4WD Seizing in reverse

I'm new to this site and to Tacoma in general. I have a 2013 TRD Sport with 4WD. Last weekend, I tried to employ the 4WD, and found that while in reverse, it would seize up like someone was stepping on the brake. Fortunately, putting it back to 2WD released everything, but not before it made a rather ominous sound, like something getting unstuck. It seems to go forward in 4WD just fine, but I haven't taken it up to higher speeds -- and now I'm reluctant to do so.

Winter is coming. What should I be looking for? Thanks.

 

Were you on dry pavement when doing this?

 

Yes.

 

That's why, assuming you were turning your steering wheel at all and not just going in a straight line. Your 4wd system is working fine. It's not meant to be used on pavement because it won't allow for tire slippage and will introduce binding.

Your front axle and rear axle are traveling different distances around corners and there's nothing between them to allow for that, such as a differential.

 

Do you use 4x4 a lot? Were you on pavement? Did you have the wheels cut?

Edit : He beat me to it. 4x4 does not equal AWD.

 

I just got the truck in July, and I only used 4WD to make sure it works like the manual tells you to. I was on pavement, and I was just trying to back into my driveway. Are you not supposed to turn the wheel when doing this, because there was one test where all I did was go in reverse in a straight line.

 

Sounds like you were experiencing binding since you were on pavement with your 4x4 engaged while making a turn. Hopefully the sound you heard was just your tires skipping/chirping while trying to get unbound. If you do this a lot while on dry pavement and making sharp turns you can actually break the teeth on your gears, which would be a costly repair. Sounds like you are okay though. Just make sure to engage 4x4 only while on loose gravel or dirt or in snowy conditions.

 

You can do it. But on high traction surfaces, like pavement, you will get some binding as each wheel is traveling different distances while turning.
For slow speeds and relatively short distances, the binding is fine. One wheel will eventually slip and release the pressure. Think Moab.
What you don't want to do is drive higher speeds on high traction surfaces in 4wd for longer distances where the tires don't have a good opportunity to slip and release the binding pressure.

 

"because there was one test where all I did was go in reverse in a straight line." that went fine right?

 

Thank you! This kind of four-wheeling is new to me. Got me really worried.

 

Yes. Forward and back. No issue.

 

If it doesn’t work in a straight line you’ve got issues.

 

+1

 

You bought a 4X4, not an AWD. AWD is similar, but uses sensors to send power to all 4 wheels at varying speeds. It senses which wheels have traction and sends power to them. It is a much more complex expensive system, but can't handle extreme conditions where there is very poor traction at all 4 wheels

4X4 is an older much simpler system which tries to send equal power to all 4 wheels. It is much better for extreme off road conditions. But since all 4 wheels turn at different speeds when cornering something has to give. 4X4 should only be used on surfaces where traction is poor since at least 1 of your wheels needs to slip and spin on the ground. If traction is good, everything binds up and you risk breaking either U-Joints, driveshafts, or the transfer case. Even if it doesn't break at that moment, you are causing excessive wear to parts that will wear out prematurely down the road.

 

Don’t sweat it a bit! 4wd + dry pavement + turning = driveline binding

The ominous sound you heard was the transfer case disengaging the front driveshaft as it went back into 2wd, therefore releasing the ‘bind’ on the drive train.

Your truck is 100% fine but do avoid sharp turns in 4wd on dry pavement in the future.

 

Not necessarily. If he got everything in a bind while cornering it will still be in a bind once he tries to go in a straight line. Until something happens to relieve the stress. Driving in the opposite direction usually helps. If driving forward and you bind up the drivetrain then driving few feet in reverse. The OP messed up while driving in reverse. Putting the truck in Drive and pulling forward will usually relieve the stress

Avoid driving in 4X4 on pavement altogether. Nothing good can come from it and a lot of potential bad

 

4LO with locker engaged, tires aired down to 10psi doing circles in a parking lot in 110 degree heat is actually really good for these vehicles....

On a serious note as someone mentioned above, think Moab. Miles and miles of rock slabs, folks in 4LO, aired down and rear locker engaged occasionally with zero issues. These vehicles aren’t built out of glass

 

I agree. The steel gear sets, CV axles and U joints are a lot stronger than the grip one tire has on dry pavement. With an automatic a lot of stress of being released as slip in the torque converter as well. A little bind doesn’t hurt anything.

 

I don’t like your description of AWD. It either has a third open diff instead of a transfer case or has a Center diff with limited Slip capability like the Torsen in the 4 runner. Sensors don’t “detect grip” and “send power.” If everything is open there can be brake traction control used with abs sensors but there’s no intelligence “sending power” to the wheels.