Engaging 4x4 without going off road

[Rebel]

I do not get enough chance to go off-road, but want to try to engage 4x4 at least once a month. How can I do it without going off-road?
Can I engage 4x4 without locking the hubs and drive it like that on a tarred road? Or, can I lock the hubs without engaging 4x4? I drive a 98 model DC 2.4D 4x4. Regards.

[george]

I think its a good idea.Then you lubricate all the parts.If you do it on tar than only go in a straight line.No turning.But try and go on dirt road or some offroad.Your Lux will love you for it.Dont keep the bird in a cage

[Rebel]

I engaged 4H with hubs free and as soon as I get to 3rd gear, I get a shudder and knocking noise coming from front passenger side. I went onto a gravel road and selected 4H with hubs locked, and the noise dissappears. Any ideas what could be causing this?

[Cleaner]

Come now! This is Africa! Our 'tar' roads have more holes and dirt then anything!

There must be some dirt road in a 50km radius from you!

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk

[Rebel]

Thanks for that. At least now I know what continent I stay on.

[george]

Maybe you must check if your hubs especially your left hand side is really "free".ASFAIK if you put it in 4H and your hubs is free there should be no difference to 2H

[GI Jane]

I would lock the hubs for a short period of time, but definitely not engage neither high nor low range 4x4 gear on the tar.... Unless what I've learnt is seriously erroneous.

[Thunder02]

To lube every now and then,i engage H4,hubs stay unlocked.No damage can be done.Also a good practise when it is raining,beter control of the heavy vehicle. She tends to get rear happy under wet conditions.

[Rebel]

Thanks for all the positive responses. I am going to jack up the front and test if front left is free.

[ROBERT]

The bert is to lock the hubs and stay in 2H, that way the front diff turns and everything gets lubed up nicely, but the front propshaft is not connected to the gearbox so theres no chance of damage, if you drive in 4x4 with hubs unlocked, there is a chance that the freewheeling hubs could get damaged however, in 2h with hubs locked no chance of damage, you should drive at least 20kms or so at least once a month with the hubs locked. If you put it in 4x4 on tar, the weakest point has to give, on dirt traction is much less than on tar, so the tyres slip ( you will often hear your tyres scrubbing round tight turns on dirt) on tar, the traction is significantly more than on dirt so if the tyres don't slip, you can end up damaging your gearbox, as there is no center diff to allow for the difference in speed between front and rear axles,

[Mud Dog]

I do not get enough chance to go off-road, but want to try to engage 4x4 at least once a month. How can I do it without going off-road?
Can I engage 4x4 without locking the hubs and drive it like that on a tarred road? Or, can I lock the hubs without engaging 4x4? I drive a 98 model DC 2.4D 4x4. Regards.

Either or is good practise to keep everything lubed, just as long as there is no drive connection to the front wheels. If there is a faulty free-wheel hub that is not disengaging, that alone can cause damage to your diff over time with normal driving (if both hubs are locked, no damage).

you can end up damaging your gearbox

Not likely ... the box may take a little more strain but it's insignificant. Where the damage will occur as a result of axle and diff wind-up is in the rest of the drive train, i.e. half-shafts / diffs / X-fer box and propshafts.

[ROBERT]

Thanks Andy,

I was oversimplifying what happens with drivetrain windup, agree the transferbox and propshafts would take the most punishment

[Senyetse]

According to my 2.7 owner's manual, you should lock the hubs (in 2H) at least once a month for about 10 0r 15 km (I forget) to ensure lubrication. Increases fuel consumption but does no harm Engaging 4x4 on a dry tar road is not recommended (4H is recommended for wet tar roads).

[jacol]

You say 4h is for wet roads is that with or without hubs locked

[ThysdJ]

Only on very wet roads, not on slightly damp ones... you want wheel slip to get rid of axle windup..

