Last night I was testing my 4x4 drive for the first time since I've worked on the front end / raised the suspension 1.5 inches. I haven't really driven the rodeo since last winter, with the exception of towing my trailer on a camping trip this summer, and hauling my kayaks to the river.

I seem to recall having some problems with this last winter, and hadn't had any occasion to use 4x since them.

It used to be that if I locked the hubs in, I could then drive with the rodeo in 2x, then sort of 'shift on the fly' into 4x as long as I was going in a straight line and used a fast, strong shift on the transfer case lever. I've done this many times over the years driving over the pass when I expected to encounter snow, and I did it in my old 93 amigo too. The only difference with my rodeo was the auto hubs, but if I never backed up the hubs stayed locked. I now have superwinch manuals.

Anyway, when I tried the SOTF trick last night on bare pavement, I then started hearing a kind of speed dependent clunking noise, but at a speed slower than the wheel / CV shaft rotation speed. When I tried to shift back into 2x, it wouldn't shift out of 4x.

I remember it starting to do this last winter in the snow, where it wouldn't shift back out of 4x into 2x, until I would gas it and break the rear tires free and spin in the snow some, then it was back into 2x (with the hubs still locked in).

Last night if I completely stopped then shifted the transfer case into 4x, then it would drive without the clunking noise and 4x seemed normal. However, it would not disengage 4x, even if I turned it slowly in a tight circle. It would only dissengage if I stopped and backed up a bit.

I don't know enough about the inner workings of the transfer case. Is there like a synchromesh that I've burned out or something like that? It is a 5-speed MUA tranny, and both the transfer case and tranny have the right amount of oil (Mobile 1 5W-30).

The only thing that I can think of is that I may have stressed the transfer case when using 4-low on dry pavement trying to back my trailer up the driveway and onto its parking pad, which requires some tight turning. I use 4 low to save the clutch. When I had auto hubs, you couldn't help but have it lock in the front wheels. Another advantage to having manual hubs...

Help anyone?

Well, youÆre going to have to pull it apart to see whatÆs not working.

But I would guess that shifting it into 4 low while it was moving was a really bad idea. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

The Isuzu transfer cases are not designed for "on the fly" shifting into 4 low.

I've NEVER shifted into 4-low on the fly. Actually, it can be done under 10 mph with the clutch in, but I don't. You can also shift out of low on the fly, but again, I've never done it.

It was bound up,it's not good to lock in the transfer case on pavement.

Try driving in the grass and gravel and see if same thing happens,this will allow some slippage between front/rear.

I'd check your cv/s.

I use 4wd lo all the time,just don't lock the front hubs in.

My wife also does this in hers.

I've actually did this to get up over a mountain,pulling a trailer.

Bansil