06 4WD V8 sport - 65K miles - I've recently noticed a lot more grinding noise when switching between 4HI and 4LO. I've had this since new, and it wasn't like this until recently. I live on a dirt road - now an ice covered hill - and I exercise the 4LO and diff lock almost every day.
I spent a good bit of time searching and reading here and at tundrasolutions. This doesn't seem like a hung up actuator.
I brought it to the dealership ( extended warranty ) and they said ' normal operation '.
Needless to say, I was very doubtful.
I went to to the truck with the tech, and made it do the grind.
We then checked out my 06 Sequoia. To my surprise, pretty much the same.
We then checked a new '10 4Runner. They went back to a real honest to god shift lever.
It's even worse!!!
The only way to limit the grind on the '10 is to shift very firmly and quickly. Way more power and speed than the actuator can provide.
So, I agreed that this is probably normal. Not good, but - normal. Bummer!
I have a theory about all this:
The tranny is in neutral, but there is some torque on the output shaft just due to drag. You can see this on vehicles that are running when they get lifted up on a frame lift, and the tranny is in neutral. The wheels will turn slowly.
When the transfer case is shifted from HI to LO ( or back ), it spends a second in neutral. This allows the input shaft to start spinning. When the actuator gets to the other gear, we get the grind.
If the transfer case could be shifted when the transmission was in park, or the engine was off, this would not happen.
I think it gets worse with age, because the seals and bearings loosen up a little, allowing the tranny output shaft to spin a little more easily, and a little faster.
So now I'm thinking that I need to figure out what wires need to be fooled with to make the computer think it's in neutral when it's in park.
Any ideas?
Have any of you had this, and fixed it?
Amsoil severe gear is going in next week, FWIW.
I spent a good bit of time searching and reading here and at tundrasolutions. This doesn't seem like a hung up actuator.
I brought it to the dealership ( extended warranty ) and they said ' normal operation '.
Needless to say, I was very doubtful.
I went to to the truck with the tech, and made it do the grind.
We then checked out my 06 Sequoia. To my surprise, pretty much the same.
We then checked a new '10 4Runner. They went back to a real honest to god shift lever.
It's even worse!!!
The only way to limit the grind on the '10 is to shift very firmly and quickly. Way more power and speed than the actuator can provide.
So, I agreed that this is probably normal. Not good, but - normal. Bummer!
I have a theory about all this:
The tranny is in neutral, but there is some torque on the output shaft just due to drag. You can see this on vehicles that are running when they get lifted up on a frame lift, and the tranny is in neutral. The wheels will turn slowly.
When the transfer case is shifted from HI to LO ( or back ), it spends a second in neutral. This allows the input shaft to start spinning. When the actuator gets to the other gear, we get the grind.
If the transfer case could be shifted when the transmission was in park, or the engine was off, this would not happen.
I think it gets worse with age, because the seals and bearings loosen up a little, allowing the tranny output shaft to spin a little more easily, and a little faster.
So now I'm thinking that I need to figure out what wires need to be fooled with to make the computer think it's in neutral when it's in park.
Any ideas?
Have any of you had this, and fixed it?
Amsoil severe gear is going in next week, FWIW.
