getchellad

I was wondering if anyone new if I shouldn't be driving at high speeds.. 80-90 when I'm in four wheel high?
In answer to those people who are wondering why in the heck I would need to do this... highway driving through the snow, and sometimes when there is ice on the road, it's nice not to have you rear end suddenly sleep out from behind you when your trying to go up a hill etc...
I was driving back to Ohio last night through a snowstorm and i had it in 4wheel hi, and I remebered the dealer telling me that I should take it over 70 in four wheel drive. I often shift it into 4hi, when I'm going 70mph. If I feel the car slip, I usually just reach down and knock it into 4wheel. Any input would be appreciated.

BTW... last night there was a six mile backup on intererstate 80 in W. PA. The snow had fallen leaving about 4 inches on the interestate. A semi jackknifed leaving the freeway parked for about 3 hours. 3 other semi's where in a group near the front of the accident, and allowed there trucks to run out of diesel. So when the freeway could finally move everything in front of the trucks was able to move. The police where going along the freeway wakeing the drivers up, and they get to the three drivers in a group who had run out of fuel and everyone for the four miles behind them was totally screwed. I sat in this for 2 hours the snow was falling hard, and no one was getting past the trucks, the chatter on the CB was irate. About 3:00am in the morning I got talking to another 4runner who was had a CB as well, and was about a 1/4 mile back. We ended up driving about 4 miles on the backup through the snow, in the ditches... It was a total blast. You couldn't even drive down the sholders for more then short stretches because the trucks were parked on the sides of the road. We got alot of ˟˟˟˟ from some of the truckers for it, but we ended up getting out of the mess about 3 hours ahead of where we would have been.

Patrick D

It should say in the manual on how fast you can drive in 4WDHi and Lo.

When its raining alot sometimes I drive up to 75 in 4WDHi though I don't think you are supposed to go over 79 or around there. Not sure though.

Paul H.

According to the 2nd gen. manual, it says do not shift to 4H at more than 50mph. It also says as a caution: never move the front drive control lever if wheels are slipping. Stop the slipping or spinning before shifting. Besides that if you are driving in conditions where you need 4 wheel drive you should not be going that fast

1Runner

70, 80, 90 mph in 4-HI???? DAMN fella's! I gotta get me a 2k 4Runner! (Hood scoop envy I guess) I cant find any "thou shalt not exceed xx mph in 4-HI" in the owners man. for my '95, BUT it SOUNDS like they dont reccomend driving above 50 mph. in 4-HI.
A friend of mine used to tell stories of the commute home on weekends after med. school in his 94 Pathfinder..... used to drive in 4-hi, 80 mph all the way home in bad weather. Never had a problem........ they're your rigs after all. Some would say "drive it like you stole it!"
90?? I dont know if I'd laugh or crap myself if ya went by me that fast in a storm......... probably both.

Robinhood150

I'm not sure how fast you're supposed to shift into 4wd hi with the 3rd gens, but once you are shifted you can go as fast as you want.

Same with the 2nd gens.

Steve

Paul H.

My mistake, that is for manual trans. For auto you can move the lever to 4H at any speed but the wheel slipping caution is the same. To shift to 4L the speed has to be less than 18mph. Remember that 4X4 does not mean that you will not lose it in bad road conditions. You can still hydroplane. Please be careful.

jx94148

If its slick enough to need 4wd you probably should be going somewhat below the speed limit. During our first real storm this year I drove from Denver to home (70 miles) on interstate. I saw 8 vehicles in the ditches, ALL were 4wd or all wheel drive. 2 Expeditions, 1 Explorer, 3 Chevy/ GMCs, 1 Subaru and 1 Sequoia. Most had rolled after sliding off the icy road.

My point, 4WD will do nothing to help you turn better or slow down quickly on a slick highway. That invinsable feeling 4WD gives you can be very dangerous as the owners of those rolled vehicles will tell you.

Take it easy out there.

joshik

you do 80-90 in the snow? and on iCE? whoa!

getchellad

If the snow is freshly fallen, and I'm the only one around, I will often go 70-80 through the snow. The more of the better... I try to drive within reason for my line of sight... I've gotten pretty good at handling in the snow... Its nice having a 5spd, especially in the snow, because, the antilock brakes merely keep you going in a straigh line. And yes, I have pulled more then my share of 4by suv's out of ditches in the winter... luckily I've never been in one that I didn't want to be in.
I won't drive on ice that fast... I usually slow it down quite a bit, because ice is ten times slipperier then snow. I had to help pull a dead guy and kid out of his car two winters ago in quebec... He was driving the same speed I was... 55-60, was going down a hill, hit his brakes, and spun out into oncoming traffic. I watched it happen, and learned my lesson.
Sometimes though when your driving on the interstate at night, you can come across sections of the highway that have patches of ice on them, from the snow melting, running across the road, and re-freezing. It's for this reason I like to drive in 4hi when I'm going fast, especially if it's up hill and I might encounter something like that. Last winter I when I still had the Goodyear Wrangler's on it, I was going up a hill about 85, and my back end slipped out on my, and I had to chase my tail back and forth across three lanes of traffic. That was also largely due to the Goodyears, which happen to be the worst tires for water and ice.

UKMyers

No wonder my insurance costs so much. Your one of the drivers I cuss at when I'm driving. One of my biggest pet peeves is people who drive at Ludicrous speed all the time. There's absolutely no reason for it. To keep this on topic though I would think that it CANT be good for the transfer case doing them speeds... whatever floats your boat though

MonkeyElvis

dude, Im glad i live on the opposite side of the country.... thats damn fast to be driving.... snow or not.... I agree with Joey... that kind of driving prolly contributes to these high insurance costs we males have. Anyways.... be careful out there....