Delay in going from 4LO to 4HI

[Markarian421]

Yesterday I was in 4LO a few times, the last time to climb a sandy hill. Center and rear diffs locked and MTS in sand mode. When I got past the steep part, I tried unlocking the diffs, shutting off MTS, and going back into 4HI. It wouldn’t do it — on the screen both lockers and “4LO” were flashing. I tried rolling back a bit, put it in reverse, back in neutral, drive, back in neutral, etc. I finally pulled over on a turn out, as I did the lockers finally disengaged. Then 4LO with a thunk, while I was still in drive. It shook the truck. Yikes. All seemed fine after that. I haven’t tried 4LO since. This isn’t the first time I’ve used 4LO, it’s never been a problem before. Anyone else encounter this?

 

[NoMe cruiser]

It hasn’t happened to me no. What I would try to avoid would be to not drive in 4 hi if 4 lo is still engaged and vice versa. Meaning if you’re in 4lo and stop, put transmission in neutral, push the switch into 4hi and the 4lo light is still on… I would not drive around like that. I would put the switch back into 4lo drive at least a few feet and attempt to put it in 4hi again. Also try to unlock the differentials before trying to get back into 4hi. 4lo will function without center differential locked. Rear differential may not engage or disengage immediately, you may have to drive several feet before it engages or disengages. The one thing that comes to mind is perhaps you tried to switch into 4hi while your rear differential was still locked??? Make sure that rear differential is unlocked before trying to get back into 4hi.

 

[Markarian421]

It hasn’t happened to me no. What I would try to avoid would be to not drive in 4 hi if 4 lo is still engaged and vice versa. Meaning if you’re in 4lo and stop, put transmission in neutral, push the switch into 4hi and the 4lo light is still on… I would not drive around like that. I would put the switch back into 4lo drive at least a few feet and attempt to put it in 4hi again. Also try to unlock the differentials before trying to get back into 4hi. 4lo will function without center differential locked. Rear differential may not engage or disengage immediately, you may have to drive several feet before it engages or disengages. The one thing that comes to mind is perhaps you tried to switch into 4hi while your rear differential was still locked??? Make sure that rear differential is unlocked before trying to get back into 4hi.

Yeah I unlocked the diffs but didn’t notice they’d failed to unlock before trying to switch to H4. Maybe that was it. Then I went into D so I could pull over. Next time I’ll take it slow. It hadn’t done this to me before so it caught me off guard — my previous switches had generally gone smoother than they did in my FJ