What is the top speed for Low Range driving?

Register to hide this ad
This would be porportionate to your RPM's. Your engine will let you know what your top speed is for sure!

I would think it may be lower. I test drove a T4R the other day and wanted to run it thru all the gears without going on the highway. I got to about 35 in 5th gear and that was about it.

I've never gone faster than about 10 mph with mine.
 
About 40mph

Any faster in the highest tranny gear and you engine RPM's will be close to redline. But the low speed transfer case is for off-road capability anyway. I can't think of a situation where going fast (over 10 or so MPH) off-road is required.

Just find a big empty parking lot or deserted road and test it. You'll find the limits quick enough.
 
2UZ-FE is the V-8. That 16mph number for the V-8 seems a little odd. I suspect it should read 14mph, as well. That way the low range reduction works out to about .388 and works for every gear.
 

Attachments

  • owners manual scan low gearing 4runner (custom).jpg
    owners manual scan low gearing 4runner (custom).jpg
    32.8 KB · Views: 7,507
Thanks JB.

From the chart I does not appear that shift position 4 is available. Isn't 4th available along with overdrive in 4WD (diff locked)?
 
KMX3060 said:
Thanks JB.

From the chart I does not appear that shift position 4 is available. Isn't 4th available along with overdrive in 4WD (diff locked)?

Well, I guess since 4th and 5th gear both go over the 112mph governor limit in high, and since low is for low speed driving only, they just listed gears 1 thru 3.

I've not tested this completely - I'm not comfortable driving much more than 25mph in low range due to the audible gear whine - but I don't think the truck will shift into 5th gear in low range. It does go into 4th for sure, though. Any time I tried this would have been with the diff. locked.
 
Last edited:
Any reason you want to go faster than 10-15 mph in low gear? After that, you are not using the low gear for what it was intended and you are introducing a higher potential for damage...

Occasionally I'll use 4L to pull the boat out of the water if I'm on a slippery ramp, but as soon as I'm up on the lot, I change back to 4H or 2H.
 
Any reason you want to go faster than 10-15 mph in low gear? After that, you are not using the low gear for what it was intended and you are introducing a higher potential for damage...

Occasionally I'll use 4L to pull the boat out of the water if I'm on a slippery ramp, but as soon as I'm up on the lot, I change back to 4H or 2H.

I find low range at "higher speeds" pretty useful in the desert at times...

Its really easy to bog down going uphill in the sand with bigger tires and often times you need to deliver power after having to slow down for a turn or bump.

Throttling out in low range makes getting power and response to the ground much easier in the V6. Estimated speed for that encounter can be somewhere between 5 and 30 mph.
 
The transfer case ratio is 2.57 to 1, so just divide whatever you consider your top speed to be in high range by that number and that's your lo range top speed. 30-35 mph is no problem. I can tell you with certainty that the transmission works in all 5 gears just as well in lo range as it does in high.

I tend to run in low range offroad whenever my speed is consistently less than 30 mph, because that gives me five useful gears in that speed range rather than two. That's more important with a manual tranny than an auto, but it's still a better use of your gearing resources even with the auto.
 
Well, I guess since 4th and 5th gear both go over the 112mph governor limit in high, and since low is for low speed driving only, they just listed gears 1 thru 3.

I've not tested this completely - I'm not comfortable driving much more than 25mph in low range due to the audible gear whine - but I don't think the truck will shift into 5th gear in low range. It does go into 4th for sure, though. Any time I tried this would have been with the diff. locked.

I've had it in D in 4lo before with the center diff locked and I'm pretty positive it's shifted through the gears. Can't remember what speed I was going, but it was definitely faster than 25.

Any reason you want to go faster than 10-15 mph in low gear? After that, you are not using the low gear for what it was intended and you are introducing a higher potential for damage...

Occasionally I'll use 4L to pull the boat out of the water if I'm on a slippery ramp, but as soon as I'm up on the lot, I change back to 4H or 2H.

There's been situations where I've been in 4lo after a tricky section or two and there will be a quick jaunt to the next section. Instead of popping it into neutral and flipping back to 4hi, just to go back into 4lo again shortly, I'll throw it in D and jam along. If I'm going fast enough to be over 3k rpms in D, I'll throw it back into 4hi.
 
Only 4 gears available in low range (no 5th gear).

4th gear low can be an extremely useful gear off-road. It sits between 1st and 2nd gear high. In rolling terrain where the speed is going to be pretty consistently between 10-30 mph (or higher than 30 if you're comfortable winding the TC up that much), 4th low is perfect. It will handle that range for the most part without shifting and the acceleration launch after slowing down is quick and seamless. Much better than high range. The instant access to 3rd low via the gated shifter scrubbs off enough speed to make braking a rare necessity unless the terrain degrades into unambiguous low range territory and necessitates the clunky shift into 2nd or 1st.


Here's what the gear progression looks like from lowest to highest.

Low range
High range


1
2
3 - 1 Same
4
2
5 - Not available
3
4
5
 
Last edited:
My transfer case Hi/Low switch got stuck at the lake during winter and I end up driving home (around 20 miles) in Low range. My highest speed was around 75 km/h (46 mph) at red line but I felt more comfortable to drive around 70 km/h for longer periods of time. 4Runner survived that journey without any problems and I later got that switch unstuck and never switched to Lo again since.
 
Last edited:
Wow I did not think they could go that fast in LO. Fastest I've gone in LO is about 25mph. The trans does seem to shift much later in LO.
 
Wow I did not think they could go that fast in LO. Fastest I've gone in LO is about 25mph. The trans does seem to shift much later in LO.

Ya the shift is a completely different sensation in Lo... almost like there isn't a gear past there but then it finds it.
 
Ya, 45 is about max, and speed won't hurt it, and 5th gear does NOT work in 4Lo. Tested many times. lol
As for why above 10mph in Lo, well it comes in very handy as stated above to cruise up steep, sandy hills, or other such terrain, down shift to slow down and stay off the brakes all the time, instant power! Lots of torque on tap constantly!
Also, when offroad I shift the gears myself. Trans hunting for gears = gear hunting, which = heat, which = unhappy trans! I really hate watching videos or seeing kids playing in the mud and all I can hear is the trans downshifting/upshifting constantly. Dumbass....(In best Red Foreman voice)
 
I stand corrected on 5th gear in lo-range. I tried it today and indeed it doesn't work. (Works great on my '94 manual, though!:-)

Here is a list of lo-range speeds at 4000 rpm, assuming 32 inch tires. (Edit: grabbed the wrong column in the spreadsheet the first time. These numbers are correct for a V8. V6 will be slightly slower due to the higher ratio rear end)

1st - 11.29 mph
2nd - 19.47
3rd - 28.40
4th - 39.76
 
Last edited:

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
278,314
Messages
3,554,097
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Trending content

Back
Top