Truck was stuck in snow. Now it feels sluggish and horrible (Manual Transmission)

Good way to put it. I think it all depends on the situation, your judgment, and how well you know your vehicle's capabilities. My little '06 4 banger is a champ at the different boat ramps we frequent (boat is 1200lbs dry). If I know I can get away with only slipping the clutch for a second or two at a time, I'll use 2H or 4H. Sometimes she grumbles because the trailer frame is filled with water, but she'll do it. On super steep ramps I default to using 4 LO just until I get the boat out of the water, then switch back to 2H to take the rest of the way up.

We rarely get more than 6-8 inches of snow at a time here and I always us 4H. The OPs 4 feet would be a different story. Probably would have spent a long time digging out around it before even attempting to move the truck

Bought with 18k miles and now has 176k miles, still on the original clutch and no sign of slipping. Gonna keep her till she dies, which might be after I do LOL

 

The engine bay is probably warm enough. Especially after turning the truck off. No fresh air moving, just heat soak until it naturally cools off. If there was any snow in there it melted and refroze, guarantee.

Either way, all of the above (slipping clutch, stuck rear brakes, blocked air filter) should all be very easy to check yourself. I would do that asap and let us know.

 

man I was worried there were a bunch of people thinking you couldn’t reverse in 4 wheel. A long time back I watched my friend rock his 4wd Tercel and subsequently destroy his clutch.

 

Thanks for this explanation. This was my initial thought - how is more torque going to help if your wheels are already spinning in 4H, and how are you going to kill the clutch if the wheels are spinning. This makes a lot more sense.

Coming from a fair weather car where you don't have to worry about getting stuck, just assholes smokin' out the clutch thinking they're doing sick donuts.

 

Simi update. My appointment is this Monday. I had to remove my skid plate and decided to put the stock wheels on.

After doing this my truck is “kinda” back to normal. It doesnt drag/lag as much but you can still feel it in high speed

I think the dealership is going to think I’m crazy now

 

Your in MN right? Where about you located?

 

Spend another hour and swap the wheels back - just to be sure ...???

 

No snow/water in your tires?

 

Interesting

 

Yeah will do

 

I’m up in the oakdale area

 

My parents lived in Minneapolis in the early seventies. They have told me stories where at -20F rear ends and oil in pans would get so thick that they had to be warmed before moving.

So maybe the diffs heavy gear oil thickened to a gel. You tried for a while to get out. Never got warm enough to lube bearings and gear teeth. Maybe this is where your issue is. As the temps have risen, the lube is back, but everything is just wore out?

 

Well shit, Right before you posted me and the family left to go up to the marcus theater over there for a movie.

 

Subbed for results

 

Quick very "Diluted" Story ... An A hole was parking his? car where it was blocking a public access, refused to move and repeated whenever he? could, forcing public to walk and climb snow banks to access sidewalk and street. Notes and conversation were nastily ignored. Someone managed to let the air out of a tire and get a small amount of liquid in through the valve stem and re inflated the tire. After it froze, the wheel when wild with the ice. He'd leave his car at a shop at night (inside the heated garage) next morning test ride was OK. Repeat this a few times until they finally demounted the tire .... So the story went ...

 

Now that is funny and it sounds well deserved.

 

I dunno. I’ve smelt my clutch many times over the years and never had to replace one. Something else always failed first. I do realize it’s a wear item though and the 3rd gen taco in 4hi off-road is super susceptible to it

 

How tall is the R gear on the manuals? Sounds like you stick shift guys have an extra tall reverse gear?

Same problem when I had my jeeps. Anything more than flat surface, and it was 4 low in reverse.

 

Just curious - what dealership are you bringing it into?

 

Don’t know the exact ratio but it felt taller than first by a decent amount. Made no sense to me why reverse felt like it would be most comfortable at 20 mph instead of like 5.

OA

Edit: page 2 here - https://s3.amazonaws.com/toyota-cms...10/2020_Toyota_Tacoma_Product_Information.pdf