Turning in 4H

[Gunfighter]

Didn't know they made a Tori Spelling doll....hurts the eyes.

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[richardya]

Always mean to ask: if someone is driving and gets stuck in mud, aka not rolling, how do they shift to 4L?

Also: For non rock crawlers, should we shift to 4L going straight on pavement for 10 feet or so every year?

My jeep never been in 4L. : (

 

[Bobby Hank]

Ok so my main shifter has to be in neutral before I can shift down to 4L? There a neutral before the 4L (between 4H and 4L) I have to pass that to get to 4L but didn’t realize my main shifter ALSO has to be in neutral. Is that right?

PLEASE read the manual. Preferably the digital version, which goes into great detail and it much bigger than the one in the glove box.

 

[Roky]

Always mean to ask: if someone is driving and gets stuck in mud, aka not rolling, how do they shift to 4L?

Also: For non rock crawlers, should we shift to 4L going straight on pavement for 10 feet or so every year?

My jeep never been in 4L. : (

You do NOT have to be moving to shift into 4L, it’s easier for some rigs, but it’s not a necessity…. We’re in 4L almost every weekend for 5 years now, I can almost use voice command, ? mine works the best at a stop and in N…… like butta….

 

[jeepoch]

I'm no expert, but my manual states that the preferred method for shifting into 4L is with the trans. In neutral and rolling about 1 to 3 or 4 miles an hour. Not at a complete stop.

Is does state that it can be done at a stop, but it is not the preferred method, and you may have a lot of difficulty attempting to go into 4L at a complete stop.


My jeep shifts into 4L beautifully while rolling under about 5 miles per hour. After owning it for a while and playing with it, this is the only way I shift into 4L. (Because it works best)

Darryl,

When you really think about it in a physics perspective this makes perfect sense. Any type of gearing is typically implemented with both teeth and cogs. One side has the teeth the other side has the mating cogs. When 'in' gear these two align, are meshed and power can be transfered. When 'out' of gear, these two are pulled apart, generally via a lever and clutch.

With a simple transfer case (no auto 4WD or AWD), there is typically no clutch only a shift lever. This means that the action of the lever itself is the primary mechanism that takes the teeth 'in' or 'out' of its mating cog.

When selecting (moving) from 2H to 4H there is no actual gear change. The transfer case remains in High gear. It only now engages (provides power) to the front drive shaft. This is why you can safely shift from 2H to 4H, or vice versa at higher speeds. No gearing is actually modified.

However from 4H to 4L, a gear change is required. The teeth must be disengaged from the High gear cogs (via transfer case Neutral) and engaged with the Low gear cogs when shoving the shift lever into 4L.

If everything is in alignment then no issue. The teeth and cogs both 'mesh' and you're good to go. However, if they don't align (and there's a very good chance they won't, at least while stopped) then this meshing can't happen and no gear change will occur.

In order to attain alignment, either the input shaft (from the transmission) or the output shaft (to the wheels) must move. When one of these shafts rotate just a little, the teeth and cogs become aligned and the shift into the lower gear can now more easily occur.

Generally, it is recommended to leave the transmission in Neutral (no input shaft rotation) and let the wheels move (output shaft rotation, either direction forward or backward is OK) but at very low speed. This ensures the least amount of torque is present.

If the vehicle is stopped and stuck (can't move due to obstacles, conditions, etc.) then the transmission can be placed in any gear including reverse in order to align the teeth and cogs. However, greater care must be made because even at idle the engine can produce pretty significant torque compared to what is actually needed.

Recall, very (very) slight rotational movement is required to find the 'sweet' spot to align both the teeth with the cogs. The secret sauce here is incredibly small movement under extremely low power. Anything else (again nearly nothing) can cause grinding. Any grinding (whatsoever) is detrimental, this is what causes metal shavings and the wearing of the metal of both the teeth and cogs. With enough shaving over time, the teeth won't be able to stay engaged under normal power.

Most people falsely believe that they have to 'wear-in' their transfer case in order to make shifting easier. While that may certainly be true, the end result is that they get shaved teeth and a lot of metal shavings in their transfer case fluid. Sorry, but that's never (ever) the mechanically correct answer.

The easiest way to shift into or out of 4L is very slow movement. Moving the vehicle's wheels rather than transmission is always the preferred method.

