'14 SR5 Premium, part-time 4wd question

[Alabaster13]

This is the first suv that I have owned where I have to engage the 4wd system. My question is if I am driving on the street or highway and it starts to snow making the surface slippery.....can I engage the 4wd as I'm driving or do I have to pull over to do that?

 

[Sere81]

I'd recommend you read the manual if you have one.

I believe it says you can engage 4wd high while you are going 50mph or lower.

To engage 4wd low you need to come to a stop and put the transmission into neutral before selecting.

 

[st8rocks]

This is the first suv that I have owned where I have to engage the 4wd system. My question is if I am driving on the street or highway and it starts to snow making the surface slippery.....can I engage the 4wd as I'm driving or do I have to pull over to do that?

Boooooooooo. Weak first post. Post a picture of your truck to redeem yourself.

 

[Alabaster13]

Boooooooooo. Weak first post. Post a picture of your truck to redeem yourself.

Here you go.

 

[Jhalko]

You can shift on the fly, but if you are doing 65mph on snow you have bigger problems! Welcome, the truck looks awesome, as stated you'll get less ribbing if you read through the manual around how all the 4wd stuff works. If you haven't had it before go out to a field and "practice" so when you do get into the snow etc you are ready. Also don't forget to engage the 4wd once a month for proper lubrication of the parts, I think that is in the manual.

Side note, hanging out on this forum can be detrimental to your wallet, you'll discover a lot of stuff you "need".

 

[Alabaster13]

I'd recommend you read the manual if you have one.



I believe it says you can engage 4wd high while you are going 50mph or lower.



To engage 4wd low you need to come to a stop and put the transmission into neutral before selecting.

What is the main difference between low and high?

 

[Ezlife45]

What is the main difference between low and high?

The position the little knob is in.

Sorry could not resist.

 

[Jhalko]

4wd low is for rock crawling and other very low traction times when you might need Atrac and super low speed (simple explanation). 4wd hi is for everything else.

Check out some of the YouTube videos that Toyota has out there, they are great at explaining this stuff and you can see it in action. Also on this site the search tab can be finicky, I always put "5th gen " in front of my search topic, most questions have already been covered in detail on other threads.

 

[kpd1999]

I stole this from [MENTION=66316]1engineer[/MENTION]

Four-Wheel Drive vs All-Wheel-Drive: Everything You Need to Know

Good basic info on our 4wd systems

 

[cbreze]

I got hit with a gust of wind once on a perfectly straight newly snowed on road and went into a sideways spin toward the guard rail. No traffic to worry about but pulling that lever to 4Hi saved my ass as well as my trucks. Got immediate control again. Was time to slow down also:redface: awesome feature. I recall back in the day when you had to stop and get out to lock your hubs.
But yeah, I wouldn't have known the speed limitations without having read the manual.

 

[3wbdriver]

What is the main difference between low and high?

About 40 mph.

 

[M1911]

What is the main difference between low and high?

What is the main difference between riding around on your 10-speed bike in 1st gear vs 10th?

Figure it out.

 

[wfo9]

What is the main difference between low and high?

4wd Hi, engages the front drive shaft and differential via the transfer case and Automatic Differential Disconnect.
.
4wd Lo, additionally introduces a reduction gear (which I think is 2.57). This is why you basically need to come to a stop to engage it.

So 4lo is what you use in more extreme situations. Anytime you need to go slow over difficult terrain climbing or descending. You would almost never use 4Lo on a maintained road (unless you get stuck). 4Lo gives you more pulling power (torque) at the wheels, but your speed/HP is very limited.

If you do get stuck, 4 Lo can get you additional traction since it allows you to turn on A-Trac. A-Trac is a break activated electronic limited slip that will allow all 4 wheels to apply power. Even though you hear the terms 4wd and AWD, it does not really mean all 4 wheels have power at the same time. A-Track is as close as you can get to having all 4 wheels powered with open differentials.

Since your 4 runner is part time 4wd with no center differential, don't drive around in 4wd HI or LO on dry pavement (where the wheels cannot slip) as this will cause binding in the drive train as you make turns.