I bought my Toyota 4Runner several years ago in Alabama so it did not come with 4 Wheel Drive and I've never really needed that. However, now I live in Jackson, Wyoming. Last winter I lived in town and my car did just fine getting through town in the snow. However, this year I live up the side of a mountain....nothing huge but definitely questionable if my car can get up it with a foot of snow on the ground.

Anyway, my question is how do I know if my car is All Wheel Drive or just Front Wheel Drive? Hopefully this is something I can easily figure out and don't have to be fiddling around in my engine or climbing under my car.

Thank you for any help! And just for a little info...the car is a 2002 Toyota 4Runner Limited.

ignoring the confusion in the above post...

just crawl underneath and look for drivelines. you will either have ONE coming from the rear of the transmission to the rear end, or you will have one to the rear, AND one going to the front end.

also, 4runners were never Fwd, so if you don't have awd/4wd then you have RWD. rear wheel drive.


also, I don't believe that year came in an AWD configuration. so it would be 4wd, or 2wd. if 4wd you would have a shift lever, or 4wd shift know/button on the dash.

2002 has the option for a 4Hi with the center diff locker option for 50/50 distribution. When it's not engaged consider this AWD as you will be able to drive on pavement without binding the drivetrain. You do not have this option if you are just 2WD.

I hope OP knows what to look for when crawling under since he guessed that his 4Runner could be FWD.

This is as simple as it gets.

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Dumb question, what year did Toyota start using Torsens, I take it only in Limiteds and Lexus.

As far as the 4th & 5th Gens are concerned...

The 4th Gen (J120 platform) 4WD 4Runners in North America came with standard Torsen T3 Center Differentials.

The 5th Gen (J150 platform) 4WD 4Runners have Torsen T3 Center Differentials only in the Limited.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the 3rd gens use a different center differential? An Aisin unit? This would have been on the 99-2000 Limited 4x4s and on all 4x4s in 2001-2002, yes?

Ah, man. If my wife's 2001 had been like that 4WD, I would never have parted with it. I loved that truck and all the places it took us. Interior was identical to that 2WD, even the phony wood trim.

One of our dumbest decisions: not paying just a bit more when we bought it new.