How often do you put your truck into 4 wheel drive?

It's not that fragile. The 10 miles per month thing is silly. The only time I ever drive 10 miles in a month in 4WD would be in winter when we actually get some snow-covered roads; and I mean slick roads, not just a dusting. Probably doesn't happen more than a few times a year.

Otherwise, my 4WD use is and has always been brief periods when I need it. I've never had a problem.

 

And yet we see guys on here who don't use it for years then have issues with the actuator. I don't see any reason not to exercise it monthly.

 

If you want to, have at it, but 10 miles per month is overkill.

People posting here about problems with their actuators after long periods of no use, how often do we see that? I'm kind of on and off on this forum, but I really don't recall seeing that often at all; in fact I'm not sure if I've seen that more than once if that. And I'm not including the people who post because they don't get that sometimes you have to move slightly to get it to engage.

On the contrary, I feel like about every other time I log in here I see a post saying, "What's wrong with my 4WD? The manual says to drive 10 miles per month to exercise it, so surely it must be ok to use on pavement. But I'm getting this crazy bucking behavior when turning. Did I get a lemon?".

 

Once a month for 10 miles since day 1

 

I also do the 10 or so miles a month in 4WD Hi, and I’ll put it in 4WD Lo for a minute or so after just to work it. I use it as an excuse to find a dirt road or gravel and do a little cruisin’. Sorry honey, I’ve gotta take the scenic route on the way home, have to exercise my 4x4. Sometimes I wish the manual recommend 100 miles a month

 

I just traded my 2018 Silverado for a 2WD 2019 Tundra (20k miles). I put 107k miles on the Silverado and I put it in 4wd one time for about 1/4 mile.

 

while you're in 4hi, make sure you're not going above 55

 

Hmm. I thought they specify not to engage or disengage over 55mph.

I've driven a good couple hours at a sustained 65ish without any sort of strange sounds, smells or vibrations.

Maybe I should take another read.

 

That's how I interpreted it as well. Just don't shift from 2Hi to 4Hi above 55 mph.

 

Has anyone here tried shifting into 4-H over 55 MPH? I would think that Toyota would electronically disable that if they thought it was a problem.

 

The night I brought my '12 home last year, I cycled in and out of 2hi,4hi,4lo a few times. The first few cycles were slow and noisy. Ever since then, it's been fast and smooth. I don't think the original owner followed the 10 mile guidance and with the low mileage, it did lots of sitting in his garage.

I try to remember to lock it in for the quarter mile leaving my house on occasion. I've never run 10 miles in 4x4... I really don't have a place that I can do that.

 

I used 4x4 in the snow we had last month. Just in and out of the driveway. Last time maybe up a logging road when it was new?
I’d better exercise it more often.
I used own and a 78? Chev with Warn hubs. Hated locking up just for lube purposes.

 

I usually wait until it rains then find a fairly straight road and drive in 4wd. Come to a sharp turn and switch it back to 2wd. Then put it in 4 lo in a random parking lot or even the driveway. Could even do this on dry pavement but better on wet. It's easy to get the 10 miles in.

 

I just go to 4Hi whenever I get onto a dirt or gravel road, even if 4x4 is not needed. That ends up being a couple of times a month, and I don't go anywhere near 10 miles. Maybe 3-4 most of the time. I go into 4Lo only once every few months just to run it there for a little bit. I've never been in a situation where I needed 4Lo, 4Hi has gotten me through just fine.

 

Ohhhh that would make since, I probably read the card wrong

 

No way I'm doing the once a month gig. That is overkill. A handful of times a year should be adequate. If the actuators need that much use to work, then Toyota isn't as good at engineering as I thought.

 

Everyone has thoughts

 

Use it or you loose it. Has nothing to do with Toyota. If you don't use a 4x4 why you get one?

 

If you do engage the 4x4 don’t do it on dry pavement only gravel, dirt, snow, sand ect. It can mess it up. But, it is good practice to turn it to 4 hi now and again so all the gears get lubricated.

