Can't shift out of 4H P/T or 4H F/T

[MDCCCCLXVI-Ragtop]

Hi all, new to the board here.

My wife just bought a 2003 Limited and we are having a really difficult time getting the 4H P/T or 4H F/T to disengage. We throw the lever back to the 2WD setting and the various 4WD lights on the dash go off, but the t-case won't disengage. After about 20 minutes of fighting with it last night it finally went back to 2WD but I don't know what I did to get it to finally work. I've had several other Jeeps and never had this problem. Have any of you had this problem? If so, how'd you remedy it? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[ShadowedXistence]

I have had this problem before. What had happened was I had the jeep in 4H, forgot to shift it into 2wd before turning it off and then shifted it to 2wd with it off... next time I turned it on I was stuck in 4H... so I shifted it back to 2wd, turned the car off, shifted it to 4H, turned the car back on and then was able to shift out of 4H... so, the only time I have ever had a problem with mine is when I shifted it with the car off... hope this helps

 

[RageOfFury]

Try going in reverse. That did the trick on my dad's XJ back in the day.

 

[JeepJeepster]

What were you doing when you couldnt get it to shift out? Were you sitting in your driveway or??

Its always best to shift the 242 tcase when youre going straight on a road under 55mph. Let off the gas, shift it to either full time for part time, then resume.

Remember, never use part time on hard surfaces such as asphalt or concrete.

 

[MDCCCCLXVI-Ragtop]

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately I tried all those things and still had boatloads of trouble. I won't be home again till tomorrow, but will play with it some more then.

 

[ShadowedXistence]

Well if you got it back into 2wd I wouldn't... play... with it... how bout you just drive it the way you're supposed to drive it and shift it the way it's supposed to be shifted... your owners manual gives you instructions... I wouldn't play with it unless you are still having problems with it... lol... don't fix it if it ain't broke... break it first... jk

 

[MDCCCCLXVI-Ragtop]

Unfortunately, ShadowedX, doing exactly what the manual said got me nowhere. I didn't set out to see if I could make it screw up, I set out to simply see that it would shift into and out of 4WD properly. It didn't.

 

[kb0nly]

Next time you try it get up to about 5-10mph and then shift to full time, you will feel its in 4wd when you try to turn, then while still moving about the same speed push it down to 2wd. Did it go out? If not try reverse, back up a bit, then back to forward. Did it pop out?

If still not then it might be the shift linkage needs adjustment.

 

[ShadowedXistence]

Backing up and driving forward reminds me of the old 4x4s when you had to get out of the vehicle and manually lock the hubs into 4wd

 

[JeepJeepster]

You never did say what it was doing to make you think it wasnt changing out of 4wd.

 

[tjkj2002]

Mis-matched tires,or uneven tread between all the tires can cause the 242 not to shift correctly,as little as 4/32" difference between the tires can cause big issues for the 242.Also check the t-case fluid,old/bad fluid can be at fault also.

 

[MDCCCCLXVI-Ragtop]

You never did say what it was doing to make you think it wasnt changing out of 4wd.

It's pretty unmistakable when you make a sharp turn. The wheel binding is hard to miss.

 

[MDCCCCLXVI-Ragtop]

Thanks everyone. I'll try the various suggestions tomorrow when I get home.

 

[J-Thompson]

MY TJ gave me fits getting in and out of 4wd when I first got it
spent the first 3 years as a pavement queen and never saw 4wd
now it fall right in
best way to get any Jeep in and out of 4wd
from 2wd
drive forward at ~5 mph
shift trans to Neutral
shift to desired 4wd mode
then trans back to Drive (*if traveling on a "trail" then 1st gear will make the trans happier)
to get back to 2wd
do the same thing
I can get in and out of 4wd in my TJ doing this and I have a Detroit locker in the rear
which makes for even more of a bind
which is what causes the T-case to get stuck

 

[Andynator]

Check your front tire pressures. They need to be very close, within 2-3 psi of each other. Otherwise there will be just a slight enough bind that the transfer case won't want to disengage. I was having this problem and found that I was having one tire running 5 psi lower than the other.

Good luck!

 

[MDCCCCLXVI-Ragtop]

tjkj2002 was spot on! There wasn't a huge amount of difference in the tires, but there was some. I put a new set of tires on it and everything shifts flawlessly. Thanks everyone.

 

[kb0nly]

tjkj2002 was spot on! There wasn't a huge amount of difference in the tires, but there was some. I put a new set of tires on it and everything shifts flawlessly. Thanks everyone.

Cool! Must have been time for tires anyway i assume?

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Mine didn't go back into 2wd twice, so I just drove in 4 full until I had the time to mess around...

 

[Truckasaurus44]

I've got the same issue. Had to jack the front off the ground to get it to pop out of 4wd. We put new tires in the front before winter and the rears were in better than decent shape so we figured we'd get a year out of them, but I guess not.

This is a pretty pathetic quirk. My wife drove the truck for two days on dry pavement, stuck in 4wd and never realized it. She just thought the truck "felt funny". Considering how many of these trucks are driven by people who know nothing about 4wd systems, you'd think that jeep would make sure this wasn't such an easy thing to do!

Guess I'll need to buy new tires now...even though I shouldn't need them.

 

[Midgear]

Mis-matched tires,or uneven tread between all the tires can cause the 242 not to shift correctly,as little as 4/32" difference between the tires can cause big issues for the 242.Also check the t-case fluid,old/bad fluid can be at fault also.

I've seen you post this many times, and I hope that solves my issue of not being able to shift out of 4HI- Just slapped new meats on hump.gif

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