Toyota 4Runner vs Land Cruiser - Which 4WD System Is Best?

Is Full-Time or Part-Time 4WD Better? Toyota 4Runner/Tacoma vs Land Cruiser 4WD!
Deep dive into how these 4WD systems work, and the advantages of each.

The Toyota Land Cruiser and the Toyota 4Runner are both highly capable off-road vehicles, but, which one has the better four-wheel-drive system? All Land Cruisers come with Full-Time 4WD, where as most 4Runners come with Part-Time 4WD. In this video we’ll explain exactly how both systems work, what the advantages are of each, and ultimately discuss which system is superior. The Toyota Tacoma has the same 4WD system as the 4Runner, so anything in this video that applies to the 4Runner also applies to the Tacoma.

Once we have a general understanding of how transfer cases work, we'll dive into the following questions:
How does the low range gear selection work?
How does the full-time system create a 40/60 torque split?
How does the Torsen center differential work?
How does the part-time system select 4WD?

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[drock]

As a professional tech, I think you should cover a planetary gear set with a whole video of its own. Sun gear is its gear count, ring gear is its gear count, planetary carrier is the the effective gear count of the sun plus the ring. This arrangement based on one member input, one member held and the other output can yield underdrive, overdrive, forward, reverse. You should do a whiteboard video to describe the various applications of a planetary gearset itself on the automotive industry. I think so many laypersons do not understand the basic concept of planetary gears. The Toyota Synergy drive is probably the most genius/simple transmission ever designed. As a heavy truck tech, we have planetary wheel ends and 2 speed rear axles using planetary gearsets. I think the general public would greatly benefit from your explanation of how these gearsets work. Love your work! Keep it coming!!!

[ltkwok]

Even when I have no need to know the subject matter, in this case why 2 vehicles have 2 different 4wd, I like how Jason explains stuff… and painlessly stuff more knowledge into my brain.

[KevinLin]

Finally a good video combining all the knowledge into one. This is like hundreds of pages of 4Runner vs GX vs 200 vs Tacomas forums consolidated into one video.

[TinkerersAdventure]

Fantastic explanation Jason! Well needed for the Toyota off-road community, especially the torque split misconception.

[leftcoaster]

Jason with Engineering Explained and Ryan at FortNine are two of the best teachers of both Automotive and Motorcycle Engineering on Youtube. Only difference is Ryan slides in some slick humour. Both are amazing at what they do.

[bcschafer]

Is it just me or are other viewers excited when the white board gets revealed in one of these videos? I am always waiting through the intro to see what Jason has in store for me on the white board. This one is a GREAT one!

[willb]

I love this guy. He takes the incomprehensible and makes it almost understandable. 😁. Seriously, this is a great channel. Even in a case like this where the answer is obvious, it is fun to learn the reasons and understand why.

[CACressida]

3rd gen 4Runners hsd a lovely multimode transfercase option. It was 4x2, push of a button gave you AWD open center differential that waa shiftable into AWD low range which was extremely handy backing trailers with surge brakes up steep driveways and thrn you could lock the center differential for a true 50/50 locked center diff in high or low range. This option was carried over into the V6 4th gen 4x4s and then disconnected for the 5th gen.

[jensalan]

What many don't realize is that the 4th gen 4runner had everything available at its disposal, but only in the V6 models.
You could select 2hi, 4hi, 4lo. And since selecting the Torsen center diff was independent of whether it was in 4hi or 4lo, you could technically run in AWD Lo and never bind.

It was the best of all worlds, but my guess is Toyota had to simplify it because most people didn't understand how it worked. Many still get the new systems confused which have less to choose from.

[__dm__]

This is actually an amazing video; I've always wondered about how AWD/4WD is implemented and if you extrapolate from this video it really makes a lot of sense.
Really appreciated the no-slip torque split explanation; I always wondered how that's implemented.

[BrianPetersen-lw]

Great explanation of a complex problem. As a side note, I have been driving my 2008 4Runner (RWD SR5) for over 15.5 years and it always gets 20.1 mpg in the city (with a light foot on the gas and stock 17" tires). I live in NE Iowa and it has gotten me through the worst snow storms ever with no problem. Sometimes a simple system can be the best choice.

[jggiango]

Now this is the content I want to watch. No fancy stuff like the other videos but clearly explains how this work. Well done!

[jcheil]

As you mentioned, the 4-runner Limited model has exactly the same full-time AWD and locking center differential as the land cruiser. I trade in every 2 years and stick with the limited edition and I am nearly always off-road in Florida (sugar sand and mud) and it never lets me down. Best production off road vehicle you can buy IMO. Jeep doesn't even stand a chance against them for reliability and features.

[km_attack]

Dude... Next level explanation & top shelf presentation! My favorite YT channel for years and continues to up the game. So impressive.

[brohammer]

*eyes glazed over*
appreciate all the time and effort for this explanation -- but holy cow that's a lot

[BubblesTheCat]

In South Africa, the Landcruiser only comes with a 2.8 litre turbodiesel engine, also found in the Hilux. It's got something like 500 Nm of torque from as low as 1200 rpm. It's awesome!

[cedrichorf]

I finally understood torsen differentials, what a great video 👍

[thatoneotherotherguy]

This was a SUPER helpful video. I have a 2023 4Runner with the part-time 4WD system. I always wondered how the full-time 4WD Limited models did it differently. I had no idea a Torsen diff (or at least this particular one) was a planetary gearset. I had a '99 Limited 4Runner with a fancy transfer case that ran the full gamut from 2hi, 4hi part time, 4hi full-time, and 4lo, I wonder how that got it all done.

We also own a 2023 Outback. After this, I went back to your seven year old video on Subaru AWD systems as a refresher. There's so many different ways to do this! I wonder if an update on the Subaru video would be worth it? Looks like they no longer offer two of the four systems shown in that video, and I wonder if they've changed functionality at all on the latest generation stuff.

And finally, ALL of these systems seem so complicated compared to just independent dual-motor AWD on most EVs. I look forward to electric offroading once it arrives in more mainstream, smaller models.

[Andrei_KGK]

My 2007 FJ Cruiser 6-speed manual has the same torsen diff. Pretty cool stuff

[MarkRose]

My 2004 4Runner has full time 4WD. It's nice in winter when the road is alternating between snow and bare. It handles better in most situations with the center diff unlocked and I've only used the center diff lock a few times where I needed it.