I'm still new to all this, so bear with me. I believe I understand the logic behind wanting to have manual, rather than automatic/electronic hubs, especially when doing a suspension lift. My questions is, what do I have? I can engage four wheel from inside, but I wouldn't define whats happening/what I'm doing as automatic. I (and probaly a boat load of you) have a smaller lever to the right of my stick, which I presume is going to the transfer case. It certainly feels as though I am making a mechanical change, not initiating anything electronic (I've been in SUV's where you just hit a button on the dash), when I go into 4WD.

I'd love to get a clue.

 

Your question actually has nothing to do with hubs, automatic or manual. Toyotas since 1989 haven't had hubs at all, not manual and not automatic - the fronts axle(s) turn all the time, and instead use some form of front axle disconnect.

There are different systems, and someone with a Taco like yours can tell you for certain what happens when you pull that lever. (I quit bothering to keep up with the developments after about 1990, life's too shrt...) Here's one way it can work; Pull the lever and it physically puts the transfer case in 4wd Hi. There is a switch that tells a computer that you've engaged 4wd, and it then engages the front axle. Or another system might read the front driveshaft speed and wheel speed and when they match it engages the front axle.

Or, alternately, on systems like Ford with a simple switch on the dash for 4wd, when you turn the knob it first engages the front axle (again no hubs,) the front driveshaft starts spinning, when it matches the rear driveshaft speed the computer engages the transfer case.

 

told you I was clueless.

[/QUOTE]
Or, alternately, on systems like Ford with a simple switch on the dash for 4wd, when you turn the knob it first engages the front axle (again no hubs,) the front driveshaft starts spinning, when it matches the rear driveshaft speed the computer engages the transfer case.[/QUOTE]

So on (some) recent tacomas, the manual part I see is the axle connect/disconnect?

I guess I'll need an answer from somone with a newer taco....if I manage some nice juicy suspension lift in the future, is the method in which I engage my front axles something that will likely need to be changed?

Hell of paint job, BTW.

 

Not true. Some Toyotas still come with manual locking hubs. My brother's 96 Tacoma came stock with manual hubs. My 91 longbed came with manual hubs. The way you can tell that they came factory and weren't aftermarket is that the front axle has no sign of the ADD system. No vacuum lines, no actuator(the forks that engage the driver-side hub), no button inside. Some of us just got lucky with our Toy's.

 

So who's luck? me or your brother?

 

if you had manual hubs, you'd have to get outside of your truck to engage your 4wd...since u don't, sounds like u got ADD....

 

my '99 taco has manual hubs also, unfortunately toy stopped using them when they changed to the newest taco body style in 2001, 2000 was last year

 

Yeah, my '98 has Aisin manual hubs. At least I can crow about having those since my truck didn't come with the e-locker.

 

I just ended up shelling out alot of moola for the Warn Manual hubs and an conversion kit... lol...

 

all hiluxes were available with manual hubs from when they were first made until they stopped selling them in the US(think they're still an option in other countries)

tacos could be had with them until 2000 or so.

 

I'm starting to think (based on past oberservation) that only single cabs, therefore only 4cylinder truck, came with the manual ....what? locking hub? locking axle? jeeze I need to start another thread to get the difference explained to me :pat:

 

For 2nd gen pickups (pre88) All models had Manual hubs and AUTO was optional

Hubs lock your wheels to your axleshaft.
Axle doesnt spin unless transfer case is in 4wd or your hubs are locked.
If in 4wd and hubs not locked, your axles will move but not your wheels.

I think this is right and its a great idea cause it causes the least amount of wear on your cv's and you can get a full time locker in front and not get wheel hop and stuff like that. Everything is on its own.

BUT, for 89 and up there is ADD, (automatic differental disconnect i thnk) and its way different. Above is basic and involved the least amount of technology

 

i've seen all kinds of '89 and up trucks with manual hubs. of course, it's mostly 4 cyl trucks

 

this may be a little off subject, which if it is i'll start a new thread... but why are manual hubs better than auto hubs. specifically on my 87 4runner :-p

 

I leased a '98 that had manual hubs. I should have bought it at the end of the lease but the way leases work forget it. It was a great truck. V6 5-speed 4x4 xtra cab.

 

Also not true. It just depends on what the factory workers decided they were doing that day haha. Any model and style Taco could have manual hubs. The hub kit I sent to BruceTS was off a 98~ taco, Xcab, V6. It is possible that the vehicles with Automatic transmissions didn't have a Manual hub option, but i dont know for sure. If you had ADD, you didn't have manual hubs, and vise versa.

All Pre 89's came with Manual hubs as standard equipment. An auto hub, which required you to back up after 4x4'ing to disengage the axle from the hub was optional. All pre 89 ifs diffs were interchangable (as long as gear ratios matched), as they didn't have the disconnecting diff at that time. In 89 they came up with ADD. The 89-95 ADD hubs could be made manual by taking off the locking plate and installing the Manual hubs. Easy swap. Same thing goes for this year, ADD meant no manual hubs, and vise versa. They also elminated and simplified the auto hub design, so rather than multiple moving parts in the hubs, it became just the locking plate which would lock the inner hub to the outer spindle.

In 95, they came up with a new hub design, which incorporated even less moving parts, and eliminated the locking plate. Now, it became necessary to swap the spindle assy, the axle, and add the locking hubs which of course is more expensive and labor intensive.

Hopefully that makes it a bit easier to understand. There was no code or procedure to follow as to which vehicle got ADD and which ones didn't. ALmost all SR5 4runners had ADD, and almost all Automatics had ADD. The 4Runners were becoming grocery getters heh. Thank god that Toyota makes all their parts interchangable. Simplicity rules in the game of offroad.

 

BTW, 95 and 96 Regular cab tacos had a V6 option too. It is rare to see them, but its possible. They ended that in 97 though, and only xcabs had the v6 option.

 

My 1991 Extracab has manual hubs. Pain in the butt in bad weather to engage. I had a mechanic swear the design was the same as the old International military trucks. He was impressed.

 

RELIABILITY

the day i bought my 4runner with autos i got stuck in a swampy cornfield with 2wd and couldnt move. Granted i shouldnt have been there stock as is only the rears were moving. Later that week I got manual hubs and had no problems with 4wd working after that.

PS - I will have some AISIN manual hubs off of an 87 for sale on ebay very soon.

 

i don't trust vacuum lines to do the work of good old manual linkage.

also, in '84 and '85 or so, TRUE auto hubs were an option, but they are garbage. ADD and auto hubs are different, add uses a drive flange and vacuum disconnect, while an auto hub just replaces a manual hub. to engage auto hubs, you have to back up. not the most robust system, but a lot of american companies used them until the mid 90s and nissan uses them on xterras and frontiers to this day