The finer points of driving a Rav4 (I've never had a 4x4 before) Need someone to dispense out some knowledge

Dear all:

My buddy just bought a Rav4. I helped him pick it out. Since I am currently unemployed, I have a lot of time and scanned through many ads and found a black on dark grey Rav4 1998 with only 99k miles. It is a manual drive (which, I think is the only way to go), and it has just had timing belt and water pump replaced. The price was unbelieveable @ 5700 dollars. The carfax report was clean and the car is clean and drives well.

Both he and I have never owned a 4X4 before. We were just wondering about the finer points of driving one. The guy who showed us the car taught us a little: to demonstrate the differential locking, he had us engage the 4x4 and then turn real tight circles. We felt the diff grinding in those turns. Was this really really bad for the differential when we did that repeatedly? Now that I think about it, I am hoping that we didn't put undue stress on the differential.

My buddy is going to park it at my house and I live on an air force base. I am hoping to take it out and use the 4x4 feature. I have some grass areas. I am hoping that on grass, I won't grind the differential. I just don't want to hurt the car. I am also going to try to find some ice and see the traction.

I know these are not very good questions I am asking. This is because I don't really know the questions to ask. Could someone just start at the beginning and dispense out some good knowledge on how we can get the most use and best fun out of the 4x4? I know this rav4 is not an outright offroad car, but I would like to take it to some terrain or some conditions where I can really appreciate the 4x4 features.

sincerely, thanx in advance.

Reply to
LovingPerson
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OK, this is a "full time 4WD" with the button "off", by pushing this button, it makes it a "part time 4WD" and is to only be used on slippery surfaces. Technically, use the center diff lock only if you stuck or in some pretty messy stuff. Remember, this is ALWAYS in 4WD mode, your just converting it from full time to part time.

Reply to
MDT Tech®

In news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com, LovingPerson being of bellicose mind posted:

Indeed. How much do you value the friendship? You buddy's RAV is not your play toy. Think that over carefully.

Reply to
Philip®

The RAV is a light duty 4x4. It is a good little 4wd, but not a Baja racer. Go easy on it, and mainly keep it on-road.

Snow and ice traction depends on the tires. Yes, 4wd helps when accelerating, but is little help when cornering and no help when braking. Traction comes from the tires.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Shelton

I ran across this pdf. file and it should be very interesting to a new 4x4 owner.

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Reply to
Richard Waldron

Someone brought up the question of how much I value the friendship. I do value it. I believe that your point is that I shouldn't take my buddy's car and offroad it when he is not there. I appreciate the point. I re-thought my position and will now only take the car to drive around base when he is actually with me. This way, there can be no accusation that I did anything or thrashed his car behind his back. It was definitely a point well taken. As I said, I do value his friendship.

Still, even if we do go out together, I do still would like to get some knowledge here on what are some of the Do's and Don'ts when we drive this thing on the grass and on the grass with some frozen waters. There is some sand traps (old golf course sand traps) on our base. Will we be able to appreciate the finer points of the 4x4 if we drive in those sand traps?

There are also some grass areas next to a frozen lake and I would like to try the traction on some of the ice. We just want to find some terrain and try out the 4x4. By no means is the lake so frozen that we would drive the car onto the lake. However, next to the bank, there is grass bank and some shallow pools of water where we can get one side of the tires on ice (ie the left side of car would be on ice and the right side would be on grass). I know that this is not the best terrain, but I am having a hard time finding all ice to drive on. I am itching to find some terrain so we can see what the big deal about four wheel drive is all about.

We do want to learn the finer points of the functions of the Rav4. I am not so clear on what someone said: ie this is a full time 4x4?!. I can't see that. If we were to drive this car on the highways or pavements with the 4x4 engaged, we would grind the heck out of the diff. Even those tight turns at low speeds had the diff grinding. For dry road driving, I believe the 4x4 button has to be in the off position.

If someone is out there who has some patience to start from the beginning to dispense out some knowledge to a couple of not-so-knowledgeable 4x4'ers, we would definitely appreciate it.

I know these are all really not very good questions. So, whoever has the patience to answer the question with or without flaming, we certainly appreciate it. Please bear with us, we are just a couple of not-so-knowledgeable people--we all have to start somewhere, right? Think back to when you did not have any 4x4 knowledge. . . you probably sounded as dumb as we sound right now. However, over time, you became more knowledgeable and became less dumb-sounding. Well, we ask you to dispense out some of that knowledge you gained over the years to help out a couple of young guys as they learn about 4x4's.

thank you all in advance.

sincerely, Dr. Moser.

Reply to
LovingPerson

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