Stupid 4WD question

hey guys,
I am only 17 so dont judge me on this question but my Tacoma is 4x4 and i know its part time and all but can i put it in 4WD on paved roads if i need to or will that mess things up?

 

Don't turn 4x4 on while on paved roads.

 

You shouldn't use 4 wheel drive on dry pavement . Snow is OK .

 

i put mine in 4wd on pavement all the time. just dont do it often when its dry. in 4hi it isnt going to hurt anything. DO NOT PUT IT IN 4LO ON PAVEMENT

 

Now if you had a center differential you would be okay. See, your truck's tires all move at different speeds and you want to allow them to do so. Theoretically if you had rear steering that turned the exact same amount as the front and that there was no 'scrubbing' of your tires going on, you may be able to get away with it since the average speed of the two front wheels would be the same as the average speed of the rear wheels....

An example of why you can't do this , poor one at that is as follows:

If you are going in a straight line on a perfectly level road and there is no slipping of the rear tires, all of your tires are going the same speed.

If you are going on a constant left sweeping turn traveling at 30 mph. Your front left wheel (actually the center of that tire) may be traveling at 27 mph, your right front tire may be traveling at 33 mph and your rear left tire may be traveling at 28 mph and your rear right may be traveling at 31 miles an hour. Therefor the average speed of your front tires are going 30 mph and your rear tires are going 29.5 mph. So therefore you need a "differential" to allow the two different axles to travel at different speeds.

This basic principle is why you have a 'differential' in the front and rear of your truck so that you can take turns without squealing your wheels and messing your ring and pinion.

I hope that either cleared things up or completely confused you....

To go a bit further... All Wheel Drive vehicles have these center differntials and ones that go off-road also have the option of having a 'locking' center diff to assist you in real slippery situations...

Now the vehicles that have the AWD systems look like this:



or this:

 

Wha ? So are you scolding me for using 4 wheel drive in the snow , or not using it on dry pavement ?

 

Part time 4WD on pavement (or ANY high traction surface) breaks expensive shit. Wait til you're offroad or out in weather (snow/ice) to use it.

 

The manual says to use 4wd for atleast 8 miles a month to keep the front end lubed IIRC.

Using 4wd on pavement is not as big of a deal as you guys think it is. You can turn in 4wd YES it brings down your Turning Radius (cant do a UTurn as quick and sharp) But you CAN turn. IF 4wd was not designed to be used on pavement then 4hi would have some sort of reduction instead of 1:1. also would not say in the manual that 4Hi can be activated upto 60 MPH then once it is activated it has no limit. IF TRACTION IS BEING LOST 4Hi can be used to help gain control in most situations. 4Lo on the other hand does have a reduction 2.57:1 ratio, 4Lo has to activated in either P, or N. then once activated should be driven at 20MPH and lower.

 

No, no, no! Just illustrating why you don't want to drive in 4wd with a vehicle that doesn't have a center diff.


Edit: I meant to say this ON DRY PAVEMENT!!!

 

Yeah, that's pretty optional. I exercise my actuators about every 3 or 4 months and that seems to be plenty.

 

LOL

 

i know how it works, i have an 07 Taco have been driving it the same way for 3 years. Have not broken anything yet. So ill keep doing what im doing. Also own an 86 Yota Pickup that i rock crawl in. So yes your right i have no clue what im talking about

 

Well, we can scrub into curbs on a regular basis and it won't really hurt anything - I just wouldn't do it. The only reason why I went on and on in my dissertation was to educate. I think the more you know how something works, the better you can use it.

Think of girls turning on the heater. They go full blast regardless of what they want the end temp to be!

 

How much rain do you need to be driving in , on pavement , to make 4HI necessary ?

I live in the rainforest , never needed 4x4 when it rains .

 

The idea of use it or lose it is a good one... I personally think you really want to go WHEELING every month or sell the truck for something that handles much better, is more comfortable and gets more chicks!!!

 

http://www.4x4abc.com/index.html

Read this.

A very important read.

 

what he said! ^^^




That picture was worth a thousand words... that combined with an explaination of why - worth about 1,353 words...

 

Can you itemize the value for me per word please?

 

Explain?

 

I think he may have meant to say "want to" I remember when I was 17 (I'm the equivilent of 89 now), and I would always use 'need to' instead of 'want to'... "I need to stay out 'til 1am' --- "I need to go to the beach instead of going to school"

Got it?