Shift to 4H while driving?

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TurtleAdventure said:
Can I shift into 4H while driving? Put it in N while rolling and shift?

Thanks
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What year and what style shifter? If you have the push button 4WD you should be able to shift into 4hi while driving without going to neutral.

Give us some more info and we can tell you a concrete answer.
 
You mean from 4L? Or 2H ?

There should be a placard on the sun visor with instructions.

I have a 99 sr5 (j-shifter, NON multimode/center diff) and shift from 2H > 4H if I'm under about 30mph. 4H > 2H at any speed. Can't remember the exact numbers, it should be in the manual. Anything with 4L I come to a complete stop. I think the break pedal must be pressed to even shift in low range.
 
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tystaco said:
Cut the guy some slack, he is from MI...
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Omg [emoji23]
Owner's manual or not, it should be on the card in the visor... or on the door?? Do people really throw those out?!
My '97 with 260k miles, as well as my '01 with 235k miles both had the 4WD instruction cards in the visors.
 
It’s always been on the fly between 2H & 4H for all the 4x4s I’ve owned! I think the manual recommends under 60 mph. That includes three toys.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
87de1f19d634dd474e7c561463f78950.jpg

All I know is this-
Keep 'er under 100km/h when shifting into 4H, and the best is yet to come [emoji1598]
If anyone happens to have a rig that has been manual hub swapped, shifting on the fly is not okay with the hubs unlocked [emoji23][emoji43]
 
Mentally I've never been able to get over the idea of shifting my rig into 4wd on the fly, even though it's ok to do so. I always come to a complete stop when doing so. Old habits I guess.
 
Hepar said:
Mentally I've never been able to get over the idea of shifting my rig into 4wd on the fly, even though it's ok to do so. I always come to a complete stop when doing so. Old habits I guess.
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Probably more for snow use. Side roads and interstate hwy’s will very greatly in snow and ice cover depending on use and road crews.

When I had lock out hubs, I would engage them before getting in the truck on a snowy day. Might use four wheel drive in the hood but, when hopping on the highway with wet roads. I would move it back into 2-H. Sometimes only one lane is clear and you get behind a slowpoke. That’s when you make another flip on the fly into 4-H, to pass on the white stuff.


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Guys ..... that grinding sound you hear is your transfer case shredding itself to pieces. STOP!!!

Do not shift while moving if you hear any grinding at all.

When my truck was much newer, < 100K miles (I've owned it since 65K miles) I could shift between 2HI and 4HI while moving. Eventually it became more difficult until the point where it felt very rough. Nowadays I do it like this: push button 4WD on, then stop the vehicle, put transmission in N, turn off truck, move into 4LO, then start up and drive.

Here is a story my mechanic told me just a few years ago. Guy comes into shop with blown transfer case on 3rd Gen 4runner 4WD with electronic shifter. Shop repairs/replaces transfer case, probably charged the guy over $2,000. Sends guy and his fixed truck on their way. Two weeks later same guy comes in again all pissed off. He goes it happened again ... WTF. He explains that when it broke the first time he was driving in 4HI and tried pushing the handle into 4LO while driving under 20MPH just like the manual says but it would not smoothly go into 4LO, instead it made a grinding sound but he just forced it ... until whammmmmm the transfer case exploded. That was the first time but he didn't give the shop all the details. So they fixed it the first time like I said and he went right out and did it again. 2nd transfer case blown.

What the shop had to explain to him in this very expensive lesson is that the syncros age over time (I assume it is the Syncro), and although YES the owners manual implies you can shift 4LO_2_4HI (and back) while moving but NO, on older vehicles you likely can't do it while moving because of parts wear.

What should be obvious to everyone with a brain is if you feel any grinding when trying to shift then STOP and don't push it through. Just because it says so in the owners manual doesn't mean it is a lock for a 150K+ mile vehicle. I believe this only applies to the Limited and SR5 4Runners out there.

:surfer:
 
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I don't think anybody here is saying to do 4H->4L or 4L->4H without stopping first. There is NO SYNCHRO on the range box. Once *stopped* in *neutral*, the best way to keep it from grinding on the H-L or L-H transition is to move it firmly and quickly between the two ranges. If you go slow, it will often grind if you are in Neutral and might not be able to mesh gears if you are in Park. Trans in neutral and engine off is the guaranteed way to be able to shift ranges.

For 2H->4H or 4H-2H, that is a completely different story. There is a synchro there. That does wear out over time, but you should be able to still shift 2H to 4H when moving. The synchro has to spin up the front driveshaft, then the ADD actuator has to lock the right side axle to the diff. The slower you are moving, the better, but you don't have to stop. I can still shift mine to 4H form 2H at up to 40mph pretty easily (no bad sounds or anything). Shifting back to 2H can be done at any speed without any risk of damage - all you are doing is 'releasing' locked components...

-Charlie
 
phattyduck said:
I don't think anybody here is saying to do 4H->4L or 4L->4H without stopping first. There is NO SYNCHRO on the range box. Once *stopped* in *neutral*, the best way to keep it from grinding on the H-L or L-H transition is to move it firmly and quickly between the two ranges. If you go slow, it will often grind if you are in Neutral and might not be able to mesh gears if you are in Park. Trans in neutral and engine off is the guaranteed way to be able to shift ranges.

For 2H->4H or 4H-2H, that is a completely different story. There is a synchro there. That does wear out over time, but you should be able to still shift 2H to 4H when moving. The synchro has to spin up the front driveshaft, then the ADD actuator has to lock the right side axle to the diff. The slower you are moving, the better, but you don't have to stop. I can still shift mine to 4H form 2H at up to 40mph pretty easily (no bad sounds or anything). Shifting back to 2H can be done at any speed without any risk of damage - all you are doing is 'releasing' locked components...

-Charlie
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I feel this happen, if I go really slow in my 5 speed from 1st to 2nd. Like if you slowly shift and keep the shifter in a certain spot. It catches the gears teeth. Sounds like it's grinding. My question is. Should the slow shift part be the same on a manual transmission ?
 
I don't think anybody here is saying to do 4H->4L or 4L->4H without stopping first.
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I believe the owners manual, at least for some of the 3rd gen years, says this is possible. If I'm in totally wrong then that would be great because it is less likely people would make this mistake. I haven't seen anything on the visor or manual implying absolutely NOT TO change it while moving.

The visor says "Reduce Speed to or Stop Vehicle" before shifting 4HI --> 4LO .... implying you can do it while driving. To many I think that would imply it is fine to shift it while driving, just slow down. But is really isn't accurate at all -- for most of us. I'm sure there are a lot of folks don't need to read this PSA but hey better safe then sorry.
 
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