Some of you may have followed my saga of restoring a '95 T100 to
like-new condition while making it into a fuel-hauling truck.. (If
you're REALLY bored, you can read about it here:
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/new_mighty_grape.htm )

Well, I had just put the final finishing touches on the truck a few
days ago (by adding two more new tires, and a new window latch from
Toyota -- $25 for a $2 part!) when our first real snowstorm of the year
hit. Four inches of snow isn't much for Iowa, but falling on top of
1/3" of ice made for some fun driving.

Well, this thing just ROCKS in the snow! The combination of two more
new tires (so that all four tires are now brand new) and the slick
conditions have my 4 wheel drive system working perfectly. The truck
now switches easily into (and out of ) 4WD at any speed -- and, wow is
this thing great in the snow! I'm no newbie to 4WD -- our other car
is a Subaru Outback, with AWD -- but I was really impressed with the
way the Toyota handled the incredibly slick conditions. It was as if
the snow simply wasn't there.

BTW: For anyone else who has had trouble shifting into (and out of )
4WD: Apparently having two front tires of a slightly different
circumference than the rear tires makes for skittish handling in
4-wheel drive. I had only replaced the BACK two tires, and put the
"best" old tires on the front -- which were of a slightly different
size, and were more than half-way through their life. A mechanic
friend of mine instantly diagnosed the problem simply by looking at the
truck from 30 feet away -- and voila! My 4WD system is "cured"!.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
'95 T100 4x4 Extended Cab
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" <jjhoneck (AT) mchsi (DOT) com> wrote

That is a no-no. I read that you had replaced two tires, but made the
assumption that they were the same size and type. Even with the same
size tires you can still have to unload the drive train sometimes.

--
Jarhead




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On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:25:27 -0800, Jay Honeck wrote:

Yep, differing tire size between front and rear will do it. Heh. <G>

And I'm glad that you finally had an opportunity to see the benefit of
"real" 4WD as opposed to AWD - not that there's anything wrong with the
latter, under "ugly" conditions the true 4WD offers so much more traction.

One caveat - a common "newbie" mistake is thinking that since
drive traction is so much better, better traction while braking or
turning will automatically follow. Of course, you know better, yes? <G>

Yep. I learned that lesson when we got our Outback, and quickly
discovered that just because I could GO didn't mean I could STOP....

;-)

And turns are still best done slowly and carefully...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
'95 T100 4x4 Extended Cab
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"