Hey all, i just picked up my first jeep on sunday, traded my bike for it. i first got it going, now i can get it to stop after today. the only thing now is that its stuck in 2wd. when i pull the lever to go into 4wd nothing changes, it just gets harder to pull. then it will sit in teh 4 low position and it doesn't engage. whn i try to put it in four low nothing happens, it won't even go into neutral. i have no clue where to even start, im going to start tommorow by tearing off the console and looking at teh linkage. any ideas????? thanks a bunch guys, looking forward to hanging out around here more often.

 

Let me welcome you to the world of XJ's.

What year you have?
Why I ask is that the earlier models had vacuum disconnects and if yours is one of them, may be a vacuum related answer.

Also there are basically two transfer cases used in Cherokees, NP231 and NP242.

For 4HI: The lever should come back and slightly to the side and a PART TIME light should illuminate in the dash on the left side where the BRAKE and CEL light reside (Unless you have a right-hand drive then its on the right.)

As for the 4LO...the transmission needs to be in Nuetral and the XJ needs to be motionless (foot on brake) before the TC will engage into 4LO.
Sometimes a slight movement forward (coasting creep) will allow the TC to engage fully. But I, personally, have never had to do that.

 

thanks you very much, its a 93, and no lights come on. i have put other trucks in 4wd before and you can feel it shifting into it, its kinda like shifting a manual transmission, where there is resistance then it slides in. im thinking it might be somthign blocking the linkage or something...

 

When I shift my '92 into 4L, I can't feel a change unless I'm turning. Are you sure it's not engaging and you just can't feel it?

 

most def. not engauging. we went to teh gravel pit and only the rear were ever spinning

 

It's a pain to pull the console out, get a trouble light and look up at it from underneath. Everything is very accessible. If you don't find any issues with the linkage, I would check vacuum cuz even if the t case was shot you would hear it try to shift. I'm gonna guess it's a linkage issue.

 

Are you sure it`s a 4x4? ..Just teasing..Welcome to the board..Front driveshaft still there?..Might be a disconnected linkage..If no lights come on on the dash clearly somethings not engaging

 

someone put the linkage on wrong way on the actual transfer case. so it was trying to shift backwards. now it will go into 4hi and neutral, couldn't quite get it in 4 low, those nipples on the linkage are gone at some parts. where can i get more? i was thinking about cutting it off and drilling it out and just using a bolt. any ideas? it most def was the linkage, thanks guys

 

i was out wheelin in an 05 rubicon wish i woulda never sold it but xj's are cheaper and funnier to work on lol but we where getting into it and messing around then some how and some way my linkage got clogged up w/ mud and grass and what ever else was in the mud and my buddy jumped in and manually locked it in to four wheel.. best bet before anything is try messing w/ the linkage cable underneath possibly get a little WD40 or something it may be a long shot but after he messed with it and got it to unjammed

 

its not actually stuck, its just popped off at one end. there was a rubber nipple on it that was destroyed so i just ripped it off. hoping to find new ones to replace it with.

 

is it vacuum actuated?
get under there and look at the front axle- on the passenger side there should be a little hump and tubes coming out(or in you case lack of tubes[vac lines])
if its vacuum actuated.... then your problems will be over soon
let me know, there is a way to completely bypass vac lines, so that it mechanically engages. and its free (if you got some washers lying around)