With the recent snow, I had an issue with the 4WD on my daughter's '98 Sportage.

I've replaced the vacuum hubs with Warn Manual hubs. I needed to drive my daughter's boyfriend home in the snow this weekend. We went out, I locked the hubs in, shifted the transfer case into 4WHigh (green indicator light on the dash iluminated), proceeded to back up about 10 feet, then tried to pull forward out of the slight rise of the driveway. The vehicle would only move about 10 feet forward before the tires started spinning. I backed up and pulled forward a few times but could not successfully pull out of the driveway. I tried shifting the transfer case to 4WLow and that wasn't successful either. It was acting link the 4WD wasn't engaged. I had the boyfriend get out and watch the wheels and he stated that only one rear wheel was spining and none of the front wheels where turning.

I parked the vehicle, had the boys father come get him, and I left the vehicle overnight with the hubs locked in and the transer case in 4WHigh. The next morning I started the vehicle to see if I could ascertain the problem and the vehicle easily pulled itself through the 11 inches of snow and out the driveway. I've shifted from 4WD back to 2WD a few times over the last couple of days and every time the 4WD engages. Is there something in the transer case that would have prevented the 4WD from engaging but then allwoed it to engage? Did moving in reverse first with the manual hubs prevent them from engaging? I am perplex as to what happened and I'm curious if anyone has an answer for why the vehicle wouldn't engage the 4WD. Thanks.

John

Okay, I might have an explanation for my own problem. Talking with a friend that does some 4 wheeling, he commented that when he would repack his front hubs he had to be careful with the volume of grease he used, as too much grease would prevent the hub mechanisms from functioning properly.

I'm thinking that the low (13F) temps may have prevented the hubs from locking in and the next morning, having sat in sunshine for a few hours and the temps rising to near freezing, may has reduced the grease viscocity enough for the hubs to function properly.

Anyone familiar with the Warn manual hubs think that this is a likely hypothesis?

I've had mine do it. I think mine needed lubed, and were slightly frozen. But the idea of having to much grease is a probability also i would think. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />