Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Toyota have a lifetime powertrain warranty if proper maintenance is done to the vehicle. So even if it does break its a free fix.
Distance/Time in 4WD??
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Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Toyota have a lifetime powertrain warranty if proper maintenance is done to the vehicle. So even if it does break its a free fix.
No, maybe your dealership did but Toyota does not. Powertrain is 60k miles
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I'm the same as you. I don't read manuals myself but I find that advice to be a head scratcher. Parts are not going to get any more lubrication over 15 miles than they do over 1 or 2. Maybe they will get warmer but realistically - engaging 4WD once a month while you're on a straight road on your way to work ( like for a mile or two ) is good enough. Typically I wait for a rainy day to pop the lever down, let it spool up for a few kilometres and that is plenty. You just want to keep lubrication on the running gears every so often - no need to bomb down the highway with it engaged or run it for your whole commute.
MossJenks
New member
No. Toyota warranties aren't anything special. They just usually don't break if they're cared for!
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BobsTrail
Senior Member
:iagree:
I usually go to a new housing area with gravel or dirt roads and look over the area while in 4WD.
Lujess
New member
We bought our first 4R in Sept. Our driveway is dirt, about 1/4 mile long and has an elevation gain of 75-100 feet. We're pretty much in H4 any time we are coming or going to/from home, snow or not
I haven't seen this asked in the various threads I've read or the owner's manual...but is there any issue leaving it in H4 when parked for up to a day or so? We do, since we are using H4 coming in and out of the driveway...so when it is parked in the batcave, it sits parked in H4 for when we leave home again
I haven't seen this asked in the various threads I've read or the owner's manual...but is there any issue leaving it in H4 when parked for up to a day or so? We do, since we are using H4 coming in and out of the driveway...so when it is parked in the batcave, it sits parked in H4 for when we leave home again
MTN4RNR
New member
No harm whatsoever :thumb3:
Jetboy
New member
So much fuss. I put mine in 4x4 when it's snowy or I'm going offroad. I often go for as much as 3 months without engaging it. It's not a problem. I have run up to the speed governor at 112mph in 4x4. In the winter I sometimes put around 1000 miles on the highway in 4x4 in a weekend if the roads are bad.
2wd gets better mpg and has less wear on the tires. Less scrub in turns. But you could just put it in 4x4 and drive for the rest of it's life without issue. The front driveline is very similar to the rear. There's nothing "temporary" or lightly built about it. It's quite robust.
Folks worrying about wearing it out or damaging something probably are new to Toyota 4x4 systems. It's good to go for about anything you can throw at it. That's why you bought a Toyota.
2wd gets better mpg and has less wear on the tires. Less scrub in turns. But you could just put it in 4x4 and drive for the rest of it's life without issue. The front driveline is very similar to the rear. There's nothing "temporary" or lightly built about it. It's quite robust.
Folks worrying about wearing it out or damaging something probably are new to Toyota 4x4 systems. It's good to go for about anything you can throw at it. That's why you bought a Toyota.
Hold on hold on. The 4Runner 4WD system is different compared to typical 4WD systems... like in my old YJ Wrangler.
The beauty of the 4Runner 4WD system is that is uses a Torsen Type III center differential in the transfer case, which allows for speed differences between the front and rear axles. When this differential is open, it has a standard 40% Front / 60% Rear torque split. The benefit of this system is that it allows the driver to drive in 4WD during high traction (dry road surfaces) without damaging the driveline . You can read more about it here:
Torsen | awd cars, 4x4 vehicles, 4wd trucks, 4motion, quattro, xDrive, SH-AWD, Haldex, Torsen, wiki - How it works
https://torsen.com/how-it-works/
If you push the 'Center Differential Lock' button while in 4HI, this locks the center differential = now both the front and rear axles will spin at the same speed, and at the same torque. This can damage your driveline if used on high mu surfaces (dry roads) at high speeds (due to small differences in tire diameters) or cornering events (due to the front axle traveling at a larger radius vs the rear axle).
Frankly speaking, the 4Runner operates very similar to Subaru's 'Symmetrical AWD' system when the center diff is open. All 4th gen V8's have this standard... the advantage is that the 4Runner allows the driver to still lock the center differential to have 'true 4WD' (4x4), as well as engage 4LO.
Therefore:
1. There is no concern to use 4HI in any or all on-road driving conditions. You'll see a small fuel economy hit, and some increased tire wear, but that's about it. It's recommended by Toyota to drive in 4HI on a monthly basis.
2. You should never engage the center diff lock while driving on-road, unless it is a low speed low traction situation - example: you're pulling your wife's car out of a snowy ditch.
3. The only difference between the V8 vs V6 4WD system is that the V6 gives you the option to operate in RWD mode as well.
Hope this helps clear things up.
sandcrawler
Senior Member
almost none of your post applies to the 5th Gen because, unlike the 4th Gen, the Limited is the only 5th Gen model with the Torsen center diff. all other 5th Gen's have a part-time 4WD transfer case. and none of them have a V8.
maybe you thought you were posting in the 4th Gen subforum?
hope this helps clear things up.
this is how I do it .. pops into 4WD HI/LO quickly as you do it every month or so.
I would not go 112 MPH in my 4runner as a member stated ..
on my 96 Impala I do it ..
Jetboy
New member
FWIW - the reason you would run for a longer period is to bring the bearings up to full operating temperature to lubricate them. Oil and grease work in very different ways to lubricate bearings.
