A51

I just bought a 2001 Black 4x4 Cherokee Sport Automatic with 70,000 miles on it. It did not come with an Owner's Manual, so i would like to know how to enable the 4x4 if stuck in the snow or mud?

muddeprived

Sweet jeep. I got the same year, color, and sport. You probably have the NP231 Transfer case which is a shift on the fly case. You can shift while it's moving up to a certain speed. If you are already stuck, try to pull up the lever to the 4-hi postion, which is straight up till it stops. If you want 4-low, pull it up till it stops then to the right and then all the way back as far as it will go. It's recommended to shift into 4low while moving about 3-5 mph. Some say to do it in Neutral, some say to do it while moving very slowly but in reality, you may have to do one of these to get the gears to mesh. Play around with it on a gravel or dirt road to get a hang of it before you go off road. I would advise you to put it in 4 wheel drive BEFORE you get stuck or plan to. It eliminates the chance of not being able to shift into 4x4. Sometimes the gears just can't mesh so don't take that risk. I did this on my first 4x4 wrangler and had to be yanked out because i could not get it in 4wheel drive in the position i was in.

Got this off the web:

When driving in snow, mud, or just going off road, shift into 4WD when you get ready to leave solid ground. If you have lockable front hubs, lock them for those operations.

For severe conditions, use low range if available. Before shifting into low range you must either stop or slow down to at least 3 mph to prevent grinding gears.

When you return to normal conditions, shift out of 4WD or unlock the center differential. If the shifter doesn't want to move from 4WD or the differential lock stays engaged, don't panic, becaue the problem is normal and is caused by pressure on the gears.

Try backing in a straight line about 10 feet and try to move the shifter again.

If the shifter still won't move, try backing in an "S" pattern while trying to move the shifter.

If you have lockable hubs, don't forget to unlock them when you return to dry pavement.

Do not operate a locked 4WD on dry, hard surfaces. Doing that could cause damage to the driveshafts, differentials or transfer case.

VenomHP

personally I will only "shift on the fly" to 4hi, for 4low I always stop, put it in neutral or park, then engage it and go back to drive, also 4low don't plan on going very fast, I wouldnt try to go more than around 10-15mph, in 4hi you could go around 60-65 in stock form. as stated above sometimes it takes a second for everything to engage, so go in reverse for about 5-10 ft and then go forward and everything should be dandy