I have a 2007 Tacoma 4x4 and until recently everything was fine. I even got almost 75000 miles out of the stock tires. About a month after the new tires the battery died so I replaced it. Since then the front seems to have a slight vibration and a slight noise. Kinda sounds like when you hear a 4x4 with big mudder tires on pavement. Both the vibration and sound are so slight that others cannot hear or feel it, I just notice having driven it for over 5 years, mostly highway.
When rotating my tires I noticed the front "axles" (sorry, don't know what the proper name is) turn with the tires. With the wheel off I tried holding the "axle" while turning the disk brake but it was as if the hub was locked in. A neighbor who seemed to think he'd heard of it before asked if I'd changed out the batter or had to disconnect it which of course I had. He said that maybe the electronic hubs were not unlocking. The tires still spin freely as the transfer case is not engaged but both of the axles coming from it spin with the tires.
I'm pretty sure this is not normal and wonder if anyone has had or heard of this and what the fix is? Is there something that needs to be reset?
And I'm guessing about the battery part, just that it seems to have started right around that time.