phoenix every 2-3 months if no rain?

 

Definitely not , its exactly what I do, just sad we get no rain

 

Just dont make a U turn in 4lo haha

 

Military vehicles are a whole different spec animal. We're really toys in comparison lol!

 

We do... we are just not allowed to write it...

 

No they aren’t. Humvees are made by AM General with GM parts. Uparmoreds have full time transfer cases (can’t remember which model right now) 4L85E transmissions, and torsen differentials. They not special.

They weigh twice as much, and yet somehow don’t snap axle shafts turning. Like everyone else would believe lol.

 

We bought a couple for our fleet many years back for a special assignment, and they sure looked world apart to us

 

The liquid cooled differentials and transfer case would make you think so.

Anyways, drive your trucks guys. Shit.

 

OP, if I don’t take the truck out enough in a month I run the 4WD on pavement. It’s not a big deal. You’ll notice you can’t make Uturns or pull into parking spots so just turn it off before you do

 

At the end of the day and it's all said and done

Cheers!

 

Activating 4x4 will change your alignment. Our trucks alignment is set as a rear wheel drive, with the steering axle designed to drag essentially. A front wheel drive will have an alignment set to compensate for the steering wheels also drive, which pulls the wheels forward when accelerating. When you activate 4x4, the front wheels will now start pulling too and this will affect the toe, pulling the wheels forward. The effect is minimal and not worth worrying about for the length of time you drive on dry pavement in 4hi.

For what it's worth, I exercise my 4x4 system when it rains to reduce the change of binding.

 

Hm...That just maybe the reason TOYOTA appears to have lost ALL its credibility as to ANY owner’s manual service/maintenance recommendations, at least here on TW.

I just don't think people pay any attention to what the engineers recommend in it

 

You can't compare full time 4wd to part time 4wd like what Tacomas have. Full time 4wd have a center differential which allows them to turn in 4wd on hard surfaces just like an AWD can. Our trucks do not have center diffs, and turning on hard surfaces will bind the drivetrain. Put your truck in 4wd while it's parked on asphalt and try going forward while cranking a hard turn.

Going straight won't bind anything though and people saying not to do it are being overly cautious/paranoid

 

The better question is, if you have to exercise your 4wd once a month because you don't use it any other time, why'd you get 4wd?

 

That's because it's written at a level that 90% of the people can comprehend.... 3rd grade. As far as recommendations? There is nothing wrong with the manual, however there are serious wrongs from many of the people who post here. Ignorance mostly, flat out talking out asses in other cases.

Take OCI for example... many here, even though every single oil sample at 10K proves otherwise, still think shorter intervals are better. They aren't. Logic says if 10K intervals are fine, 5K oil changes are not "finer" lol because they are the same. Why do they do it? Ignorance mostly. The latch onto that "severe" conditions and somehow justify they are in that category because they pulled a uhaul trailer across town.

We can go through the whole manual...

 

Not to burst any bubbles, but even though engineers are mechanical gods, they don’t actually know everything or have to live with the products they make.
When a major engineering defect/mistake is discovered, a half ass fix is introduced and they just move on to the next bigger and greater product that replaces the old one and all is made whole by intensive and cleaver marketing.

Take oil changes at 5k vs 10k for instance. I’m sure and I know the majority of people will cause more wear & tear on an engine by replacing Oil every 5k instead of 10k.
The reason is simple, when they start that engine, that filter is dry at first start up and ouch, that really does butt hurt!

And what the oil lab analysis reveals is that the oil is GTG at well past 5k.

But what it doesn’t reveal is how much residue build up going on inside the engine, the longer the oil is left in it due to byproducts and cleaning. If you take the valve covers off a 200k engine that’s been replaced every 5k vs 10k, you might get to appreciated it. But that’s way past the warranty so no concern to the engineers.

I for one like, and yes I can actually feel the way my engine purrs when I change it at 5k.

I’m sure most engineers can’t tell the difference in running(specially the younger Jr guys), and even if there are some that can, they have to be politically correct (environmentally) and be able to brag about 1st year maintenance cost of their vehicles.

For this and other reasons I choose to continue to change my oil @5k, but I do pre-fill my oil filter cartridge (which I love for that reason) to make any additional engine wear concerns at initial start up null and void.

And then there’s the things engineers can say but not write, so there’s that.

But I can, and I’m pretty certain I’m gonna catch a LOT of chit for telling it like it is



Cheers!

 

No problems, you have your opinion just like many.

Question though... have you ever wondered why we don't build the perfect vehicle? The perfect washing machine? Hell, the perfect shovel?
Short answer is, we can today. Unfortunately nobody could afford any of it. So what do we do? We make a machine the best we can to satisfy two things: A) The end user can afford it and B) Our company hopefully makes some profit. That's it. Strip away everything else and that is the driver for pretty much everything.

Let's talk about that perfect shovel for a minute. Right now shovels, rakes and Mattocks are near and dear to my heart because I just bought a brand new house and I am using these tools daily. I also just replaced my shovel handle too lol. As an engineer, I think about these things because, go to any hardware store and the best you can get will still break. However I could afford it if I needed to get the best.
So how much to make a perfect non breakable shovel? One that will last 100 years that is perfect? Well, the only material that is light enough and strong enough to use is going to be Titanium. Seriously. We could build a tube for the handle and plate for the blade. We would have to join them of course and make a servicable handle. We would also need to use a replaceable blade tip that could be sharpened because... Titanium is hard.
I calculated that it would only cost about $1400... if you mass produced them. Wanna spend that on a shovel or do you want to buy a bew shovel every year for the next 50 years lol. Cost would be about the same.
Same goes for vehiclea. We could make them so good, so simple and pretty much maintenance free for several years but it would cost a million and that would be mass production pricing.
So, going back to why we do what we do, we build something that is affordable to the end user. We could build better but very few could afford it.

 

Wait so im a newbie on the truck myself but, i get snow where im from so if snow gets too lets say more than a foot, should i engage it on 4hi? Also, when the roads are icy? Should i switch it?

 

If there's snow or ice on the ground you're good to be in 4hi. I drove over a hundred or so miles on the 395 last winter in 4hi when it had patchy snow and ice on it, wasnt completely covered in either snow or ice and plenty of curved sections...no issues at all. Easier and safer to stay in 4wd than to constantly be switching in and out in that situation.

The binding of the system is more likely to happen at low speeds than higher ones since the wheels are less likely to be able to slip when going only a few mph. That's why there are usually threads every so often from people wondering why they cant turn into a parking space in 4wd when there's too much traction on it. When you're moving at 30+ mph and taking slight turns you're not gong to hurt anything especially if there's a foot of snow on the ground.

Keep in mind people stay in 4wd for miles on trails that are sometimes rocky and not exactly 'loose' traction. The system isnt made of glass...just be smart about when you should be in 2wd and when you shouldn't and you'll be fine.