Tundra override 4wd?

[cmgraves]

Sssooo......

This past week, I was informed from my wife while driving our 2006 tundra, that the light was on for the 4wd button. (not blinking) Of course, she notices this while driving 70+ on the interstate, no snow, no rain, just dry pavement.

Not good!

She claims she couldn't tell the differences from 4wd or 2wd, and it sounded the same. I knew if it was engaged, you would for sure feel a differences, and hear a differences in noise.

could it be possible that toyota created an override for such of an occurances to reduce the chance of breaking and destroying parts?

I drove it on a gravel road and it sounds like it is engaging fine and sounds normal.

hopefully everything is A ok, but i'm still worried.

 

[corax]

The light was probably on there as an indication that there is a DTC stored in the control module - kinda like the Check Engine Light coming on. Call around, many parts stores will do a free "code check" Clear the code and see if it comes back before you start worrying, often a code can come from water in a connector or poor contact (sometimes just disconnecting / reconnecting electrical connectors can keep the light out)

 

[lowenbrau]

I have long argued that, if your tires are equally worn, you won't do any harm by driving in 4wd on dry pavement. Especially the interstate which is effectively a straight line. No bind can occur going straight.

 

[winkosmosis]

I have long argued that, if your tires are equally worn, you won't do any harm by driving in 4wd on dry pavement. Especially the interstate which is effectively a straight line. No bind can occur going straight.

But tires are never exactly equally worn!

And what happens when you steer?

 

[cmgraves]

I forgot to mention that the button was pushed to engaged the 4wd from our 2 year old daughter playing in the front seat.

I do agree with you that if traveling in a straight line, you will not have to worry about "bind", but it was a curvy interstate, and getting onto and off intersates. I'm assumming that the 4wd was on for 15 miles or so.

In addition, in the owners manual it recommendeds not to exceed 65 or 70 mph when in 4wd.

thanks for the comments.

 

[iigs]

Don't sweat it. It's theoretically a concern, but in practice it just scrubs tread off of your tires a little bit faster and slightly hurts the turning radius (while in 4wd mode).

Cornering can actually be helpful in these cases, as it directs large amounts of torque to individual tires, they un-load, and the driveline torque at least partially normalizes. Also, the vehicle weight assigned to each wheel changes instantaneously when going over bumps, providing other opportunities to unload the driveline.

If you take the vehicle out onto pavement, put it in 4wd, and do figure-8s with the windows down you can feel and hear the tires chatter. Doing this is arguably not good for your equipment but if it caused failures in the distances we're talking about, blown transfer cases / axles would be extremely common on these vehicles.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

And what happens when you steer?

Unless you have a locker that is engages...really nothing.

 

[CA-RJ]

My Dad once drove 350 miles with 4HI engaged in his Tundra and it didn't do a thing to the truck. It's really hard to tell on the higway as you do so little turning.

 

[cmgraves]

My Dad once drove 350 miles with 4HI engaged in his Tundra and it didn't do a thing to the truck. It's really hard to tell on the higway as you do so little turning.

I would love to hear the story behind this.

Great to hear that most people agree that the truck should be fine. And thinking techincally about it, does make sense. Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[CA-RJ]

He had been out somewhere exploring and had the truck in 4HI and forgot to take it out when he hit pavement. Just drove it home on the freeway at 70-75 and didn't realize the light was on until he was almost home. That was several years ago and things are just fine.

I would love to hear the story behind this.

Great to hear that most people agree that the truck should be fine. And thinking techincally about it, does make sense. Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[cletaco]

I agree with iigs that you should go fiddle around in a parking lot with 4WD engaged so you can get a sense for what your truck doesn't like, which will put this event into perspective. You'll probably find that your truck doesn't much mind mild turns (it does have a differential after all), so freeway driving would not have bothered it. These trucks are built to endure a lot. I found out the hard way with my own truck once: When pulling into my parking garage at my office I have to make a 90 degree turn just inside the door. Once it was snowing hard outside so it was in 4WD, and I forgot to disengage it immediately when entering the garage and the truck would not turn at all! That is one extreme, and I'd say your wife was at the other end of the spectrum with her freeway driving.