im probably going to buy a 2000 4runner tomm and i was wondering how the 4wd system is, from what ive read they are 2wd and when you lock in 4wd it turns it into a awd setup unless you have the rear diff lock? am i correct in this assumption? thanks for any help
no.....
a diff lock has nothing to do with 4wd essentially at least for just getting around
when it's in 2wd the rear wheels are the ones the engine sends power to,
when you put it into 4wd it should lock the front to the back sending power to all of the wheels, depending on what 4wd system you have it does this in different ways on some 4wd systems it truly locks the front to the rear and this is great for off road but causes binding issues when on the street, some 4wd's act like a awd and have no binding issues these tend to be less desirable for off road as the power separation is never truly 50/50 instead it sends power to various wheels and can cause problems when slipping. personally i'm not a big fan of the awd like systems and prefer a true mech lock for front to back, the '99 multi-mode t-case also in some '00's have awd,true 4x4 and 2wd so essentially you have all of the possible options, look for a push button on the side of the shifter to see if has that, i think it only came on limited models though.
a diff lock locks the wheels from left to right as opposed to front and back like your t-case does.
even in 4wd if a wheel comes off the ground you can get stuck as the truck will transfer power to the wheel that is slipping and if the tire is in the air the truck this it's slipping more then the others so you get no power to the wheel that has traction, when you use a diff lock (front and rear only center diff lock is fake, it's basically just plain 4wd) it will lock both tires left and right together and the tire with the traction will now recive 50% of the power going to that axle.
this can get very very confusing as brand names and manufacture come in to play, technically awd is a subaru thing and other car manufactures call it by various names and you can even achieve the same basic ideas through a myriad of different parts/mechanics that all achieve the same basic thing.
i break it down like this
2wd
awd
4wd
and then the hi-lo variations of each and then "locked" variations of those.
