What 4wd mode should I be In for snow?

You ski? I lived out in Washington for awhile. Taught both my boys to ski at Snoqualmie, Alpental, crystal and baker.
Loved those mountains!!! great snow, when then snow was not rain.

 

Yes sir, snowboarding since I was 9-10 years old. White pass to Mt baker and everything in between. I've been a season pass holder at Stevens since 2005

 

I never made it to white pass. I always wanted too.

 

Not as much snow driving as you I'm sure, but next time youre on a snowy incline heading downhill in 2wd, establish your speed. Find a braking marker, and apply the brakes. Mark your stopping distance. Now do the same thing with your clutch pedal depressed. Assuming you don't slide off the road, you'll have taken farther to stop. Driven wheels stop faster in my experience.
https://carbuzz.com/news/did-you-know-4wd-can-also-help-you-stop-better-in-the-snow

 

A fool stops learning. I will certainly give it a try. Going up to copper to ski tomorrow. I'll take highway back and try it

 

Wait, this is the internet...you're supposed to disagree and call me names! Again, this was my experience in slick snow going slightly downhill. Ymmv.

 

can you explain why you have traction control off in 2wd for snow? I'm in the snow myself and trying to go with 4wd less as I become more comfortable. For reference, I have about 240 lbs in the bed but still find myself spinning tires. mainly at icy starts ie an intersection.

 

That stuff is not a fragile flower you will know right away particularly in parking lots, if you made too tight a turn on the pavement backup put in it 2WD I shift all the time up here in Maine. Don't forget Toyota want's you to excursive it, says nothing about dry pavements.

 

Well there is a hell of a lot more weight on the front I don't care if there are chains on the back the front is going to win.
There is often no way Ill get up my 1/4 mile drive in a Maine winter in two WD even with tires with the little snow flakes.

 

From page 190 of the 2014 Taco V6 4.0L 4WD owner's manual. Recommends not driving in 4WD on dry/hard surfaces. Drivetrain wear/damage not guaranteed to occur, but it may occur.

 

HAHA!

These trucks are not delicate flowers, they will be fine.

Also, the scenario pictured is not dry

 

What tires are you running, how much tread do they have left, and how old are they?

I prefer traction control off because it is easier to steer with the throttle if needed. If I can't get traction at an icy intersection I'm either using too much skinny pedal or I need to put it in 4wd.

I'd suggest finding a large empty parking lot and trying traction control off, auto LSD, and trac off. You have to be stopped and hold the traction control button down for 5 or so seconds to turn it off completely.

For sure there are a lot of different conditions, my comment on using 2wd was based on the pics in the OP...reposted below.

Traffic looks to be moving slow in the snowy pic and it looks like there is fresh snow outside of the main tire tracks, which will typically provides better traction than the packed snow or ice.

As for the pictures I posted not being from a multi lane highway, I don't like to pull out my phone to snap a pic in those situations.

It was pretty common when I was working at a ski resort and highway 80 was closed for the CHP to let me through because I was heading to work. In all my years driving I've never ended up in the ditch or pointed the wrong direction but I've pulled plenty of others out.

I also think there is plenty of room on that highway with the amount of traffic on it to countersteer if needed. If you're sliding and you don't, you're going to end up in the ditch regardless of if you're in 4wd. If I'm constantly needing to countersteer, its going into 4wd.

Go back and read my original post...I was not saying I'd be hooning it and drifting around the corners, but it really doesn't look like 4wd is necessary in those pics and if you do need it you should probably replace your tires with something appropriate for driving in winter if you drive in those conditions regularly. It really seems like we're saying the same thing, drive at a speed that's appropriate for the conditions, if you are worried about traction or need 4wd, use it.

 

So then I guess for the 4WD usage frequency bullet point there they expect you every month to go find some random "soft" dirt/grass field and drive around in circles for 10 miles?

 

Pretty much "yeah."

I've gone on at length about how I deal w/ this without having frequent/easy access to dirt roads. TL;DR exercising 4HI at highway speed on dry pavement presents no problems so long as it's straight.

 

No problem with just common sense you just came off a snow covered back roar still in 4WD on to a paved parking lot the truck will remind you right away if you are in 4WD backup with the front wheel straight and shift out of 4WD no problem. Even driving down a normal road in FWD won't trash any thing snow or not.

 

Sure, at low speeds on surface streets or a parking lot, there's plenty of time to sense the signs/feel of drivetrain bind-up & take corrective action.

I'd be interested to see well-shot GoPro video of the driveshafts & front + rear wheels of a 4HI-engaged Taco doing 55-65+ mph around twisty, bone-dry asphalt highways. Maybe it's all good & the tires just chirp as-needed to release constantly-recurring bind-up. Or maybe CVs or U-joints start snapping? IDK, I've never cared to test that particular limit.

 

I wonder if the 2WD guys recommend off-roading in 2WD until you get stuck too.

 

They do.

 

The 4WD is managed by a separated module. In my conversion tread I uploaded the wiring connections I made.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/prerunner-to-4x4-conversion-concluded.468300/

 

I was an official for the Mt Washington hill climb for quite a few years. Recently they paved a larger section that was dirt, the competitors every year broke pervious records. They are 4WD cars with immense horse power, unless they went off the road they all made it to the top with their CV still attached. This is a twisty road that climbs thousands of feet in all most 8 miles, last year the record was once again broken. Do not try this in your wife's Subaru. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP2-UHXJ3pU