Hello
I have a 2010 Toyota Rav4. It has a 4WD lock button. I didn't know 4WD had gears.
I started driving an old pickup truck at work and it has it's own gearbox and lever.
How does one system have a lever and gears and the other system just have a lock button with no gears.
Thank you
-Michael from Buffalo
there are more kinds of 4WD/AWD systems than there are flavours of ice cream.
Some are purely mechanical, some electro-mechanical, active, passive, full-time, part-time and on and on ... and various combinations of each.
The lock button probably locks the center differential for extremely slippery conditions.
There are a variety of methods that can be used to control four-wheel-drive systems. Some are just permanently engaged. Some use mechanical levers. Some use vacuum or electronic controls. Some have a separate transfer case, and some have the function built into the transmission.
I used to have an AMC Eagle that had a switch under the dashboard used to select 2WD or 4WD as needed. It was a vacuum switch that operated a servo on the transfer case. (When that failed as it often did you could just get under the car and operate the transfer case with a wrench.)
