Hey All,
Picked up my 2000 4Runner w/64k on the clock on Saturday. Took it out on a couple trails on Monday, so that was first time I ran it in 4WD for any longer than a couple minutes. Was out for a couple hours. Got back to the highway, everything seemed normal until I hit the freeway (which is about 45-50 minutes from where I hit the highway). Then comes the drone. Fairly audible at freeway speeds. After some experimentation, I've discovered that the drone is at it's worst between 50 and 60 mph, and doesn't start happening until 50 mph almost on the dot. Couple this with noticing that the (manual) shifter was getting warm even after short periods of driving. That part didn't bother me too much prior to the drone starting, since I vaguely remember that happening in my dad's '02 Tundra V6 5spd on a regular basis. Fast forward to today - 60k service at the Toyota dealership because evidence indicated that it had not yet been performed. After the service, the tech tells me that my transfer case was dry. No evidence of a leak anywhere, but there was no fluid in there. He wasn't sure if there was damage. I spent about an hour tonight out on some dirt roads running it through H2, H4, and L4, then went back out to the highway. Same thing. Loud drone at 50, shifter very warm.
I'm worried that there may be some irreversible damage. Can anyone speak to this? Am I looking at a new transfer case? I'm calling the tech at the dealership back tomorrow to chat about it, but I wanted to tap the vast knowledge on here as well.
Picked up my 2000 4Runner w/64k on the clock on Saturday. Took it out on a couple trails on Monday, so that was first time I ran it in 4WD for any longer than a couple minutes. Was out for a couple hours. Got back to the highway, everything seemed normal until I hit the freeway (which is about 45-50 minutes from where I hit the highway). Then comes the drone. Fairly audible at freeway speeds. After some experimentation, I've discovered that the drone is at it's worst between 50 and 60 mph, and doesn't start happening until 50 mph almost on the dot. Couple this with noticing that the (manual) shifter was getting warm even after short periods of driving. That part didn't bother me too much prior to the drone starting, since I vaguely remember that happening in my dad's '02 Tundra V6 5spd on a regular basis. Fast forward to today - 60k service at the Toyota dealership because evidence indicated that it had not yet been performed. After the service, the tech tells me that my transfer case was dry. No evidence of a leak anywhere, but there was no fluid in there. He wasn't sure if there was damage. I spent about an hour tonight out on some dirt roads running it through H2, H4, and L4, then went back out to the highway. Same thing. Loud drone at 50, shifter very warm.
I'm worried that there may be some irreversible damage. Can anyone speak to this? Am I looking at a new transfer case? I'm calling the tech at the dealership back tomorrow to chat about it, but I wanted to tap the vast knowledge on here as well.