[Christian Kuun]

Shifting to 4H and 4L ONLY will lock the front propshaft and cause it to turn but it will do nada for 4x4 if the hubs are not locked. You could drive around permanently like that and nothing will break. Same goes for ONLY locking hubs and not engaging the centre diff/gearbox/transfer box/4H/4L- your front axle will turn but it will have nothing driving it so it cant harm anything but will also do squat for 4x4. Engaging both however will stuff up the drivetrain pretty darn quick on hard surface.

Some blokes have actually tested long distance drives with the hubs locked vs unlocked (the only reason for the hubs being able to be unlocked is because of apparent economical reasons) and fuel consumption differences between CT and Jhb were negligible. Something like 0.2km/l or something. I often when driving around parks, farms marshes etc just left the hubs locked so that I didn't have to get out in knee deep mud to lock when necessary.

So, it is good practice to engage each on its own every now and then if you are not able to go offroad. You could keep your hubs locked permanently too if you so like.

Oh, and just BTW, our farm bakkie was driven on tar with the rear diff lock engaged (farm engineers) and the gearbox broke before the diff.

Pardon the laymans terms and simplification, just makes it easy for all.

[Bliksempie]

Hi Guys,

I once bought a 2nd hand 2.4 SFA in Jeffreys Bay, as we went to pick up some large Cycads with my old 2.0 Stout Shape. The empty 2 ton trailer attached to the 2.0 Stout made me realise that the trip back to Pretoria would be an agonising ride, as a lack of power was the main concern. Thus the reason for the purchase in Jeffreys Bay. As we returned back with the first load, I found the rear Diff to be almost completely "moeg" just before Bloemfontein (Probably due to previous water damage). I then pulled over at a Truck Stop, and completely removed the rear Prop Shaft, locked the hubs and engaged 4H. We then drove all the way to Montana, Pretoria without any problems. The next moring we returned to go and fetch old "Stouty". No damage was done to any part of the 2.4 SFA after transforming a Rear Wheel Drive to a Front Wheel Drive. Just thought I could share this, as it can be done (at least, I did) when you lose your Rear Prop shaft.

[Haboob]

Engaging 4h without locking wheel hubs will do nothing but lubricating the shafts. Likewise the locking of hubs without engaging 4h will do no damage but lubricate the hubs. If there are any funny noises with either of the above senarios then the hub is either not releasing or does not engage. If the hub is not put on properly, it will not be able to engage 4wd. This happened to me when I had new wheel bearings fitted all round. Should you do deepish water crossings, check wheelbearings and diff oils before undertaking long trips. My experience.

[Christian Kuun]

Indeed you can drive in front whheel drive but only with rear prop removed. with rear prop removed, there can be no drivetrain wind up as would. normally happen with the different paths of the front and rear wheels. Just beware, NOT ALL vehicles can do this. Many have low mounted shafts that seal into the transfer case and the oil will run out once removed.

[Skobejak]

As far as I know axle wind up will only occur if the diff lock is engaged. Driving in 4x4 on tar roads with hubs locked will not damage the drive train. It will just increase fuel consumption

[Mud Dog]

As far as I know axle wind up will only occur if the diff lock is engaged. Driving in 4x4 on tar roads with hubs locked will not damage the drive train. It will just increase fuel consumption

Indeed it can cause serious damage like stripped difffs or snapped half-shafts. The only time you can do it is if the roads are wet and slippery and even then I wouldn't chance it with city driving where one encounters tight turns.

[Skobejak]

I take your word for it find it strange that the manual does not give any such warnings. They warn against using diff lock on surfaced roads but do not warn against using 4h. Just recommend using for wet or icy roads. You would think they would mention it if it was going to cause problems. Anyway.. Thanks for the heads up. I will be sure to avoid 4x4 on the tar!

[Hoppy]

If you don't have a gravel road, you can try this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQFsBDNd8rE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is a std SFA drivetrain with front and rear lockers engaged, they are almost bullet proof.

[Mud Dog]

Hehe! Almost like on a skid-pan ... remember you've posted it before Allan, but well worth watching again.

