Aisin manual hub won't fully engage/just how bad is 2wd in the snow?
 

There's a blizzard here in New England, and I really want and probably need 4WD. I go to lock my hubs for the first time this season, and one hub doesn't work :bang:. It turns about 1/3 from FREE to LOCK, then stops and won't turn any further. I pulled the hub cover and gave it a brief look, but I couldn't tell if anything was wrong (didn't look messed up). Also, I just had the rotors and wheel bearings replaced by a shop this fall, so I suppose it's possible they could have opened the hubs during the job and put something amiss. Is there anything I can do beside pulling the whole hub and rebuilding (which will have to wait till after the blizzard). If not and I'm stuck with 2WD, how bad are these trucks in the snow with only 2WD?

take the cover off again, there are some marks that should line up when putting it back together. Mine did the same thing after my sister got it serviced at a dealership, I had to shift the notches that line up one over. So f it makes sense...take it apart and put it back together so you can turn the engage dial. You dont have to put the all the screw in to test it. Keep moving it over until it engages. You might even be able to hold it on whil you turn it...I don't remember if thats what I did or just two screws... hope this helps!

Oh yeah, Dont drive it in 2 wd unless you Mud and snows on it or studs. I had a 78 2wd out in CO with 4 studded pirrellis and it handled like a dream!! Miss that little old 78! Happy with my 88 though!

:good:

They definitely had to remove them to replace the rotors and wheel bearings. It sounds like they just didn't get them both put back on right though. There's probably nothing wrong with the one, it just needs the cover reinstalled correctly. My truck had a similar deal when I bought it. One side worked fine, and the other side wouldn't unlock. I figured out how to make it work with a little trial and error after removing the cover from it. Wasn't too hard, and I didn't even have anything to reference at the time reading material wise.

I'll bet if you fiddle with it a bit more, you'll figure it out pretty quick like. The FSM is always helpful in these situations, so I'd suggest reading through the free wheeling hub section if you can't seem to get anywhere with it.

Here's that. http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...14freewhee.pdf

My truck actually does real well in 2WD on snow and ice. I went most of one whole winter without 4WD(busted gears in the front axle). And as far as city streets, I hardly ever use 4WD in the snow(it's gotta be atleast 1/2 a foot deep or more, or a steep hill)and almost never on ice(won't do ya much good on ice anyway, sometimes it helps a little though).

Good luck!

Depending on what tires you have, you can make it just about anywhere in 2wd. I drove around all day today in the 4+ inches of snow we have and only used 4wd 2 times, just to pull people out lol.

I have several write ups on here how Aisins go together properly.

:wabbit2:

Put a couple of hundred pounds of weight in the back and a good set of tires and it will do really well in 2 wheel. if your not able to figure the hub out take it back to that shop that did your bearings and make them fix it.

go try it and find out.

2WD = TERRIBLE

With BFG AT's they are TERRIBLE!! I get no traction at all in 2WD but in 4WD I get about 10 times more tractions.

But BGF AT's are terrible in snow at stopping so it doesnt help stopping much.

bfg a/ts are great in light snow and ice in 2wd or 4x4

Thanks for the replies, and now that the storm's over, I can look into getting the hub working right. In the meatime, though, I gave 2wd a try in the snow.
Yep. I got a couple yards up the street, got stuck multiple times and had to dig out, and I was really happy just to get it back into the driveway before the plows came by again. BTW, I have Mastercraft Courser ATs with decent tread, which I doubt are as good as BFG but they're usually not bad. So to anyone considering it, I think driving in the snow can only end badly. Granted, this was a really massive storm, so maybe it'd be better in only a couple of inches, but I really do not recommend it.

Wabbit, I'll be looking up those write-ups you mentioned soon, I NEED 4WD for the next storm!

The only time I got stuck in 2WD so far this winter was when I took a run through the back yard going too slow. Hit a spot about 2 feet high of packed snow and dragged the frame/diffs. Even with the locker and studded snow rated AT2s I couldn't get out haha. Came back after I figured out that I put the vac lines for the 4WD on wrong (I finally swapped in the 4.56 front today) and it was remarkably simpler.

Really though, with the proper tires you should be able to handle a good dump of snow reasonbly well.

I've had an 85 4Runner, 88 4Runner, and just got a 93 hilux. None are bad when there is a bit of snow to dig into, but when it gets packed down into icy spots, watch out! The best tires I had for snow here in Michigan between BFG Mt's and At's, Perelli's and Yokohama were by far the Yokohama Geolander AT, which I don't think they make anymore in the style I had. My front end had problems in my 88 for a winter, so I made 2WD work, but that meant shoveling some 4' drifts out of the drive first...

let some air out of your rear tires. say 25-28psi. put 200-300 lbs of sand bags in the bed over the axle. Using two wheel you need momentum in deep snow so keep the speed up. I drive in lots of snow and have been doing it for 25 yrs.... 10 of that professionally. Hell the trucks I drive are rear wheel drive and I have pushed a lot of snow with them. In my Toyota I rarely use 4x4. It has to get really bad first.
I too use the Yokohama Geo lander A/T Great tire.

I just wanted to update this thread in case anyone references it in the future, through the search or otherwise.

The hub was a really easy fix. I discovered that it had been assembled so that in the FREE position the hub was locked, and when trying to turn it to LOCK it just ran out of rotation. If I had known what to look for I could have fixed it in a moment the day of the storm, but I suppose it was worthwhile pulling it off the truck and regreasing.

That being said, for the storm that just came through yesterday, I didn't even need 4WD. The first time I tried, I was attacking 6-8" drifts in 2WD, which is kinda unrealistic. This more recent storm was only 3-4", and the 4Runner got through in 2WD no problem.

cant help you with the hubs...but 2wd pickup is a no-no in the snow...

An easy thing to overlook in reassembly. Glad you got it fixed.

:wabbit2:

Yup I made that mistake as well when I first did the brakes on mine. Lucky for me I checked them before I put it back down on the ground. :D

In my younger days I would look forward to a good snow to go play

That was 30 years ago. A whole lot less people on the road gas was .60 cents a gallon.

Now if I need 4 wheel drive to get out the driveway I might venture as far as the bottom of the hill turn around and come home.

Getting old sucks