I should be getting my 4Runner within two weeks and there are no plans for it to do any off roading until winter of 2023 (I need a big car now and there is a good chance this is the 5th gen's last year). The problem here is that the owner's manual recommends 10 miles of 4WD use every month. I personally am not too concerned with hitting the 10 mile mark, but I'd like to get at least a couple miles of 4WD use every month.

So my question is this... Is it safe to engage 4WD (Lo or Hi) on dry pavement if you are only going in a straight line? Or do I seriously need to find terrain/surfaces that allow for slippage?

I've googled this topic and have searched this forum, and there appears to be a 50/50 split on the answers. My personal belief/understanding was that 4WD should not be enabled unless you are having trouble maintaining forward movement. Well, if that rule is true, this would mean I am actually supposed to routinely off road the vehicle on surfaces where the wheel can slip, which I don't have the time for. I also don't want to spend gratuitously spend money on gas to drive a couple hours outside of Los Angeles to do this. On top of that, I'd be putting needless miles on the car.

Thoughts? I intend to keep this car for life. I have no interest in buying cars every several years and having car payments. As long as they continue to sell gas, this should be my car.

Straight line is fine, no need to find someplace off-road.

Straight road. Minimize turns and try not to make tight turns.

Good to know and was too afraid to ask this same question myself haha

Now just gotta find some time to do it every month or two

I make a habit of doing it the first Monday of every month. I'm fortunate that I have a commute that's mostly straight. I do turn it on and off at certain points. It's probably good to do that to get the parts that turn on and off some exercise, too.

I might hit the low every few months or so. I only do that on dirt. I have to take it to a dirt parking lot.

Thank you all for your replies. I'm liking how all the answers are on the same side so far lol.

Also a good time to exercise your 4WD Hi is when the roads are wet. Even in a slight turn (no hard ones) you will be fine because you have slippage.

Just exercised mine today. It was rainy and wet so I figured it was time to do it. I even dropped mine into 4L, and used the MTS and crawl control up my driveway. I have been pretty bad in my 5 yr ownership of sticking mine and 4WD on a regular basis. Luckily have had no issues.

Greetings from a fellow Los Angeles resident with the same concern. First I’d like to echo what others have said about it being okay to drive with 4WD engaged while driving in a straight line or on wet pavement. But that’s no fun. I exercise my 4WD on a stretch of dirt road above Encino between Mulholland and the defunct LA-96c Nike Missile Control site. There are a couple of hiking trail heads there, and picnic tables. The dirt road is gated after sundown and on rainy days.

In fact, I drove there directly after taking delivery of my truck from the dealer.

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You are my hero. I live in Studio City. This is perfect.

Great picture by the way.

If you have to exercise your 4WD system you bought the wrong vehicle

All jokes aside not using your 4WD system for a bit is probably ok for your truck but maybe not for life enjoyment. Get out there and get your truck dirty!


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Well, the vehicle will be used in Big Bear, in the snow, annually starting the end of next year

One last thing guys. How about exercising the locking rear diff? I imagine that should NOT be exercised on dry pavement? Also, if it needs to be exercised, how much? I imagine not much at all?

Haha. I live in Studio City too, and I’m at Lake Arrowhead right now. I’ll be taking my 4Runner on it’s first real shakedown tomorrow and getting a feel for the Multi terrain and crawl control systems. The computer controlled ABS based stuff is new to me. My former off road vehicles were more primitive.

To answer your question though, I wouldn’t bother with that stuff on the monthly exercise sessions, but I would engage the locker once or twice.

Good info all around gentlemen (I'm assuming, it's 2022 I don't judge)

Will have to give the 4wd a go this weekend if I head out to the lake for some fishing

You know the old adage … if you don’t use it, you loose it. If you never engage 4WD the mechanisms tend to bind up, stick and not engage.

4WD on pavement is fine if you don’t turn. Years ago I didn’t realize I had engaged 4WD in a push button shift system and drove at highway speeds 75 miles in July. Realized that I was in 4WD when I felt the drivetrain binding when I made a sharp right turn up my street. I owned the truck for another 17 years and experienced no issues with the drivetrain.

I don’t buy the practice of not engaging 4WD until you’re stuck. I’d rather not get stuck in the first place.

My T4R is put in 4WD each time I get on a dirt road, regardless of condition. Where I live, dirt roads outnumber paved ones. That has been my practice with all my 4x4 vehicles over the past four decades that I’ve owned them.

All my rigs have never given me issues with their drivetrains or related parts. Those I knew that never engaged their systems and then needed them found out the hard way that if you don’t use it, you loose it.