Wheels Off Road

1988 Toyota Pickup 4x4 Drive Wheels?

What wheels on a 1988 Toyota 4x4 pickup actually are under power while in 4 wheel drive ? Is it the front driver, and the rear passenger? I have also heard that it may be both front wheels, and the Rear Driver. I just need to know what wheels spin, and which ones don't. I bought the truck for in the woods use only, very cheap, and need to know which wheels to put the 2 best tires on for max traction. I will not be putting locking diffs on it. I figure tha tif only 2 wheels spin, then I only need 2 tires with good tread, and the other 2 can have marginal tread. This truck will never see the road again. Any help will be useful thank you.

Public Comments

1. All 4 wheels
2. They switch. Really. That truck came with open differential in the front and the rear. An open differential sends power to the wheel with the LEAST amount of traction. In short you get one for the front axle and one for the rear axle and it goes back and forth depending on traction. Ever get stuck and see the one tire spin and the other side just sit there? That is an open differential in action! On that toyota, if you only switch one side hub(driver or passenger) to lock and shift into 4wd, neither front tire will pull. Since the one set to free doesn't have any resistance, it will spin that side not turn the other tire. If you want both tires on one axle to pull, look up Detroit locker or Aussie locker. Those are things that replace the open carrier in the axle and will apply power to both wheels. the reason it isn't like that from the factory is that an open differential rides alot nicer on the street. edit: If you just want to know where to put the best tires, put them both on either the front or the rear, that way at least one of them is always turning. It's impossible to know which will turn on the front and rear cause it will be different for each situation. Since you are using this as a woods truck and it will never be on the street again, consider welding the spider gears, aka Lincoln locker. You just weld the spider gears in the carrier together and thats it. Very low $$$$ if you know how to weld or have someone that can do it for you. That will make it act the same as a full spool. That will make both wheels spin at the same speed no matter what. Makes a HUGE difference in where your truck will be able to go. I ran a welded rear for a while and it was sweet. :)
3. An 88 would be normally driving the rear 2 wheels, and, when in 4 wheel drive mode, all 4 would be driven. You may see 1 or 2 tires not spinning when off road, but that's because the truck does not have locked diffs.