2-LO ok in toy???

yotabeater · Oct 21, 2006

quick and stupid question for y'all.

just moved and there's nothing but street parking, so i've been parallel parking like a mofo. i've been kicking it down into 4-LO, but i don't lock in the hubs. i just use it as 2-LO for the extra torque when i'm parking and it makes it much easier.

so, my question is, will this hurt anything long term? it's really easy the way i've been doing it, but if i have to lock in the hubs when i do it, i'll stop. btw, it's a 94 toyota SAS. thanks. -Josh

toyparts · Oct 21, 2006

using 2lo is fine
and you dont need to lock the hubs

yotabeater · Oct 21, 2006

cool. thanks for the reply.

84Toyota4x4 · Oct 21, 2006

They make parts to do that when you DO have the hubs locked, I think its ok

~T.J.

skrause · Oct 21, 2006

yotabeater said:
i just use it as 2-LO for the extra torque when i'm parking and it makes it much easier.

Extra torque??? Are the spots THAT hard to get into? :corn: What are you doing, parking on top of other cars? :flipoff:

yotabeater · Oct 21, 2006

skrause said:
Extra torque??? Are the spots THAT hard to get into? :corn: What are you doing, parking on top of other cars? :flipoff:

hahaha. that would be a lot easier. you'd be surprised at some of the spots i have to squeeze into here. lo-range just makes it easier on my clutch rather than keeping it in high and burning the crap out of it. i did a clutch job on my rig last summer and don't feel like doing it again this summer.

zig80toy · Oct 23, 2006

There is absolutely nothing wrong with putting the transfer case in 4 low and leaving the hubs unlocked... your good to go...

Dain Bramage · Oct 23, 2006

now, this is gonna sound even dumber, but unless i actually get out of my truck and lock my hubs i wont be in 4wd?

zig80toy · Oct 23, 2006

FordFrk06 said:
now, this is gonna sound even dumber, but unless i actually get out of my truck and lock my hubs i wont be in 4wd?

Correct. get out of your truck and lock both hubs. get back in and start shifting your transfer case...
If all you do is shift the transfer case into 4 high or 4 low without the hubs locked you have no power going to the front tires. Your front driveline will spin under power but that power ain't getting to the wheels...

Dain Bramage · Oct 23, 2006

ok. thats good information to have.

so, when i lock the hubs, is the front axle locked? if so, is it safe to just lock one hub, if i want the added traction, but dont want to lose my tread, like if i am going up to the pass?

84Toyota4x4 · Oct 23, 2006

All locking the front hubs does, is attach the wheels to the axles inside the housing. "Locking" the front axle to me implies the differential is locked. If thats what you mean, then no, locking the front hubs does not lock the front axle.

If you locked just one hub and tried to drive in 4WD, all you would do (assuming you have a stock differential), is spin the axle inside the housing that is opposite the hub you locked. The power will travel through the path of least resistance. So, as it comes out the transfer case, down the driveline, into the diff, if one axle coming out of the diff is locked to the wheel via the hub, and the wheel is attached to the tire, which is holding the ground, theres a lot more resistance on that side than the other side of the differential which is just simply the axle shaft inside the housing, not attached to anything because the hub is unlocked.

Similarily (is that even a word?), if you just left them both unlocked and put it in 4WD like you originally asked, all your doing is putting power to the driveline, into the differential, and out the axle shafts on both sides, but since the hubs arent locked, they will just freespin in the housing instead of turing the wheels.

If you want the added traction, just put the thing all the way in 4WD with the hubs locked. The differentials are open as I said earlier, so they arent going to have any huge affect on your tire tread at all since by design it allows the wheels to spin at different speeds for cornering and so on, unlike a locked differential which would force them to spin at the same time.

~T.J.

zig80toy · Oct 24, 2006

FordFrk06 said:
ok. thats good information to have.

so, when i lock the hubs, is the front axle locked? if so, is it safe to just lock one hub, if i want the added traction, but dont want to lose my tread, like if i am going up to the pass?

Like 84toyota said, lock both hubs because only one wheel is going to be spinning anyways. Kind of wierd, ehh? If your like me (no lockers in the front or rear) your truck is more like a 2 wheel drive truck. One front tire and one back tire spins, the other 2 just roll. Doesn't help very much when your out wheeling and the tires off the ground receive all the power... doh!!!!!

crash2 · Oct 24, 2006

yotabeater said:
will this hurt anything long term?

Not at all :;

Dain Bramage · Oct 24, 2006

zig80toy said:
Like 84toyota said, lock both hubs because only one wheel is going to be spinning anyways. Kind of wierd, ehh? If your like me (no lockers in the front or rear) your truck is more like a 2 wheel drive truck. One front tire and one back tire spins, the other 2 just roll. Doesn't help very much when your out wheeling and the tires off the ground receive all the power... doh!!!!!

well, its kinda weird. when i have it in 4wd, with the front locked, and i turn at full lock, one of the back tires skips a bit, like its locked. i figured i had some kinda limited slip in there, but i dont know for sure.

zig80toy · Oct 24, 2006

FordFrk06 said:
well, its kinda weird. when i have it in 4wd, with the front locked, and i turn at full lock, one of the back tires skips a bit, like its locked. i figured i had some kinda limited slip in there, but i dont know for sure.

That could definitely be the case. If you dont know the history of the rig its quite possible that last owner could have installed some kind of locker, limited slip, etc...

Dain Bramage · Oct 24, 2006

is there a simple way to check without taking it apart?

yotabeater · Oct 24, 2006

jack it up so the rear tires are off the ground. try and spin one tire and if the other side spins with it, there's a locker or limited slip of some kind in it.

skrause · Oct 24, 2006

FordFrk06 said:
well, its kinda weird. when i have it in 4wd, with the front locked, and i turn at full lock, one of the back tires skips a bit, like its locked. i figured i had some kinda limited slip in there, but i dont know for sure.

When you turn your front tires take a longer path than your rears. You have no center differential so your drivetrain binds up and something has to give. If you had a locker in the rear then you would notice something similar to this ALL the time, as well as possibly some clicking or banging noises and the truck jerking as it happens. A limited slip won't do this, they're virtually transparent on the road and just about as useless off it.

84Toyota4x4 · Oct 24, 2006

Yeah what he said. When its locked completely hubs and Tcase in 4WD, and you try and turn, the tires are taking a different lenght of path. Imagine the rear tire just staying still, and now the front trying to turn a circle around it (basically what is happening). Since they are locked together, they're both trying to go the same speed, but since the front has to go longer, the rear is going to skip "in place" to turn at the same speed even though its not going the same distance... If that makes sense, lol.

~T.J.