OK, now if I were to change the gearing in the rear of the 4Runner (4WD), would I also need to change the gears in the front differential? I thought the front 4WD system was free-floating, but am I wrong? Or would there just not be a completely even power distribution? Thanks guys.

Zach

 

Yup, you need to change both and since you have them apart you might as well add front and rear lockers. (seriously)

 

Yes, you are wrong. j/k

I think you are talking about viscous coupling 4WD systems. Viscous coupling 4WD systems are still geared the same in the front and rear differentials. These determine how much torque goes to the front vs rear. These are usually on AWD vehicles, IIRC. The 4Runner part time system is not the viscous coupling variety. I think a full-time system might be, depending on manufacturer. My .02

 

Robinhood150: Thanks for the info. I have the rear locker from Toyota already. Comtemplating adding a front one. I'm not a hard-core off-roader so I don't think I'll go for it. Maybe if I win the lottery... (pffff... yeah right).

Cebby: Thank you too for the response. I think the viscous system is like that on the Land Cruisers. It's full time so I think the split is 60/40. What makes somethnig AWD versus 4WD though? Does it just depend on how extreme the split is? I mean I have a buddy who has a 93 AWD eclipse with a split of 80/20, but the LC isn't 50/50 and it's still thought of as 4WD.

Zach