Stupid 4WD question

Those are two different 4WD systems... The Tacoma is PART TIME only...
FULL TIME is also called 'All Wheel Drive' (AWD) and includes a third differential that allows the front and rear drive shafts to rotate at different speeds (as they will do when turning). Part Time 4WD 'locks' the front and rear dive shaft together for equal power to the front and rear differential, not allowing for different rotation when making turns. This makes turning (speciall slow speed turning) difficult on hard surfaces... called 'binding' by some...

 

Agree and understand 100% the issue with having no center diff and running in 4WD on dry pavement.

But its hard to understand the owners manual. 99% of my driving 8 months of the year is on dry pavement so how can they expect anyone to use it for 10 miles (to lubricate things) while simultanously saying not to use 4WD on dry pavement. Maybe they want us to take it to the dealer, have it up on the hoist and run it in 4H when the wheels are off the ground.....
Is it just the actuators they want us to excersize? Then we could just turn it on, drive a couple of feet till it engages and turn it off.


Is the switch to from 2H to 4H back to 2H supposed to be silent. I did try this on my own street in a straight line for a distance of maybe 300 feet. I could hear and feel when it switched back to 2H. Nothing severe, just a muted click/clunk? Is this just the transfer case disengaging or the front axle?

.

 

I have had three 4WD Tacomas, and I am sure there were months I did not use 4WD for 10 miles... and there were some I used it for more... Nothing failed! Just when you think of it, on a straight road, flip it into H4 if you stay below 62 MPH. There is a definite "CLUNK" noise when coming out of 4WD and usually a lesser noise when going in... NORMAL! Try to do the engaging/ disengaging while driving straight and ease off the accelerator... less stress on the driveline.

 

Thanks, that was just what i wanted to hear. This is my first tacoma so was looking from the experience from the seasoned owners.

For the first time in my life there are now parking garages i cant enter and my old floor jack that I used to swap my summer/winter tires on my previous cars is now useless since even at full extension its not heigh enough

 

Watch that low ceiling!
Don't tire shops or gas stations in snow country change your tires cheap enough, like the same price as a rotation since all 4 tires are removed and replaced in a rotation?

 

Probably but I had just gotten used to doing it myself. With my son helping me and my air impacts i could change all 4 in less than an hour. And when I put the weels back on i used a true torque wrench. I have seen some shops use air impact to install the nuts and had one shop actually stripped the threads of the stud. And a girl I know had her wheels done at a shop and when i checked thier work afterwords the nuts where on with more than 200 ft/lbs. If she ever had a flat no one could get those off with vehicle supplied tools,not to mention the possibilty that they may have even warped the rotor.

 

It's mentioned in my owners manual. Check out the Starting and Driving section under Tips for driving in various conditions. It says... "Four-wheel drive models-Toyota recommends not useing four-wheel drive on dry hard-surfaced roads" This is on page 305 of my 2007 manual.
Really, they shouldn't even have to spell it out... it's common knowledge that you shouldn't (or ever have the need to) engage 4wd on dry pavement. Check page 8 and 9 of this link
http://log.logcluster.org/response/fleet-management/LOG-2-8-FLEET MANAGEMENT-Guide to Four Wheel Driving - Toyota.pdf

 

I'll go ahead and post this so you can all read it for yourselves. Keep in mind that the suggestions in the owners manual are really only applicable to sissies and idiots.



edit: this is from the 2015 manual.