4x4 PSA: Use it or lose it monthly reminder

Yes Sir, thank you!

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Here is a friendly Public Service Announcement:

Engage all your 4x4 features once a month and your truck will thank you for it by avoiding a hefty repair bill. A few minutes of free exercise every month will save you big $$$ in actuator repairs.

Great advice, thanks. When I bought my '07 SR5 about six weeks ago, I took it off road right away to put it through it's paces. It went into H4, L4 and CDL with no problems, but I noticed it took a couple of tries to get out of L4. I did exactly what the manual said, and came to a stop and put it into neutral, but when I switched out of L4 it would just beep, with the 4WD lights flashing I think, for about 20 or 30 seconds with no luck. I remember hoping that I had enough gas to get home in 4L, but I tried switching back into 4L and back out again, and the second time it came out after a few seconds. I repeated the process a little while later and the same thing happened, taking two tries to get out of 4L. I checked the manual again later to see if I could find any more information on this, and it does actually tell you to drive forward and backward a short distance if it won't go in or out of L4, so I'm not sure if what I was experiencing was normal, or the result of the 4WD not being used regularly before I bought the truck. Regardless, I will be exercising the 4WD system regularly now after reading your post.
 
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Thank you!

N0ob question: Is it bad to drive in 4WD 100% of the time??

From what I've been told, it's OK to be in H4 all the time except that your gas milage might suffer a bit, but you don't want to be in Center Diff Lock on dry roads. Anyone else?
 
tried switching into 4lo yesterday...and the truck made a harsh whirling sound...i was in 4hi and center diff locked then..on rough terrain....i quickly put the car in park and switched back to 4hi, and disengaged center differential......
i then tried again and it switched smoothly to 4lo.........similar thing had happened in the past before...still yet to under why it happens or the causative factor
 
My thing isn't so much switching between 2/4wd but with the center differential sometimes taking a few tries in and out of drive/neutral
 
My 4HI and locking center differential work just fine, but my 4LO won't engage. The truck has 128k on it. I've had it for 6 months and I doubt the prior owner ever put it in 4LO.

When I try, the yellow 4LO light just blinks indefinitely. Underneath the truck I can hear a faint beeping coming from the actuator. I've tried tapping the actuator with a rubber mallet and it doesn't help.

I don't use 4LO and it really doesn't bother me that much that it doesn't work. Certainly not enough to drop the cash on a new transfer case or actuator.

My question is this... if I keep trying to get it into 4LO every month or so when I give the 4HI a workout, is there any chance that at some point over the next few years it might just break loose and start working again?


So I bought my 04' used in 2013 and did not test the 4wd system before I bought it (stupid I know) but I also was unable to get 4Lo to engage. I kept trying and eventually it just started working. Now it engages smoothly within a second or two. Thanks to this reminder thread, I engage 4hi, 4lo and Center Diff at least once a month. Hopefully yours will do the same, I would just keep trying every now and then and maybe you'll get lucky like I did.
 
Same as Acronin2 here. Bought my '06 18 months ago without testing 4lo and it did not work when I tried it. I kept trying at least monthly and, finally, last week it started working. Works very smoothly now. I am guessing that after a trip in 110 degree heat that the white lithium grease in the actuator softened up enough to free up the plastic gears. Keep trying. Yours may do the same! Good luck.
 

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