Engaging 4H

[Sirikta]

Okay, so I've driven a 4WD before. Our truck has PT4WD...we had a Rav with it and I drove a rental Jeep for about a month that I tested out the 4WD in...and none of them ever felt like they were going to break my wrist....until my 22 JLU.

Is it supposed to be that tight at first? Going from 4H to 4L is fine, but I legitimately feel like putting into 4H is going to either snap my wrist or snap the shifter (pretty sure the shifter would win.)

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[Deleted member 59498]

Its a common problem on new ones, mine was like that and I had to work it many times to break it in. Plus let the jeep roll a little when new it may help a lot for shifting. Once it gets a little worn in I have had no problem shifting from 2h to 4h even at a dead stop.

Some of the recommendations:

Push forward first then pull back
Push a little to the left first then pull back
Get up to 5mph and shift.

The other annoyance I had when brand new was it would sometimes pop out of 4h back to 2h...

 

[Sirikta]

Its a common problem on new ones, mine was like that and I had to work it many times to break it in. Plus let the jeep roll a little when new it may help a lot for shifting. Once it gets a little worn in I have had no problem shifting from 2h to 4h even at a dead stop.

Some of the recommendations:

Push forward first then pull back
Push a little to the left first then pull back
Get up to 5mph and shift.

Okay, that makes me feel a little better lol. I took it over to a lot and tried out different speeds, wheel positions...the push/pull...everything. Nothing seems to make a difference so hopefully the lovely Ohio winter weather will be enough to break her in

 

[Sirikta]

The other annoyance I had when brand new was it would sometimes pop out of 4h back to 2h...

....wait, what? That's terrifying lol

 

[wolf]

After a little experience a person will get the (feel) of when the gears are seated. If not seated it will pop out of 4h back to 2h. The time it happened to me, it was my own fault(gears not seated totally). Like someone posted earlier, you can shift into 4h or 4l while not moving. I always put my transfer case into 4l when I park for obvious reasons. This also works the system and gets easier as time goes by. Go out and play around with the system also pay attention to the engagement lights. Enjoy that jeep.

 

[Deleted member 59498]

....wait, what? That's terrifying lol

Haha I think Wolf above is right it is not as bad as it sounds in writing.

 

[EXPFDR]

Hopefully you can get that 1st shift into 4H, then it gets easier after that. I was fortunate to be able to give it a hard tug and it made its way into 4H. Make sure you read up on how to put it in 4L, thats a different procedure.

 

[Sirikta]

Hopefully you can get that 1st shift into 4H, then it gets easier after that. I was fortunate to be able to give it a hard tug and it made its way into 4H. Make sure you read up on how to put it in 4L, thats a different procedure.

I did eventually get it to go in to 4H and then all the way down to 4L and back up to 2H. By that point I was just happy it was back so I didn't mess with it anymore

 

[EXPFDR]

I did eventually get it to go in to 4H and then all the way down to 4L and back up to 2H. By that point I was just happy it was back so I didn't mess with it anymore

Congrats and welcome to the 4H/L club. I hope that you don't have to do it anymore, until you are driving down that Ohio back road, look left and see a muddy trail and say, I can do this!!

 

[WreckEm711]

I legitimately thought i was going to snap the shifter the first few times. I took it out to an empty parking lotand just shifted in and out of 4H, 4L, until it felt reasonable. It gets better the more you use it

 

[DavidArmen]

I think almost every one of us legitimately thought we were going to break the lever the first time we tried to shift. Every JL is known to have a very very stiff tcase lever from factory. It loosens right up with use. Even if you don’t hit the dirt often, practice shifting from time to time. Either when stationary or on straight roads where you can keep the wheels straight.

 

[rfm8os]

On my 2020 JLUR the lever felt very stiff and difficult to move the first couple of times I tried it. I also thought something might be wrong with it. But I worked it a few times and either it broke in a bit or I just learned how to move it but either way I don't have any issues with it now.

 

[hiimmike]

If I had a nickel for each new "is it hard to get into 4hi?", I'd probably have like $5 but still that's a lot of nickels.

 

[Tharris]

Okay, so I've driven a 4WD before. Our truck has PT4WD...we had a Rav with it and I drove a rental Jeep for about a month that I tested out the 4WD in...and none of them ever felt like they were going to break my wrist....until my 22 JLU.

Is it supposed to be that tight at first? Going from 4H to 4L is fine, but I legitimately feel like putting into 4H is going to either snap my wrist or snap the shifter (pretty sure the shifter would win.)

It was very difficult to move gears when I first bought my jlu rubicon. However I have found that when the Jeep is moving it is very easy. If the Jeep is in park on an incline/decline relaxing in the gear it is impossible to move. I also have found it to not be A straight down pull on the lever but a angled grab. Hope that helps

 

[MIAZ]

Back in October I had another problem that dealerships finally took care of. Anyway part of the attempted fixes entailed dropping the transfer case to replace a sensor. Several days later I wanted to go into 4 H because of a sandy stretch, it went into 4 H for a short distance and then popped into neutral. I pushed it back into 4H and manually held it there and got through the sand. I brought it into the dealership and they had a transmission guy look at it. Previously I looked at Utube and found out there’s an adjustment on the cable for the transfer case, yup, Utube was right , the transmission tech adjusted the cable and it’s easier to use now and stays where it’s supposed to. So maybe a short adjustment on the transfer case cable might make it better???

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