 

Did I say that I didn't use 4wd? Pretty sure I actually said I just used it...which...ironically is why I bought one.

 

Yep, my wife's 05' 4Runner won't engage into 4wd from lack of use/exercise. Probably the actuator.

 

I bought my 06 DC from a buddy who had a company truck and didn't engage it regularly. The actuators do go bad if not engaged regularly. I had been struggling to figure out the problem for several years and I resolved it this morning by replacing the 4 high position sensor switch on the transfer case. This is after replacing the front diff actuator. The actuators contain some grease and if they never move that grease can get gummed up and create a lot of resistance and cause the actuator motors to fail. I believe that 10 miles a month in 4 hi is probably more than necessary for lubrication, but Toyota is probably trying to be conservative with that recommendation. A mile is probably more than enough to keep lubrication on The front end good. What is probably more important is turning it on and going into 4 hi and 4 lo a couple times a month. And driving straight down drive pavement is not going to hurt anything. Turn it on, go straight down the road and you will be fine.

 

It's in 4wd almost all winter....maybe 10% of the time in summer.

 

My wifes 4runner I am negligent on turning on 4wd and 4lo, made a note to do that now. My FJ doesn’t like to go into 4lo (just flashes and flashes) and I don’t think the prior owner did it ever, which is the issue.

My tundra on the other hand I do 4wd almost every trip as the supercharger practically requires 4wd to not spin out/do a mustang. Rain or snow moderate taps on the gas will spin the tires unfortunately.

 

I live in the city in the South so very infrequently do I need 4wd. I try to engage 4wd every month in both Tundras and my wife's 4 Runner but I don't drive far. I also engage the locking diff. I'm mainly exercising the actuators.

 

If that FJ goes into 4 hi, but flashes trying to go into 4 low, i would highly recommend checking the 4 low position sensor. If the 4wd ecu doesn't see that it is in the 4 low position, it will send that flashing light error. You can probably hear if it moves into 4 low by the clunking noise. And if it's like a Tundra, you can do it with the motor off and if you have someone else hit the button, you can get underneath and maybe whack the actuator with a soft mallet to get it to move. But I bet if it goes into 4 hi easily, the actuator is fine and will go into the low position as well. I'd check or replace the position sensor and the wiring harness for that sensor switch. I just replaced my 4 hi sensor (and low too since I had to remove the old one to get at the new one) and it resolved my flashing light going to 4 hi.

 

Last summer we put it into 4wd at least once a month, sometimes 3 times a month. Two mowing clients have gravel driveways that flooded to some extent. 4WD was simply necessary.

Last week I put it into 4WD to back the single axle trailer up a yard and onto a sideroad. Rear wheel drive spun. Had I gotten a run at it I think I'd have been fine.

This is a very good thread, thanks OP!

I think I'll set a day of each month that I do the "10 miles of 4WD engagement" to keep up with the owner's manual.

 

I doubt my 2006's 4WD had ever been used before I got hold of it. First couple of times I put it in, big "THUNK!" when it came out. After a few uses though, the "thunk" is much more quiet. Sometimes there isn't a "thunk" at all and it'll go in without being moved forwards or backwards. Ditto on going out.

I had both differentials' grease changed plus the transfer case(?) greased when I got all the work done before she was licensed.

I have aftermarket Duralast CV axles. I hope to replace those with OEM at some point. Working fine so far though.

 

I engage mine every two months or so just basically to keep things lubricated and move the actuators. I guess I'm a sinner as I typically do it on dry roads and will turn sometimes. I don't go off road often so I will use 4hi on a trip to the neighborhood grocery store ( about a mile or two @ 35mph) and will engage 4 low in a big parking lot for very short drive. I'm not sure how 10 miles would lube the gears any better than 1 or 2 miles but am of the opinion that anything mechanical that lubrication oil associated with needs to be used every so often. Also I don't feel like these 4x4 systems are so fragile that simply driving (sanely) on dry city streets will damage it.....time will tell