In the gear cases with liquid lubrication oil (transfer case and diffs) this is not really a big concern as it's using oil flow over the bearings so they'll be lubricated quickly.
The bearings that use high viscosity grease work on the principle that the bearing ejects practically all of the grease from the bearing surfaces nearly immediately once put into service. Then as the bearing heats up, a small amount of grease is "melted" or warmed so that it's viscosity drops until it's a free flowing liquid where it then runs into the bearing area and creates the lubricating film surface. If you don't get this type of bearing hot enough it may not create enough low viscosity grease to fully form a new lubricating film and protect the bearings from both wear and potentially surface rust. Most mechanics don't understand how grease bearings lubricate, so they often over-grease them thinking that the bearing must be fully flooded with grease when it really operates on a principle of starvation and re-flow due to heat from the starvation. Trailer bearings are known for having this problem frequently. Too much grease and/or sitting for too long between uses. There's actually a ton of science behind roller bearings and how and where they pool the warmed oil and how it's distributed as a film through the contact surfaces to minimize friction and heat.
As an interesting funny anecdote, there's a story about a bicycle racing mechanic who took all the grease out of the wheel bearings and replaced with light weight oil for the final stage of a race. And it's usually told as a story where this brilliant idea was what won the race. That's usually the end of the story. What's funny is that In reality he made the bearing higher resistance, not lower, because he didn't understand how bearings work. The balls in the bearings are not actually running around in thick grease. They're running around the races with only a very thin film of hot low viscosity liquid. A thicker grease would actually provide less film and probably offer the minimum resistance. Not a thin oil.
In our case - the only bearings that would not otherwise be lubricated in 2wd anyway are the U-joints. I'd guess they are easily brought up to full temperature in a few miles. Everything else in the entire front driveline is already spinning all the time anyway except for the front ring and pinion that does spin in 2wd but pretty slowly and might not move enough gear lube up to the carrier bearings without running a few miles at high speed.
I think the 15 mile suggestion is probably overkill - so is my long winded explanation. But that's probably why the suggestion is 15 miles - to heat up the grease in the u-joints fully so you get a complete reflow and re-coating of the bearing surfaces. Just to make sure. It might also make enough heat in the front diff to evaporate out any moisture that's condensed inside.
Like I said earlier - I don't do any sort of planned 4x4 use. I just use 4x4 when I need it. I use it often enough that I don't ever think about it any further. If you're driving for years at a time without engaging 4x4 - it might be time to seriously consider whether the 4Runner is really the right vehicle for you. You're giving up a lot of comfort and efficiency to have the 4x4 bits.
In the gear cases with liquid lubrication oil (transfer case and diffs) this is not really a big concern as it's using oil flow over the bearings so they'll be lubricated quickly.
The bearings that use high viscosity grease work on the principle that the bearing ejects practically all of the grease from the bearing surfaces nearly immediately once put into service. Then as the bearing heats up, a small amount of grease is "melted" or warmed so that it's viscosity drops until it's a free flowing liquid where it then runs into the bearing area and creates the lubricating film surface. If you don't get this type of bearing hot enough it may not create enough low viscosity grease to fully form a new lubricating film and protect the bearings from both wear and potentially surface rust. Most mechanics don't understand how grease bearings lubricate, so they often over-grease them thinking that the bearing must be fully flooded with grease when it really operates on a principle of starvation and re-flow due to heat from the starvation. Trailer bearings are known for having this problem frequently. Too much grease and/or sitting for too long between uses. There's actually a ton of science behind roller bearings and how and where they pool the warmed oil and how it's distributed as a film through the contact surfaces to minimize friction and heat.
As an interesting funny anecdote, there's a story about a bicycle racing mechanic who took all the grease out of the wheel bearings and replaced with light weight oil for the final stage of a race. And it's usually told as a story where this brilliant idea was what won the race. That's usually the end of the story. What's funny is that In reality he made the bearing higher resistance, not lower, because he didn't understand how bearings work. The balls in the bearings are not actually running around in thick grease. They're running around the races with only a very thin film of hot low viscosity liquid. A thicker grease would actually provide less film and probably offer the minimum resistance. Not a thin oil.
In our case - the only bearings that would not otherwise be lubricated in 2wd anyway are the U-joints. I'd guess they are easily brought up to full temperature in a few miles. Everything else in the entire front driveline is already spinning all the time anyway except for the front ring and pinion that does spin in 2wd but pretty slowly and might not move enough gear lube up to the carrier bearings without running a few miles at high speed.
I think the 15 mile suggestion is probably overkill - so is my long winded explanation. But that's probably why the suggestion is 15 miles - to heat up the grease in the u-joints fully so you get a complete reflow and re-coating of the bearing surfaces. Just to make sure. It might also make enough heat in the front diff to evaporate out any moisture that's condensed inside.
Like I said earlier - I don't do any sort of planned 4x4 use. I just use 4x4 when I need it. I use it often enough that I don't ever think about it any further. If you're driving for years at a time without engaging 4x4 - it might be time to seriously consider whether the 4Runner is really the right vehicle for you. You're giving up a lot of comfort and efficiency to have the 4x4 bits.
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MTN4RNR
New member
5th Gen Limited has a Torsen center differential.
the V8 part, and specifically mentioning 4th gens, was my big hint that he thinks this is the 4th gen section
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Oops... my bad!
I didn't know the 5th gen's got rid of the torsen center diff...
Sorry for the mix-up.
