07 Tundra Not Engaging to 4x4

Hello , hope all is well with everybody. Have ran into an issue with my 07 Tundra Crew Max. We got 16inches of snow in southern VA over the weekend and I decided to take my Tundra out to see how bad the roads were. Put it in 4 high and carried on, it did fine, coming back I decided I was going to cut some doughnuts in my field to get all the snow of the roof and bed cover, BIG MISTAKE lol. As I went to whip the tail around I bellied out and was stuck! I gave it all she had in 4 hi and 4 low and got nothing but all 4 tires spinning. My neighbor came and pulled me out with his tractor and I thought all was well but now my 4 wheel drive light comes on but not the 4 wheel drive symbol and can't get it to shift into 4x4 hi or low. Stays in 2 wheel, however when I put it in 4 low it is geared like it is in 4 low but the front wheels don't turn. Checked the 4x4 fuse, it was fine, removed skid plates from transfer case actuator and unplugged and cleaned all connectors, still no action, tapped the actuator with a hammer while my buddy switched the 4x4 selector switch back and fourth, no go. I can hear the electric motor in actuator trying to do something when the switch is turned but truck still will not engage into 4x4. Really discouraged right now as I love my Toyotas and I'm stuck with all this snow and no 4 wheel drive to get anywhere. There are no engine codes except for my O2 sensor which has been on forever. Any help would be much obliged please.

 

There's two basic parts to the 4wd system. The transfer case and the front differental. When you switch into 4wd there's an actuator in the transfer case that engages the front drive shaft. Once that happens there's a second actuator in the front diff that locks that in. It sounds like the one in the front diff isn't working. On my 2000 Tundra I chipped part of a tooth in the rack (part of the actuator) in the front diff. Once I removed the chip it worked fine again. What happened was I didn't realize one of the rear tires was still spinning when I pushed the 4wd button. I know that corrosion is also an issue. Chances are you'll have to remove it (my 1st gen was a little tight but not impossible) to see what's wrong.

 

Thanks for the reply sir. So you removed the actuator from the front diff? Did you have to actually replace it or just remove the chipped tooth from within? Anything I should try before removing it? Sensors , connectors, hammer tap, etc?

 

I had to remove just the actuator, then the chipped part of the tooth then reinstall it. Other than it being kind of tight to get my hands in there to remove it things went pretty easy. That was over a decade ago and the actuator is still working just fine. I think most problems are due to corrosion though. You might be able to take it apart and clean it up but there's a a timing aspect to it. If it's in the unlocked position then things have to be set that way when it's put back together.