The "Two-Low" mod

I was afraid of that. Thanks for clearing that up. I'll keep checking back to follow the developement of this mod for the 05.

Kent

wow i thought i heard somehwere 05's didnt even have low range, I feel much better now if they do.

Glad to hear you're feeling better


Kent

confused

I hate being confused Hopefully someone can clear this up for me. I have a 2004 manual w/ TRD locker. I unplugged the blue wire on the driver's side of the t-case/transmission. Now I can shift into 2-lo w/o 4wd kicking in - perfect!

I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but now when I try to engage the locker, the rrdiff light keeps flashing. I've tried the the usual pulling forward, turning, backing up, etc.

I'm just curious if unplugging the blue plug screws up engaging the locker before I dive into tearing apart the locker actuator. I have not done the grey wire mod.

Is there a different 2lo mod for a manual vs. an automatic? For some reason I had a hard time discerning that from all of the different posts in this thread. Thanks!

kinda fixed

Well, I guess I kind of answered my own question. I just plugged the driver's side blue plug back together and now the locker engages perfectly. Sooo...., what the heck do I need to do to get the 2-lo mod and still have my locker work?

For what it's worth I recommend that you take that locker ECU thing out and toss it. Then replace it with a simple swicth circuit that is detailed in the FAQ/Tech section. Then you can do what you want and lock it up when you want.

Dick, I just read your awesome write up on that. I may do just that.

From what I gather from this thread, I need to do the grey wire mod in order for the locker to work with the 2lo mod, is that correct?

Don't know about all those colored wires and such. When I did 2 low I just put a simple switch in one of the wires going to the 4WD limit switch on the transfer case and it worked like a champ. If you do that and the locker switch, you'll be all set.

cheez said:

Dick, I just read your awesome write up on that. I may do just that.

From what I gather from this thread, I need to do the grey wire mod in order for the locker to work with the 2lo mod, is that correct?

Click to expand...

if all you had done was the blue plug mod, then you could have used your locker when you were in 2-lo and the 4wd button engaged (putting you in 4-lo).
to be able to use your locker whenever, you can re-wire it to a simple switch like Dick is talking about or you can do the grey wire mod.

Zintradi said:

if all you had done was the blue plug mod, then you could have used your locker when you were in 2-lo and the 4wd button engaged (putting you in 4-lo).

Click to expand...

That doesn't seem true, at least not in my case. I unplugged the blue plug for the 2-lo mod. I shifted the transfer case into 4-lo and engaged 4wd by pushing the 4wd button. The locker would not engage to safe it's life.

As soon as I plugged the blue plug back together, shifted into 4-lo (now 4wd automatically engages like it should) and pushed the diff button, the locker engaged almost instantly.

I then unplugged the blue plug, again shifted into 4-lo in 4wd, and the locker does not work.

Therefore, something is not letting the locker engage when I have the "2-lo" mod done.

That's why I'm wondering if I need to do the grey wire mod first in order for the 2-lo mod to work. Obviously I could do what Dick suggests to get around all of it but I'm hesitant since I'm still under warranty.

Are you 100% certain that the locker is not engaging? Or are you simply seeing the blinking light and assuming it's not? I have seen this before on a couple of rigs and although the light continued to blink, the locker was locking up fine. The problem was in the feeback circuit, not the locking circuit.

I can definitely hear and feel it clunk in when it does and the light stops blinking immediately. I tried everywhich way with the blue plug unplugged and the locker would not engage. As soon as I plugged the blue plug back together, the locker engaged almost immediately after I pushed the button.

That's first for me then. I have seen several that still locked but the light kept blinking, but I have never seen one where the 2low mod actually had any effect on the locker.

Must be a Monday truck? ahhahahhahahha

I'll try unplugging the blue plug a 3rd time just for the heck of it. Maybe I'll try it out with the rear jacked up. Maybe this weekend I'll get around to doing the grey wire mod to see if that has any impact on this 2-lo mod.

I'm pretty sure an '04 is the same as any other Tacoma except the '05.

Mine did the exact same thing. You need to do the grey wire mod. After I did the 2-Lo mod mine wouldn't lock up until I did the grey wire mod. Did the grey wire mod and now it locks up perfect.

I love 2-Lo!

PaulW said:

Mine did the exact same thing. You need to do the grey wire mod. After I did the 2-Lo mod mine wouldn't lock up until I did the grey wire mod. Did the grey wire mod and now it locks up perfect.

I love 2-Lo!

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

Wait a minute, did I read that correctly? If you do just the two-low mod, of course the locker won't engage. One of the checks that the locker ECU does is that the transfer case is in FOUR low, with the diff engaged. You would HAVE to do the gray wire mod for the locker to work in anything but four low.

I will update the write up.

cheez said:

That's why I'm wondering if I need to do the grey wire mod first in order for the 2-lo mod to work. Obviously I could do what Dick suggests to get around all of it but I'm hesitant since I'm still under warranty.

Click to expand...

Well I would just do the grey wire then, it takes all of about 10 minutes and just get some high quality connectors from radio shack and rig it up so you could hook it back together in stock cofiguration quikly if you had to take it in.

WATRD said:

Wait a minute, did I read that correctly? If you do just the two-low mod, of course the locker won't engage. One of the checks that the locker ECU does is that the transfer case is in FOUR low, with the diff engaged. You would HAVE to do the gray wire mod for the locker to work in anything but four low.

I will update the write up.

Click to expand...

That was my problem with the 2-lo mod. Even with it shifted into FOUR low (diff engaged) I could not get the locker to work. I think the locker just doesn't like something about unplugging the blue plug, even in 4-lo.

One of the inputs in the locker ECU is to ensure that 4WD is enabled, if it's not, no locker. That is along with speed and low range. I think the speed input is the most troublesome but the other two can be faked out if it's desired to keep the ECU. In my mind it's best just to eliminate it and go with a simple switch like all other selectable lockers on the market.