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I would imagine it would be fine. I’ve engaged 4wd on snowy highways for hundreds of miles and never had an issue.

 

In 35 years of business travel, renting at least 15 times a year (sometimes 3x as much), I developed a habit of going over everything before turning the key. Where are the headlight controls and cruise control? Is there a back wiper and how does it work? Is the parking brake on? Did somebody fold in the outside mirrors or badly misadjust them? How do I work the climate control and is its current state appropriate for conditions?

One of the weirdest vehicles I drove recently was a GMC Terrain. It took a few minutes just to figure out how to get it into the various gears (pull on lever buttons for D and R, push for P).

 

4H, open front differential, open rear differential, same gear ratio. All good.
Cars and trucks that have open diffs can do one tire burnouts for days without any damage to the side gears.

Not seeing the green 4H indicator light on the dash is concerning to me.
She's not looking at the dash for xx miles...

Did she leave you with an empty tank of gas?

Perhaps, rethink the small effort to remove the snow the next time.

 

The reality is that technology and design is moving towards making vehicles as appliances. Some call this progress. Maybe, depending on your age. For older guys like me, that grew up loving how machines work, it’s actually annoying.

The 4runner was designed before the expectation that all aspects of a car’s design be immediately intuitive and automatic. So if another family member wants to drive a 4runner, and they aren’t interested or care about the mechanics of the 4wd system, I wouldn’t expect that they would read the manual before running a few errands. My simple “new driver briefing” is “don’t touch lever!” Unless they have interest in learning how to use it.

 

It is amusing to see people, some around 40, get really confused when they get in my 2005 corolla with manual window, manual locks, and manual transmission, the only thing they know how to do is putting on the seal belt. A lot of people have never driven a vehicle that doesn't have everything besides throttle, brake and steering done with a button. A dial is scary enough, a level is basically horses and buggy stuff to them.e

 

You can engage it on soft surfaces such as gravel, snow, ice, or anywhere else where there wheels can slip. You can have it engaged on pavement if your driving straight ahead, and I'll do this to exercise my 4wd since there isn't any gravel roads near by.

A rule of thumb is if you can feel binding then it's not a good idea to have it on. Sometimes I'll turn if off when I need to take tight turns, even if it is on dirt because it's simply easier. You can go as fast as you want in 4HI, it's 4LO that you cant go fast with.

 

As a retired long time Ford truck tech I was around to see cast iron transfer cases to all the way to what is in use today, had customers who came in and say they drove their trucks in 4x4 for many miles not realizing it, with the front driveshaft and axles always turning you are doing nothing more that locking the front drive in when you shift from 2h to 4h, that's the reason you can shift at any speed, you are driving straight 99% of the time anyway, never saw anyone do damage while binding up going around a corner, for peace of mind a check of the 4x4 system is always a good move

 

I'm one of the old guys too. My Dad taught me how to drive and back up a trailer when I turned 12 years old, in his 1970 Toyota HiLux P/U. He also taught me about clutch control by disconnecting the throttle cable. Those first couple of tries on dirt roads weren't too bad but, on a paved parking lot... I think that we both got whiplash.

Good Times

 

so when is appropriate time to use 4hi? .. like if im doing a dirt road uphill.. wouldnt that be a good reason to pop it in? so that there's now two more wheels grabbing stuff...

 

Over in Honda-land before I decided some more off-road oomph was the way to go, I was disappointed to see they got rid of their VTM4-Lock button (the combined pseudo-4Hi/rear-locker button for the AWD system for those not in-the-know) in their mid-sizers but also understand why they ditched it in favor of more idiot-proof drive modes.

It's certainly smarter and presents less misuse risk for the average user but I certainly would miss the extra switches to flip.

Pretty much. IMO a good rule-of-thumb is when not on a paved road. But that's when I consider it safe to use, not necessarily when it's actually needed but these systems like to be used occasionally.

Going straight on pavement is expected to be fine, especially when wet but I only bother if I'm exercising the system and not on any curves/turns.

 

i thought we could just pop this into 4 wheel drive and do donuts.. maybe i shouldve got a limited.... whers that other thread that its the best kept secret ha ... ha

 

We had to go to a funeral in Milwaukee one winter, and 3 other guys and myself, all cousins. My cousin Mark got elected to drive. We all jumped in our cousin Walters' Silverado as we watched the snow fall and getting worse every minute, and I thought "great, we have Mark driving in this sh-t." He has been known to be a little wild behind the wheel. Well the interstate was getting real nasty, so we're going to be late if we don't get a better pace going. The time was brought to Marks' attention, he decides to put the old girl in 4WD, and for the next 45 miles or so, at speeds of 30-65 mph. roughly, we get to the funeral. Lucky it wasn't our own! No damage occurred to the truck, this was a Silverado, and Toyota has to be at least that tough, it was slippery though to give the drivetrain some slip.

 

One of my exes put my beater Prelude into park on the freeway trying to use the sportshift. She was good at other things, not so much driving.

 

I did the same thing with my Jeep once. Except in this case it was very twisty mountain roads. Considering I have 35's and a detroit locker in the rear I was surprised that I wasn't getting any hints of the driveline being unhappy. I don't know if it's because the 2-door Jeep is light or maybe the shorter wheel base helped. Either way there was no indication that anything was the least bit impacted.

 

This is why I always recommend the LTD for the wife, and say Toyota needs to offer auto 4wd and/or a center diff & diff lock like some of the 3rd gens had.

For non-enthusiast, Part Time 4wd requires too much user input.

 

It's dependent on the road surface, not distance. Part time 4wd is designed to work on low traction surfaces. Dry pavement is not a low traction surface, therefore 4wd should not be used.

If there was snow on the pavement, then it's fine to use 4wd. I've traveled hundreds of miles at a time in 4HI in snowy conditions.

Your owner's manual should have all the info on this.

Edit: this guy is knowledgeable, all the info is most likely in this video
https://youtu.be/Lhx-RMhWyaM?si=F9yfSgptBMKXLZRq

 

Thank you!

 

Wait, are you the wife, or just demonstrating some girl power?

 

AMD aka "The Car Care Nut" is the fucking man

 

I drive a 1959 Chevy pickup around town with some regularity. While stone simple with pretty commonplace controls, I can imagine it being a complete enigma to most contemporary drivers.

Has a manual pull cable choke. I scratched two notches on it for where it likes to cold start and where it likes to run until fully warmed up.

Has a foot operated starter on the floorboard to the right of the accelerator. Turning the key will not crank the motor.

Had a three-speed manual transmission with no synchro between first and second gear. Likes to get put into second gear before putting into first before taking off (get those shafts synched!).

Has a toggle switch with an indicator light to turn the heat on and off. Cold? Turn it on. Warm enough now? Turn it off. Repeat. Has a mechanical lever near the glovebox to direct air to either the window or the footwell.

Want some cab ventilation? There are two manual controlled pull cables that open the vent flaps in the footwell. There are also two wing windows for getting cross-cab breeze.

Doors are locked by rotating the opener handles downward.

Keep any eye on the oil pressure, water temp, and battery voltage gauges.

Mind the fuel gauge as there's no "you're damned near out of gas" light.

Eat your Wheaties because there's no power steering (Armstrong style!) and no power brakes (Fred Flintstone style).

Fun as hell to drive. Reliable to a fault. Cool enough to have. Worn enough to use as a tool and not a mantel piece.

Jason

 

My sister did the same thing when borrowing my Tundra. She must've thought she was turning the knob to the AC/Heat control. When she returned my truck, she asked if the truck was suppose to chirp every time she made a turn. Turns out, 4 hi was engaged. Despite the horrid mistake, truck was fine, even after driving possibly 60-100 miles on dry pavement. Not to say this would be the case for all experiences. But test, drive, and listen for unusual noises. That's about all you can do outside tearing it apart and looking for unusual wear.