Michael, here's the thing ... when you turn / move in an arc, no two wheels are rotating at the same pace. Each has it's own track and therefore a different arc, covering differing distances in the same time period and so rotating at different speeds. (This is of course the reason for differentials in the first place).

Furthermore the combination of distance travelled between the two front wheels and the combination of distance travelled between the two rear wheels also differs - hence the front and rear props will be rotating at slightly different speeds (the reason why some vehicles have a centre diff at the transfer box). If the centre diff is locked or there is no centre diff you will have 'axle wind-up' - if the axle diffs are locked you will have 'diff wind-up'.

If the surface that you're moving across does not allow for slippage, something else will give (the weakest link - usually the spider gears, otherwise the ring and pinion gears or a ½ shaft). Just to mention out of interest sake, the tyres and the amount of traction they provide is also an integral factor - for example, a narrow tyre of hard compound and aggressive tread pattern will provide far less traction on asphalt than wide, soft compound slicks that have much more rubber contact.

It's a good thing from time to time to engage the front hubs (both, not just one) but leave the X-fer case disengaged, (H2) for the purpose of churning up the oil in the diffs and keeping seals, gears and bearings lubricated. Only short distances are required to achieve this but there is no harm in covering longer distances like this other than a slightly poorer fuel economy. So if you go out in rainy conditions you can engage the hubs and if at any point you decide to switch to H4 for better traction and road holding, you can slip it in or out of H4 on the fly (no clutch) as long as you are travelling in a straight line at the time and all your tyres have more or less the same amount of wear (similar circumferences), because then they will be rotating at the same speed and the gears in the X-fer case will be able to mesh without grating. I do this smoothly at speeds up to 80 kmph on a fairly regular basis in the wet.

Hope that explains it for you, as well as anyone else that's interested and didn't know.

[Skobejak]

That explains it perfectly! Many thanks.

[Skobejak]

Andy... One final question on the subject from someone who clearly has a lot to learn about the Hilux... How do I know if I have indeed broken the weakest link using 4x4 on tar? Noise? Inability to engage 4x4? I only did it for about 20km (mostly straight road) thinking that in order to lock the hubs for recommended hub lubrication once monthly that 4h also needed to be engaged. Now you have me worried. Thanks

[george]

Andy... One final question on the subject from someone who clearly has a lot to learn about the Hilux... How do I know if I have indeed broken the weakest link using 4x4 on tar? Noise? Inability to engage 4x4? I only did it for about 20km (mostly straight road) thinking that in order to lock the hubs for recommended hub lubrication once monthly that 4h also needed to be engaged. Now you have me worried. Thanks

I dont think you have to worry. You will KNOW if something broke.

[Mud Dog]

Yep, as George said, you will know if something is broken. As Allan (Hoppy) said, the drive-trains are built tough, so no need for concern at this time - at worst you may have added a small amount of extra wear & tear.

[Christian Kuun]

My son kicked the transfer lever into 4H and the wife didn't know what the light on the dash was so she just merrily drove it like that for the day. Generally the wheels will slip off the wind-up between front and rear axles and I don't think a short oepsie should have you stressing but make sure it does not happen often as continued stress will break the drivetrain. And our farm engineers demonstrated to us that gearboxes like breaking sooner than diffs. Also, you will feel that there a lot more resistance and crappy steering during the tar drive with full-on 4x4.


Skobejak, by engaging 4x4, even without diff-lock, there is still one wheel with traction in front and one wheel with traction at the rear. These two wheels do not follow the same path (think of an inter-link turning) and the wind-up between the front and rear, being caught up by the propshaft/gearbox essentially acting as a "diff lock", will have the same effect as locking wheels on the same axle, only that it will be front and back.

[Christian Kuun]

The Transmissions Section on 4xForum is quite a nice "get to know" bit about how what works. It is worth the read if you 100% familiar. Also, if you toggle over the HOME section, you will see a drop with links to Vehicle Guide, Operations etc.