With just the smallest amount of practice you'll be able to shift in and out of any 4WD gear with both ease and minimal grinding. Without a more expensive AWD or auto 4WD transfer case option being installed in your rig, this shifting alignment is all up to you, not the equipment.

Last note, very modern transfer case designs have pretty radically cool gearing mechanisms. I've used the terms 'teeth' and 'cogs' simply as a visual aid in understanding the fundamental concepts. Rest assured the transfer cases used in these Jeeps are both rugged and high quality so some amount of 'abuse' can be tolerated. But it is up to each driver to minimize the wear and tear to their own level of desire. For some, that grinding noise is music to their ears.

For me, it's like fingernails running across a chalkboard or someone singing out of key. I prefer the swift easy and silent shifts. But hey who am I to gauge how people drive their gear (pun intended).

Hope this helps.

Kind regards, happy Jeeping
Jay

 

[longfiredragon]

Darryl,

When you really think about it in a physics perspective this makes perfect sense. Any type of gearing is typically implemented with both teeth and cogs. One side has the teeth the other side has the mating cogs. When 'in' gear these two align, are meshed and power can be transfered. When 'out' of gear, these two are pulled apart, generally via a lever and clutch.

With a simple transfer case (no auto 4WD or AWD), there is typically no clutch only a shift lever. This means that the action of the lever itself is the primary mechanism that takes the teeth 'in' or 'out' of its mating cog.

When selecting (moving) from 2H to 4H there is no actual gear change. The transfer case remains in High gear. It only now engages (provides power) to the front drive shaft. This is why you can safely shift from 2H to 4H, or vice versa at higher speeds. No gearing is actually modified.

However from 4H to 4L, a gear change is required. The teeth must be disengaged from the High gear cogs (via transfer case Neutral) and engaged with the Low gear cogs when shoving the shift lever into 4L.

If everything is in alignment then no issue. The teeth and cogs both 'mesh' and you're good to go. However, if they don't align (and there's a very good chance they won't, at least while stopped) then this meshing can't happen and no gear change will occur.

In order to attain alignment, either the input shaft (from the transmission) or the output shaft (to the wheels) must move. When one of these shafts rotate just a little, the teeth and cogs become aligned and the shift into the lower gear can now more easily occur.

Generally, it is recommended to leave the transmission in Neutral (no input shaft rotation) and let the wheels move (output shaft rotation, either direction forward or backward is OK) but at very low speed. This ensures the least amount of torque is present.

If the vehicle is stopped and stuck (can't move due to obstacles, conditions, etc.) then the transmission can be placed in any gear including reverse in order to align the teeth and cogs. However, greater care must be made because even at idle the engine can produce pretty significant torque compared to what is actually needed.

Recall, very (very) slight rotational movement is required to find the 'sweet' spot to align both the teeth with the cogs. The secret sauce here is incredibly small movement under extremely low power. Anything else (again nearly nothing) can cause grinding. Any grinding (whatsoever) is detrimental, this is what causes metal shavings and the wearing of the metal of both the teeth and cogs. With enough shaving over time, the teeth won't be able to stay engaged under normal power.

Most people falsely believe that they have to 'wear-in' their transfer case in order to make shifting easier. While that may certainly be true, the end result is that they get shaved teeth and a lot of metal shavings in their transfer case fluid. Sorry, but that's never (ever) the mechanically correct answer.

The easiest way to shift into or out of 4L is very slow movement. Moving the vehicle's wheels rather than transmission is always the preferred method.

With just the smallest amount of practice you'll be able to shift in and out of any 4WD gear with both ease and minimal grinding. Without a more expensive AWD or auto 4WD transfer case option being installed in your rig, this shifting alignment is all up to you, not the equipment.

Last note, very modern transfer case designs have pretty radically cool gearing mechanisms. I've used the terms 'teeth' and 'cogs' simply as a visual aid in understanding the fundamental concepts. Rest assured the transfer cases used in these Jeeps are both rugged and high quality so some amount of 'abuse' can be tolerated. But it is up to each driver to minimize the wear and tear to their own level of desire. For some, that grinding noise is music to their ears.

For me, it's like fingernails running across a chalkboard or someone singing out of key. I prefer the swift easy and silent shifts. But hey who am I to gauge how people drive there gear (pun intended).

Hope this helps.

Kind regards, happy Jeeping
Jay

Thank u. I know this, but wasn't going to go so deep. Even the manual explains this somewhat.

But again thanks for clarifying.

Happy jeeping brother.

 

[jeepoch]

Thank u. I know this, but wasn't going to go so deep. Even the manual explains this somewhat.

But again thanks for clarifying.

Happy jeeping brother.

Darryl,

Sorry didn't mean to imply any lack of knowledge on your part (my bad if that's how it seemed). You're post just happened to remind me of how little some people never really stop to think how things work.

I didn't mean this to sound like a lecture. I'm really no expert. I know little and can very well likely prove it.

But I am a physicist by degree and an engineer by trade and it amazes me how many really struggle with this subject. I used the opportunity to simply take the deeper dive.

Again sorry, I coat-tailed into your post simply because it brought up the idea of the driver, not the equipment is the real reason why these 4WD shifts can be so difficult.

Thank you kindly for your post. Made my morning.

Cheers,
Jay

 

[Elysian Highlands]

Darryl,

When you really think about it in a physics perspective this makes perfect sense. Any type of gearing is typically implemented with both teeth and cogs. One side has the teeth the other side has the mating cogs. When 'in' gear these two align, are meshed and power can be transfered. When 'out' of gear, these two are pulled apart, generally via a lever and clutch.

With a simple transfer case (no auto 4WD or AWD), there is typically no clutch only a shift lever. This means that the action of the lever itself is the primary mechanism that takes the teeth 'in' or 'out' of its mating cog.

When selecting (moving) from 2H to 4H there is no actual gear change. The transfer case remains in High gear. It only now engages (provides power) to the front drive shaft. This is why you can safely shift from 2H to 4H, or vice versa at higher speeds. No gearing is actually modified.

However from 4H to 4L, a gear change is required. The teeth must be disengaged from the High gear cogs (via transfer case Neutral) and engaged with the Low gear cogs when shoving the shift lever into 4L.

If everything is in alignment then no issue. The teeth and cogs both 'mesh' and you're good to go. However, if they don't align (and there's a very good chance they won't, at least while stopped) then this meshing can't happen and no gear change will occur.

In order to attain alignment, either the input shaft (from the transmission) or the output shaft (to the wheels) must move. When one of these shafts rotate just a little, the teeth and cogs become aligned and the shift into the lower gear can now more easily occur.

Generally, it is recommended to leave the transmission in Neutral (no input shaft rotation) and let the wheels move (output shaft rotation, either direction forward or backward is OK) but at very low speed. This ensures the least amount of torque is present.

If the vehicle is stopped and stuck (can't move due to obstacles, conditions, etc.) then the transmission can be placed in any gear including reverse in order to align the teeth and cogs. However, greater care must be made because even at idle the engine can produce pretty significant torque compared to what is actually needed.

Recall, very (very) slight rotational movement is required to find the 'sweet' spot to align both the teeth with the cogs. The secret sauce here is incredibly small movement under extremely low power. Anything else (again nearly nothing) can cause grinding. Any grinding (whatsoever) is detrimental, this is what causes metal shavings and the wearing of the metal of both the teeth and cogs. With enough shaving over time, the teeth won't be able to stay engaged under normal power.

Most people falsely believe that they have to 'wear-in' their transfer case in order to make shifting easier. While that may certainly be true, the end result is that they get shaved teeth and a lot of metal shavings in their transfer case fluid. Sorry, but that's never (ever) the mechanically correct answer.

The easiest way to shift into or out of 4L is very slow movement. Moving the vehicle's wheels rather than transmission is always the preferred method.

With just the smallest amount of practice you'll be able to shift in and out of any 4WD gear with both ease and minimal grinding. Without a more expensive AWD or auto 4WD transfer case option being installed in your rig, this shifting alignment is all up to you, not the equipment.

Last note, very modern transfer case designs have pretty radically cool gearing mechanisms. I've used the terms 'teeth' and 'cogs' simply as a visual aid in understanding the fundamental concepts. Rest assured the transfer cases used in these Jeeps are both rugged and high quality so some amount of 'abuse' can be tolerated. But it is up to each driver to minimize the wear and tear to their own level of desire. For some, that grinding noise is music to their ears.

For me, it's like fingernails running across a chalkboard or someone singing out of key. I prefer the swift easy and silent shifts. But hey who am I to gauge how people drive their gear (pun intended).

Hope this helps.

Kind regards, happy Jeeping
Jay

Thanks Jay! This is so helpful for context.

 

[longfiredragon]

Darryl,

Sorry didn't mean to imply any lack of knowledge on your part (my bad if that's how it seemed). You're post just happened to remind me of how little some people never really stop to think how things work.

I didn't mean this to sound like a lecture. I'm really no expert. I know little and can very well likely prove it.

But I am a physicist by degree and an engineer by trade and it amazes me how many really struggle with this subject. I used the opportunity to simply take the deeper dive.

Again sorry, I coat-tailed into your post simply because it brought up the idea of the driver, not the equipment is the real reason why these 4WD shifts can be so difficult.

Thank you kindly for your post. Made my morning.

Cheers,
Jay

Jay no need to apologize brother. I didn't take it that way. I just tend not to elaborate these days on an open forum.

Again thank you for going to the trouble to clarify.

 

[MichaelT333]

OP my god just read the manual before you push all the buttons and pull every handle and knob. I get your excited but your gonna break something royally bad.

 

[tomk62]

Why does it feel like AI wrote that?

I think I'm going to try an experiment ...

 

[tomk62]

Here's what ChatGPT has to say when given the OP verbatim ...

It's not unusual for a vehicle with 4-wheel drive, especially one designed for off-road use like the Rubicon, to behave differently when making sharp turns in 4H (4-wheel drive high range). However, a clicking sound from the suspension isn't necessarily a normal occurrence and could indicate an issue that needs attention.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. 4-wheel drive engagement: When making sharp turns in 4H, the drivetrain components (such as the transfer case and differential) are under increased stress due to differences in wheel speeds. This can cause some binding or resistance, which might result in a sensation of shifting and possibly some noise. However, excessive noise or noticeable clunks could indicate a problem.
2. Steering and suspension: Turning sharply in 4-wheel drive can also put strain on the steering and suspension components. Clicking sounds could be coming from worn or loose components such as ball joints, tie rod ends, or CV joints.
3. Normal operation vs. potential issues: While some noise and resistance are expected when turning sharply in 4H, it's essential to distinguish between normal operation and signs of a potential issue. If the clicking sound is consistent and concerning, it's best to have it inspected by a qualified mechanic or dealership technician familiar with Jeep vehicles.
4. Maintenance and inspection: Regular maintenance and inspections are crucial for keeping your vehicle in good condition. Make sure to follow the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule and address any unusual noises or sensations promptly.

Given that you've just purchased the vehicle, it's worth having a professional take a look, especially if you're concerned about the clicking sound. They can provide a more accurate assessment and determine if any action needs to be taken. If the issue is covered under warranty, it's advisable to address it sooner rather than later.

 

[jhmartin]

Also: For non rock crawlers, should we shift to 4L going straight on pavement for 10 feet or so every year?

Still better to do it on a gravel / dirt parking lot vs pavement. Not a bad idea just so you have the feel for it / detect if something has failed in the last year.

 

[Elysian Highlands]

Darryl,

Sorry didn't mean to imply any lack of knowledge on your part (my bad if that's how it seemed). You're post just happened to remind me of how little some people never really stop to think how things work.

I didn't mean this to sound like a lecture. I'm really no expert. I know little and can very well likely prove it.

But I am a physicist by degree and an engineer by trade and it amazes me how many really struggle with this subject. I used the opportunity to simply take the deeper dive.

Again sorry, I coat-tailed into your post simply because it brought up the idea of the driver, not the equipment is the real reason why these 4WD shifts can be so difficult.

Thank you kindly for your post. Made my morning.

Cheers,
Jay

Hi Jay, so I tried this last night on a country road that was slippery from snow/ice and my jeep was grinding when I was attempting to pop it from N to 4L.

Here’s what I did exactly: driving on a straight and slippery road at about 25km’s I popped the jeep from 2H into 4H.
Then I popped my main shifter into N and slowed down to 10km’s and popped it from 4H into N - this transition was smooth. When I tried to shift lower to 4L there was grinding. Recalling what you wrote here I stopped right away but did try one more time before popping it back into 4H. The grinding going into 4L happened both times I tried. What am I doing wrong?

 

[AcesandEights]

Going too fast. 10kmh is too fast to go to 4L

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