4Low causing major tranny heat and problems with AW4.

Now me and my roommate have both experienced this problem. We live in michigan and sometimes when wheeling we tend to use 4Low in the trials because of how tore up the snow and shit is. It's nice to be able to go slower and put the jeep through less beating. After using 4Low for an extended period when going back to 4hi or 2 hi the trans will be stuck in like 2nd or 3rd gear. If we use 4hi the whole time we will not experience problems at all and the trans will shift through the gears fine. What causes 4low to mess my trans up and build excessive heat?

How fast are you going in 4 low? Remember that if you are in 4 low and have shifted into 3 or even overdrive, the trans is still moving at a speed that is equivelant to freeway speeds without cooling the tranny off with the fast moving air from freeway speeds. My suggestion is to put a big cooler on there, or stay out of 4 low.

typically it is prolly in 3rd and maybe 20mph tops. I never thought about how the tranny will still be moving at such speeds before in 4low. Makes sense though.

bump

20mph is much too fast for 4low, i would keep it under 10. 4low is a crawling gear not a driving gear. its meant only for creeping along very slowly. if you need to go slow leave it in high gear and drop to 1-2 and idle along.

GrimmJeeper said:

20mph is much too fast for 4low, i would keep it under 10. 4low is a crawling gear not a driving gear. its meant only for creeping along very slowly. if you need to go slow leave it in high gear and drop to 1-2 and idle along.

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Now that's odd. I seem to have the opposite problem--if I crawl in 4 hi the temps go up. A lot of our trails require intervals of up to 20-25, then a crawl--repeat and repeat. Getting in and out of 4 Lo is a PITA so it tends to get left there and use D and OD when neccessary.