Stuck in 4WD

I put it into 4HI on some loose stuff on my way home from work today. When I got to the pavement, I put it back into 2wd and started driving. I noticed when I made sharp turns my front wheels would grab. And I also had BAD vibrations at 30-35 MPH. (Guess I never noticed the vibes before, 'cause I never needed 4wd at 30MPH).
So I knew it was stuck in 4WD and kept going back and forth with the shifter, tyring to get it to go. It finally did after a bunch of times.

What would cause this... More importantly, can I do something underneath when it happens again, so I don't have to sit there and wait for it to work. I remember on my old one it did something like this and there was a lever that the previous owner would yank on to get it to go. But I'm not sure.

I would check the lever and the linkage from the lever to the transfer case, maybe it is loose or bent.

I'll take a look under there today. It's the 242 by the way, if it even makes a difference.

The short answer is to put it back in 2wd while still in the loose stuff.

My wifes xj has the problem of sticking in 4 sometimes, the trick I use is to get going on loose ground, slip the tranny in neutral and pop the t-case into 2wd while still rolling. It doesn't have to do with the lever or anything being wrong, the front and back are just in a little bit of a bind with each other and the disengagement will be slow as long as the gears are under stress.

Check air pressure. I had the same problem before and it turned out that the front tires were about 10lbs lower than the rears.

and yes, as kyle mentioned, it is very important that all of the tires be the same rolling diameter

maybe it was because i didn't put it in neutral. I usually only go in neutral when I shift to 4LO. Other than that, I just roll slowly in gear and switch between 4HI and 2WD.

jeepercreeperXJ said:

maybe it was because i didn't put it in neutral. I usually only go in neutral when I shift to 4LO. Other than that, I just roll slowly in gear and switch between 4HI and 2WD.

Click to expand...

Im sorry, but I think that might be it........................:hang:

This might sound stupid to you but are your U-joints good? My 4wd would never turn on or off when wanted because my U-joints were binding up on me.

I had the same problem on my 99. It does sound like it is going die, just try to get it into 2wd so you can continue to drive it while you find a good replacement. I justed looked at my Quadratec mag and they sell direct replacements for you 242.
Good luck:wave1: