4LO grinds / slips going down hills

[Schwifty Rich]

So I am spending some tie in Colorado and was in 4 low for some time just putting along the trails..
I started going down Imogene trail and my 4 low in 1st isn’t slowing me down at all. It’s making a free spinning noise. Reverse is the same in 4 low, just free spinning.
2nd gear in 4 low seems to work but I didn’t really test it enough to say for certain.

I do know 4 hi and 2wd both work fine.

Any thoughts on how messed up my t case is?

 

[Schwifty Rich]

I wasn’t really able to replicate the problem this morning.

I’ve seem some recommend checking my cable linkage but I don’t see how it could shift MORE into 4wd low, there’s basically no play in how far back it goes.

I also noticed some ATF around my drain plug. No puddles or anything on the ground.

It seems like when I’m taxing the system it fails. I was going up some hills and things today and it was slowing me down and allowing me to crawl no problem.
The hills I was going down yesterday were much steeper.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Schwifty Rich]

I just checked my cable linkage again and I’m pretty sure I fully extended it on both fittings.

I was already in 4low when it happened so it wasn’t like I had a problem shifting into it either.

 

[Chris]

Looks like you may need to adjust that cable linkage. I had to adjust my Savvy linkage a number of times before I got it where it needed to be, as it was fully extended (like you're saying) in one of the positions, which was causing it to not fully engage.

 

[Schwifty Rich]

Looks like you may need to adjust that cable linkage. I had to adjust my Savvy linkage a number of times before I got it where it needed to be, as it was fully extended (like you're saying) in one of the positions, which was causing it to not fully engage.

I guess if I moved the top one over it would push more forward the bottom where it connects to the lever.

Edit: this is not accurate. Moving the top just changes hand lever position and the bottom moves t case switch position

 

[Chris]

I guess if I moved the top one over it would push more forward the bottom where it connects to the lever.

Yep. I had to do that so many times until I finally got everything dialed in where it should be. It was kind of a PITA.

 

[Schwifty Rich]

Yep. I had to do that so many times until I finally got everything dialed in where it should be. It was kind of a PITA.

Moving the top one forward makes it more clunky and harder to shift into 2wd.
Moving the bottom one makes it harder to engage 4low.

Right now I dialed the top one to the lever back a smidgen. But any major adjustments put it out of whack.

 

[pagrey]

2nd gear in 4 low seems to work but I didn’t really test it enough to say for certain.

This is a big deal, if second gear works you have a transmission issue and not a transfer case issue. Test this again!

 

[Schwifty Rich]

This is a big deal, if second gear works you have a transmission issue and not a transfer case issue. Test this again!

I was thinking that too but nothing bad happened on the tame stuff we did today. 4wd hi and low both worked in all gears.

There was a time when I was shifting while in 4low. I pressed in the clutch and it made a grinding noise. But when I went into gear it went away and made sure the Jeep was in 4low.

I’ll test it on some more technical stuff tomorrow.

 

[pagrey]

I was thinking that too but nothing bad happened on the tame stuff we did today. 4wd hi and low both worked in all gears.

There was a time when I was shifting while in 4low. I pressed in the clutch and it made a grinding noise. But when I went into gear it went away and made sure the Jeep was in 4low.

I’ll test it on some more technical stuff tomorrow.

Have a good time, sound like it's not too bad whatever it is. I bet something is just a little bit out of adjustment.

 

[Schwifty Rich]

Adjustment was absolutely right. I had to unscrew a bit at the end by the transfer case.

No 4LO related issues today at all. I also flipped the side i had he washer on for that extra little bit.

 

[Chris]

Awesome news, thanks for the update! I knew it must have been related to the cable adjustment. Mine was a PITA to get right. It just took a lot of experimenting.