Did I hurt my 4wd?

F

fourrunner37

New member
I purchased a 99 4runner a few weeks ago. When I was testing out the 4wd I had no clue what I was doing. I wasn't aware of making turns on dry pavement while in 4H or 4L and how it could damage things. When I was doing it I was on dry pavement and I did it in both High and Low range. I made a couple sharp turns (enough to hear the front wheels turning) and then disengaged the 4wd. While I was doing it I didn't force it along when it slowed thru a turn I simply straightened then wheel back out. Do you think I could have hurt anything by only making those few turns? It was a couple circles in high and not very much at all in low. Any answers are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Register to hide this ad
Probably not. I was off-roading in the spring and forgot to disengage and drove about 15 miles on windy paved roads at highway speeds and then looked down and saw the 4WD light on. I was worried too but had it out since and no problems.
 
Really sweating this. I didn't do many turns but I did a couple hard turns and like I said when it started binding I straightened the wheel out.
 
You did the same thing that any sane person would do to check to make sure the 4wd works. It's not suggested to be done on dry pavement, but a limited amount will not hurt your truck. Think of how we beat on ours while rock crawling? It's no different.

*pulled a rookie on labor day weekend.. I drove from 158 miles, VA to PA in 4h without even realizing it. It's still smooth as ever with 180k on the drivetrain.
 
My pastor has been driving around in 4H for years nay time there was the least bit of rain, etc. His still drives fine. It kind of irritates me actually. I don't think mine would stand up to that kind of abuse, but his does.
 
I think you'll be fine, but you can make amends with your truck by changing the diff and transfer case fluids since it's new to you, and you likely don't know when it was last done. Trucks love that.
 
Nelsonmd said:
My pastor has been driving around in 4H for years nay time there was the least bit of rain, etc. His still drives fine. It kind of irritates me actually. I don't think mine would stand up to that kind of abuse, but his does.
Click to expand...

Well, at least it's only when there's some moisture on the ground. You sure it's not one with a center lock?
 
Hepar said:
Well, at least it's only when there's some moisture on the ground. You sure it's not one with a center lock?
Click to expand...

No it's a 96. I found out he'd been doing this when I drove it after some rain (it had dried up already) and found it on, I asked him about it and he said he uses it all the time and doesn't always remember to turn it off.
 
OP, don't worry about it. I wouldn't make it a habit (like Nelson's pastor), but the fear is that it will bind up and snap something like a CV or worse.. the gears inside your diff. Yours didn't break so you can forget about it and not worry anymore.
 
Nelsonmd said:
No it's a 96. I found out he'd been doing this when I drove it after some rain (it had dried up already) and found it on, I asked him about it and he said he uses it all the time and doesn't always remember to turn it off.
Click to expand...

These are the reasons why I always have a little hesitation buying used.
 
Thanks for the words of wisdom guys. I looked for so long to find a good 3rd gen in great shape with low miles and last thing I want to do is tear it up. One last question about my 4wd. When I was testing it out I had it in 4Low and drove straight ahead. I honestly didn't know the tranny would shift out of low gear with 4wd Low engaged. So as result of my ignorance I ran 4 low just barely fast enough for the tranny to shift which scared the hell out of me and then I let off of it. Do you think that could have caused anything to go bad? I've not had it back in 4wd any since then and in every day 2wd driving it is doing excellent. THANK YOU so much for answering my NooB questions.
 
fourrunner37 said:
Thanks for the words of wisdom guys. I looked for so long to find a good 3rd gen in great shape with low miles and last thing I want to do is tear it up. One last question about my 4wd. When I was testing it out I had it in 4Low and drove straight ahead. I honestly didn't know the tranny would shift out of low gear with 4wd Low engaged. So as result of my ignorance I ran 4 low just barely fast enough for the tranny to shift which scared the hell out of me and then I let off of it. Do you think that could have caused anything to go bad? I've not had it back in 4wd any since then and in every day 2wd driving it is doing excellent. THANK YOU so much for answering my NooB questions.
Click to expand...

The tranny is built to shift, no danger of harming things by doing that. I often leave the tranny in "2" when in 4low, as you don't want/need to be going fast in that mode anyways.
 
It's perfectly normal for it to shift while in 4lo. You're fine there too. Now how about some pics of it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 603 (members: 1, guests: 602)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,083
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top