4LO Trail repair?

[Spriter]

Hey everyone! In the effort of preparing for a disaster ahead of time, I wanted to ask some questions about trail repairs.

Ive heard of some nightmare stories where people get into 4LO or lock the center diff and are unable to exit the modes when getting back on asphalt. But, ive also heard some (unfortunately vague) solutions that involve hammering some part of the transfer case or manually turning a nut that actuates the drive train mode manually.

Does anyone have a write up for this process or the name of these components so that i can educate myself so that if this ever happens i can get home without a tow?


Incase it changes on the year, i am running a 05 v6 4wd 4runner.

 

[WhiteBoomer04]

Usually its a case of moving forward and backward a few times and trying to unload the torque on the case (i.e. especially on uneven ground, corners, hills). I've had that several times occur to me over the years in my 4th gen.

I never recommend hammering the actuator because its only a plastic case, and I would hate for someone to take a BFH to it out of frustration in a tight situation and cracking the case.

Sorry, cant help with the "nut/screw or bolt method".

 

[TowMeOut]

Mine got stuck and we tried all manner of tapping, banging, loosening the mounting bolts, jiggling, etc. No dice. In hindsight though.....once the actuator gets into some "unhappy" mode it basically tells the 4wd computer to stop even trying. So....I was kind of set up for failure from the start.

Long story short I ended up dismantling the actuator, shifting the rods back into 2Hi, ziptied them in place and drove home. Not my greatest moment but I was out of options (10hrs from home).

Yeah, some kind of "failsafe" mode that would get you back into 2Hi would be great.

 

[Spriter]

Mine got stuck and we tried all manner of tapping, banging, loosening the mounting bolts, jiggling, etc. No dice. In hindsight though.....once the actuator gets into some "unhappy" mode it basically tells the 4wd computer to stop even trying. So....I was kind of set up for failure from the start.

Long story short I ended up dismantling the actuator, shifting the rods back into 2Hi, ziptied them in place and drove home. Not my greatest moment but I was out of options (10hrs from home).

Yeah, some kind of "failsafe" mode that would get you back into 2Hi would be great.

Yeah i fear the day i have to do a dismantling of the actuator on a trail. Glad to hear you didnt have to get a tow!

I read in passing (maybe not on t4r...) about how there is some screw/nut/thing on the outside of the transfer case that you can manually turn to force it into 4HI/4LO. Im still searching the internet to try to find it again, but for all i know it may of been a misunderstanding because i find nothing discussing a manual override in the toyota service manual for our truck.


For my own sake, do you know if there is any written guide or how to to do what you did on the trail? I just want to have at least one backup solution for this as i understand its not a terribly uncommon thing to occur

 

[Spriter]

Usually its a case of moving forward and backward a few times and trying to unload the torque on the case (i.e. especially on uneven ground, corners, hills). I've had that several times occur to me over the years in my 4th gen.

I never recommend hammering the actuator because its only a plastic case, and I would hate for someone to take a BFH to it out of frustration in a tight situation and cracking the case.

Sorry, cant help with the "nut/screw or bolt method".

Usually that is the case, of just moving around a bit to unload the torque, but i was more worried when it gets jammed due to what ever reason.




Interestingly i have engaged/disengaged 4HI/2HI with the engine OFF in park. But i imagine thats cus 0 torque is holding up anything in the drive train

 

[duffdog]

You can simply open the bottom of the actuator case and spin the motor by hand until the shift rod is all the way back into the case. But before you "get stuck" when off road I recommend opening the actuator and letting the water out and putting new grease on all the gears. Then, sealing the vent hole on the top of the actuator permanently with caulking or glue and sealing the actuator up really good so that it doesn't get any water inside...ever. Snow wheeling is going on right now, so there are going to be a lot of people with stuck 4wd actuators from the snow collecting on top of the unit and then draining into the little drain hold on top of the actuator. On my truck there was a hose that simply fell off, so I sealed the actuator, but it could be very good insurance to simply replace that little hose with a new one.

 

[Spriter]

You can simply open the bottom of the actuator case and spin the motor by hand until the shift rod is all the way back into the case. But before you "get stuck" when off road I recommend opening the actuator and letting the water out and putting new grease on all the gears. Then, sealing the vent hole on the top of the actuator permanently with caulking or glue and sealing the actuator up really good so that it doesn't get any water inside...ever. Snow wheeling is going on right now, so there are going to be a lot of people with stuck 4wd actuators from the snow collecting on top of the unit and then draining into the little drain hold on top of the actuator. On my truck there was a hose that simply fell off, so I sealed the actuator, but it could be very good insurance to simply replace that little hose with a new one.

I see, i think this is what was being discussed in the threads i had seen! Thank you for this advice. Ill look into preemptive maintenance as i understand this is an expensive component to replace if it does fail.


Regarding the vent hole your speaking of, i understood that there is a breather line that goes from the transfer case all the way to the engine bay. Is this the "hole" you are suggest blocking off to avoid water intake?

 

[radlynx]

for those who dont know, here are the procedure when shifting to 4H.
1. start the engine.
2. shift to neutral.
3. shift to 4H.
4. if light is still blinking, shift to reverse.
5. if light is still blinking, shift to drive.
6. you can also do this while cruising on a straight road below 50mph.

for 4L.
1. first, the truck must be completely stopped, 0mph.
2. doing this while cruising could potentially damage it and destroy the shift mechanism.



Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

 

[duffdog]

I see, i think this is what was being discussed in the threads i had seen! Thank you for this advice. Ill look into preemptive maintenance as i understand this is an expensive component to replace if it does fail.


Regarding the vent hole your speaking of, i understood that there is a breather line that goes from the transfer case all the way to the engine bay. Is this the "hole" you are suggest blocking off to avoid water intake?

Yes, I completely plugged mine with silicone because I tend to drive into really deep water often.

 

[alia176]

Here's a short video I made of the 4hi/lo and CDL operation of the actuator out of the Tcase. This will help with visualizing the two actuators in operation.

https://youtu.be/3DFHi5GP3Ik