Selec-trac input needed!

Hi,

I have a bit of problems with my selec trac (limited '92, 4.0l, 146K). It works fine shifting to part time 4wd but getting it to full time 4wd (hi) is problematic. The lever hits the end and I need to move it right and pull it slightly toward neutral, and then let it go. Then I need to stop the car, reverse, and forward again; and then it will (sometimes) pop into 4wd full time. From what I read in other threads this could well be a simple matter of changing the length of the lever on the t-case slightly -- making it slightly shorter, right? What about changing the oil? Good idea or not generally needed?

Then, because I had to pull it a little further, I accidentely got it into N (on the T-case). Can anybody tell me what the procedure is to get it out of N? Unless I completely stopped the car and put in N (on the tranny), I was unable to get it to enganged again (so out of N). Is this normal? Something wrong? I have the manual, but it didn't mention anything special about how to get it out of N on the t-case. Anyway, just confused about this.

If there's something out there (url,book,anything) that could help me to fully understand how this transfer case works, please let me know.

Thanks for any input!

Tim

dutchjeep said:

Hi,

I have a bit of problems with my selec trac (limited '92, 4.0l, 146K). It works fine shifting to part time 4wd but getting it to full time 4wd (hi) is problematic. The lever hits the end and I need to move it right and pull it slightly toward neutral, and then let it go.

Click to expand...

This sounds a lot like a misadjusted linkage. A quick search should turn up what you need to know to do it.

Then I need to stop the car, reverse, and forward again; and then it will (sometimes) pop into 4wd full time. From what I read in other threads this could well be a simple matter of changing the length of the lever on the t-case slightly -- making it slightly shorter, right? What about changing the oil? Good idea or not generally needed?

Click to expand...

Mine usually needs to do more or less this to get out of low range; are you sure it's engaging 4FT and not 4LO? I'm able to engage both high ranges without having to roll the vehicle one direction or the other.

Changing the fluid in the transfer case every year or so is definitely a good idea; it takes all of about 20 minutes to do. DO NOT USE GEAR OIL; the 242 transfer case takes regular (i.e., no additives) ATF. It really helps with its operation overall; just be sure to have a pump available to screw on to the ATF bottle as trying to fill through the fill hole without one is nearly impossible unless you like spilling ATF everywhere

Then, because I had to pull it a little further, I accidentely got it into N (on the T-case). Can anybody tell me what the procedure is to get it out of N? Unless I completely stopped the car and put in N (on the tranny), I was unable to get it to enganged again (so out of N). Is this normal? Something wrong? I have the manual, but it didn't mention anything special about how to get it out of N on the t-case. Anyway, just confused about this.

Click to expand...

Shifting out of neutral is typically just a case of sliding it back into one of the three high ranges. The only time I've needed to have the transmission shift lever in neutral as well was to get into or out of 4LO (and that applied to my previous XJ with the 231 as well). From the way you're describing things, I'm really suspecting that the transfer case shifter linkage is a bit out of whack.

If there's something out there (url,book,anything) that could help me to fully understand how this transfer case works, please let me know.

Click to expand...

Others can probably recommend better resources for that than I can, but a fluid change and linkage adjustment will likely solve the issues you're having. Try them first and if they don't do it, let us know what, if anything, has changed.

Thanks for the input!

Have adjusted the lever a little and voila, works really well. Shifts into 4wd full time with no problems, and also out of that works ok. However, getting it out of part-time still gives some problems. It requires 4 to 5 times changing from D to R. I haven't change the oil yet, but could this really be caused by the oil being too old or dirty? Or is this repeated D-R shifting normal to get from part-time 4wd to 2wd.

Thanks again. This weekend will do the oil change.

Tim