The best place to experiment with 4Lo is either on dirt or grass or in the snow. On a dirt road or trail put it in neutral, shift into 4Lo and you will feel the incredible pulling power that the 4X4 Runner is capable of.
You can also then lock the center diff which also makes a difference.
Sorry to revive an old thread but thought it would be better than to start a new one. Hopefully someone sees this...
I got a limited 06 v8, and to my knowledge my dad never engaged the 4lo. It is now 2012 and I'm buying it off him so its under my hands and before the warranty is up I want to check the 4lo. Where is the best area to test (can't wait for snow) and what precautions should I take when doing so. Also are there any big things I should look into before my warranty expires?
Sorry to revive an old thread but thought it would be better than to start a new one. Hopefully someone sees this...
I got a limited 06 v8, and to my knowledge my dad never engaged the 4lo. It is now 2012 and I'm buying it off him so its under my hands and before the warranty is up I want to check the 4lo. Where is the best area to test (can't wait for snow) and what precautions should I take when doing so. Also are there any big things I should look into before my warranty expires?
You can engage 4Lo anywhere you want - pavement is fine. Just be stopped and in Neutral.
Locking the differential is a different ballgame and something you don't want to do on pavement unless you're driving completely straight. If you turn on pavement with the differential locked you'll probably damage something. As far as activating it - just like 4Lo you want to be stopped and in Neutral.
Both 4Lo and locking the differential are something you should do pretty regularly. I go into 4WD Hi and Lo (I have a V6) probably once a month. And I lock the diff maybe 4 times a year. Here's a great video about differentials for those of you unfamiliar with how they work. It's old but an effective teaching video.
Thanks that video was really informative. Definitely made the idea of diff much clearer.
But when engaging the 4lo is there anything I should do beforehand? Anything I should pay attention to when doing so? I love the ride, so want to be really cautious when doing anything with it especially when its something new
Nope, just do it somewhere out of the way like a mall parking lot. 4Lo isn't designed to go very fast so you don't want to be in anyone's way. Expect to feel way more throttle response and harder shifting. As long as you're stopped and in Neutral when you shift into Lo you'll be fine.
It'll sit there and blink while it's trying to engage. Once the light is solid it's engaged. Maybe do it on a very slight downslope so you can let your foot off the brake and roll forward a few feet if it's not engaging. Sometimes that helps in engage if it's been a while.
Thanks definitely will look for a slightly sloped area to test it out. Thanks for the tip, anything else I should test out before my warranty expires in November? My 4Runner only has 44k on it so far
You can engage 4Lo anywhere you want - pavement is fine. Just be stopped and in Neutral.
Locking the differential is a different ballgame and something you don't want to do on pavement unless you're driving completely straight. If you turn on pavement with the differential locked you'll probably damage something. As far as activating it - just like 4Lo you want to be stopped and in Neutral.
Both 4Lo and locking the differential are something you should do pretty regularly. I go into 4WD Hi and Lo (I have a V6) probably once a month. And I lock the diff maybe 4 times a year. Here's a great video about differentials for those of you unfamiliar with how they work. It's old but an effective teaching video.
This video is SUPER informative and easy to understand. It was a never ending stream of Ah-Has and clicks in brain making sense of what seemed to be a more complex thing that it really is.
The older 'school' films are so informative and are clear, to the point and have a good helping of cheese to them to make it fun (ie. 3 guys doing an Eifel Tower on a motor cycle...). There are no flash computer graphics or in-your-face music; just the facts m'am.
Now I can do some more digging that will make sense.
