Transfer case disaster---almost

F

FinRxDoc

New member
As many have reported, it snowed today. It doesn't take much for the roads in St. Louis to become a complete mess. While driving home today I had the truck in 2HI and was sliding all over the place (ice + loose snow), even with the new GY Wrangler SA on. I decided to change to 4HI since the roads were beginning to accumulate a significant amount of snow. At a stop sign I switched the truck to 4HI and began to accelerate slowly. Within 25 ft I heard the worst sound I have ever heard in a car. Massive gear grinding and NO forward power. Needless to say the truck was towed to the dealer. After a couple of hours the dealer was able to get it going. What they think happened was that the tires began to spin while the truck was engaging the 4WD. This caused the chain in the transfer case to bind up and misalign the gears. They were able to manually unbind the chain and drain and refill the transfer case. Total cost to me (no warranty) $77! I definitely got lucky. They could have easily charged me $200 + just for the fluid change and fill. Ackerman Toyota has by far one of the best service departments I have seen.

Lesson Learned - be damn careful when changing into 4WD on snow covered roads.
 
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Glad to hear you got out of the situation with minimal cost. You might want to consider replacing the GY Wrangler SA's with a more capable tire as well as I don't think you will find the winter weather performance lacking.
 
I usually switch to 4H when i'm rolling at 20-30mph. I get a 'clunk' sound, but after that, I know i'm rolling with power to all wheels.
 
ur suppose to :

1) be on level ground

and

2) moving 10-50 mph and turn on 4wd dial

OR

3) stoped and in neutral and turn dial


I never had any problems following these rules on any of my 4runners
 
nyc4runnin said:
ur suppose to :

1) be on level ground

and

2) moving 10-50 mph and turn on 4wd dial

OR

3) stoped and in neutral and turn dial


I never had any problems following these rules on any of my 4runners
Click to expand...
:iagree:
Just make sure when moving 10-50 on level ground that none of your tires are slipping. If in any doubt, do not turn the dial. I have engaged mine from park in the garage before, but that won't always work due to the hubs not being aligned. So I just back out slowly in a straight line until it locks in. I have also never had any problems with my 4wd system now or on past Toyotas.
 
When i had my '02 4runner, it would be in 4-HI anytime that the ground is not dry.

But, i am surprised that your GY Silentarmor did so poorly.:(
 
kimboy said:
I usually switch to 4H when i'm rolling at 20-30mph. I get a 'clunk' sound, but after that, I know i'm rolling with power to all wheels.
Click to expand...
And since I changed the differentials and transfer case to Mobil 1, it usually switches to 4WD in about 4 seconds when going straight and not under load. Seems to be lots faster than before.
 
I'm sure the GY Silent armor had nothing to do with it , one of the best out there. In snow and ice anything will lose traction with enough pressure to the go pedal.

It all was because you were stopped and then engaged 4wd and gave it gas from there. If you are ever in that situation and stuck in 2wd and need to switch to 4wd , if you cant do it the way you were told by rolling , you MUST extremely feather the throttle . Same goes if you loch the center diff. when not moving. BUT still not the right way to do it.
 
... or run in 4-Hi just as a precaution when the weather is funny. The part-time 4WD on the V6 can be used on dry pavement without hurting anything (other than a slight MPG reduction).
 
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