Slippery high speed driving and 4wd?

This time of year around me the fast mountain roads get slippery with rain, leaves, light snow etc... Then there are stretches where the pavement is fine, around a corner and slippery and wet. Also, highway driving in high rain situations, I would normally go from 2wd to AWD...

I guess I am accustomed to having the AWD option. With my Tacoma I'm afraid to use 4wd at these higher speeds and risk damaging the diffs and t-case.

What settings should I use in the Tacoma in these situations?

BTW its a 2022 Off Road, Manual Trans.

 

Go slower. No joke. No smart ass.

4 hi is good to like 50 or 55mph i think. But still, go slower.

 

On my RAV4, AWD is not an option per say. It will just engage when necessary and it will always disengage over 50 km/h. There’s a button to force 50/50 front/rear, but that’s about it.

On the Tacoma, it’s not AWD (power where needed), it’s 4WD (power to all the wheels).

If you’re not flooring it in slippery corners, I guess you don’t need to use 4WD? It’s for traction, not grip.

 

There’s no harm to the 4wd system based on speed alone but if there’s too much traction and you’re driving around, it can bind up stuff because there’s no center diff to allow for slippage, which is what an AWD has. You can switch between 2hi and 4hi on the fly as needed, which is what I would do. Or just slow down, or get better tires.

 

Just slow down, you'll still get there.

 

Welcome to the forum

An AWD system and the part time system in the Tacoma are not interchangeable in function. The Tacoma system is intended for low traction situations like snow, dirt, mud -- in other words off road use or heavy snow.

Lots of folks coming from sedans and SUVs don't understand the design intentions of the part time system. If you feel you need 4wd in the conditions you have described you need to slow down, probably quite a bit, seriously - not trying to be hard on you.
Slow down and live to drive another day.

BTW: 3 pedal job

 

okay. I am a careful driver. Things just sneak up on you this time of the year in the northeast. I like having more as many square inches of rubber as possible responding to my input as opposed to mass and momentum. Maybe that makes sense. I guess one could argue a car ultimately does respond only to my input. Anyhoo...

 

I mean the fronts still steer and brake, just as much, without use them as drive wheels.
Low speed; yea you can use front wheels to pull in to a skid, but I highly doubt at highway speeds you’re not going go be able to racy that fast.

 

Sand bags in the bed?

 

Yup. 2016 TRD OR, AT.

In our winters in Kelowna, the ice and snow seldom leave the city streets. Mountains of course much worse.

I have about 500 pounds of weight in my truck bed in winter. So 5 of the 50 pound sandbags, and then over 300 pounds from my toolbox and spare. I have tried less and more, but 500 pounds is about right for the horrible ice we can get here.

We can get up to a few feet of snow in the city in winter, and I am in full time 4WD about 30 days each winter. Other days switching in and out as needed.

Plus I have quality snow tires. Even then it is difficult to get around here in winter. The Tacoma is just not as capable in snow as a full size pickup.

That is where I miss my old Ford pickups. My Tacoma does not compare to how sure footed those were in city snow driving. Heavier, plus wider stance. Even then I carried 400 pounds in the back of those as well. Driving with an empty pickup in winter is just plain stupid.

Exception are areas where it is really cold, say always below -10c. Then it is not so bad as the moisture is sucked out of the snow from low humidity and it is not half as icy as driving in snow in milder temperatures. One winter in Calgary, I drove a 1970 Firebird Formula 400 with no snow tires and no weight in the back, and barely spun a tire. The snow dry and grabby. I love it here when it stays below -10c, it is so much easier to get around. Once it gets to -4c and warmer it is a bitch to get around.

Last winter I make my sharp turn to head up a steep hill to get home. Just a skating rink sheet of ice up the hill. Behind me is a new Tacoma 4x4 with no snow tires, no weight in the back. He does not even make it 10 feet up the hill. I watch as he spins and spins and up and down, and then backs down and takes a different route. Enough said.

My wife has a RAV4 AWD. The button you can press to allow 50/50 traction only works below 40kmh, or 25mph. Once you go over that speed it disengages and you are back to AWD kicking in as needed. That button still useful when you are in the bad stuff and goimg below 40kmh

Her RAV4 with same snow tires, is not as good in the snow as the Tacoma is with the weight in the back. So most bad snow days her vehicle sits and I drive her to work.

 

I remember every year in Colorado when we would get the first ice and snow, the out of state douchebags in their four-wheel-drive bro trucks and Jeeps would wind up in the ditch because a lift, speed, four-wheel-drive, and mud tires are a recipe for disaster.

I would get some type of snowflake rated tire if you are slipping around and slow the eff down.

 

good tires and a high gear, I put in 4x4 on ice and in heavy rain, you’re right it does get slippery! Check your tire pressures and yeah if nothing else - just slow down and enjoy life.

 

My wife drove through a snowstorm going up the rim here in az in a front wheel drive sedan and drove out better than jeeps and tacos. It’s all about the driver, not the machine

 

But what if I'm just a terrible driver? I still wanna make it!

 

Keep the throttle consistent and drive it out. Worst thing you could do is slam the brakes or accelerate too quickly.

 

Get a Subaru or Ridgeline if you drive like that. Otherwise, you got the wrong drivetrain as it is not designed to go from different traction conditions at high speed.

 

I'm in the northeast to, but kind of confused what you mean by things sneaking up on you. If your not aware what your doing, yeah i can see it.

 

lol I spent 55 years in the snow mountains and the only thing to sneak up on the road is deer. I knew if the roads were half plowed, salted or buried or dry. I knew when they were all of the above in one mile of pavement. That's when you slow down.

 

I've had snow the last 2 days with winding mountain roads. I just try and slow down. If the snow builds up at all I put it in 4wd. Been doing this for years in my 99, everything is good to go.

I haven't driven the 2021 much in snow but when I do it's the same process.

 

4wd will get you going faster in slippery conditions. It will not effect braking but it will absolutely make your handling much worse. Turning in 4wd requires wheels to be able to slip or your driveline binds. Do you really want to go faster and reduce your ability to turn in poor conditions? Yikes. This mentality is why 100% of the vehicles overturned in the median in the winter are trucks and suvs