Do I just need to pull harder?
 

Hello! Sorry if this has been answered, I feel it's a semi unique problem and I could not find a thread with my "exact" issues.

I recently purchased a beautiful 2001 XJ, very low miles, great condition, drove it across the USA with no problems. Fast forward 3 months. I noticed out on a trail one day that my p/t 4wd light had gone off, and after doing some turns and watching, it definitely had thrown me out of 4wd and was no longer engaging. Took it to a local guy, as it was throwing a Cylinder 1 misfire code, and I had been reading horror stories of trying to figure those out with no success. He couldn't figure out the misfire (I did, it was my ignition coil pack) and told me he had fixed my linkage as it was no longer engaging properly. Cool.

Now its snowing, and my 4wd seems really hit or miss, ill be driving along fine in it. and then ill suddenly hear a light grinding noise, and a full loss of the transmission/transfer case grabbing anything. Pushing the gas makes it grind a little harder. First time this happened I was driving up an icy hill, and my solution was to hold on to the Transfer case handle for dear ****ing life, and that seemed to hold it in 4wd, but I could feel it fighting to jump out. Today it happened again, and since it was daylight and I had some time, I backed down, put it in neutral, and this time when I pulled the Case handle, I really wrenched it and it came up WAY farther than I had had it. Definitely not 4Lo, as my engine was not bogged down like the 4lo on my old wrangler, but this was a 40 degree angle difference almost.

Should I investigate my Case further, or am I just not pulling hard enough to actually set in in 4hi?
Really worried ill be driving around and somethings just going to give. I have a stretch of my road that goes pave, dirt, pave, snow/dirt, pace, snow. I have to shift in and out of 4wd or I can really **** up my case on those paved parts right?

Also my 4wd light does not seem to come on anymore under any circumstances.

Thank you all. This forum has been a huge help for other jeep issues haha.

sounds like it is in need of a linkage adjustment

Agree.

Adjust the crappy linkage, or replace with one that's actually not a piece of junk. If my stock linkage gives me even a hint of the crap that you're describing (which is common with a worn stock linkage) I'll be upgrading to boostwerks or something similar.

How to adjust T-case linkage..

Put transmission in neutral before adjusting the T-case.

Awesome, I will try this. Thanks

Are you shifting the transfer case properly?

Here's how the factory suggests you shift the transfer case and I've been doing this since these things were new and I worked at the dealership. Quoted from the owner's manual. The suggestions in CAPS are mine.

"To engage, shift the transfer case lever from 2H to 4H while the vehicle is moving at any legal speed". I LET OFF THE GAS, THROW THE LEVER, TAP THE GAS AND LET OFF.

4L position: " To engage, slow the vehicle to 2-3 MPH , shift the transmission to Neutral, then shift the transfer lever to the right and pull firmly rearward to 4L".

TO SHIFT OUT OF 4L, SHIFT THE TRANSMISSION INTO NEUTRAL WITH THE VEHICLE STOPPED, SHIFT THE TRANSFER CASE LEVER TO 2H, THEN THE TRANS TO D IF YOU HAVE AN AUTOMATIC, OR INTO FIRST GEAR WITH A MANUAL, AND CONTINUE ON.

Revised 11/20/2014

I find shifting to 4wd low works best for me when I stop the Jeep and shift, then back up 2 or 3 feet before going forward. seems to engage better.

You have the 242 transfer case?

Try it at freeway speeds.

Yeah, it works perfectly at highway speeds. I've been in 2wd and hit a section of windblown snow on the road, let off the gas, and shifted to full time before hitting the snow, then back into 2wd after clearing the snow patch. You should do it "smartly", don't ease it in.

Shifting into low range, what works for me is to stop, put the transmission in Park, shift t/case to low range, then let off the brake letting it roll a slight bit. You can actually feel the gears click in, then drive on. Same thing coming out.