4 wheel drive on 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer

[christine]

I have a 1984 Grand Wagoneer. How do I engage and disengage the 4 wheel drive?

[reddog]

Welcome to the best FSJ site on the web IMHO.

There is a lever on the dash just to the right of the steering column, it has a pin on the bottom of the little "box" with the lever. With the truck stopped in park you pull the pin down and hold it while you move the lever to the 4wh position. You will hear a slight hissing sound while the front axle and then the transfer case shifts into 4wh.

Once it is engaged in 4wh drive then you should be able to move the lever on the drivers side of the transmission hump to shift from 4wh HIGH to 4wh LOW if desired. With the transmission in neutral and rolling forward maybe 1-2 MPH a firm upward pull on the floor lever should shift into 4wh low.

Note that in the 84 that if the front axle does not engage (not uncommon due to bad vacuum lines) then the transfer case will not shift into 4wh drive (both controlled by the dash lever). If the transfer case does not engage you WILL NOT be able to shift the high/low lever on the floor. DO NOT force the lever. Find out whats going on.

Kerry

[Brown Bear]

Welcome christine, glad to see ya here. my g/f's name is also christine, I won't confuse ya though cause she hates my jeep

There are some other things to keep in mind. 1) You can not shift into 4x4 on the fly like you can with other jeeps. Our jeeps, 84 gw's, have vacuume actuated front axles. If you engage these while moving, you'll hear an awful grinding sound and something won't work pretty soon after. Also, there is a way to get your jeep into 4 wheel low if need be without crawling along at 2 mph in neutral. Someone did a write up on it, I don't know where it is right now, but someone's bound to have it. It might be easier overall, but I doubt if it would be handy or not. If you find yourself stuck and need 4 low to get out, then you're probably stuck since these axles require about 2 to 3 revolutions before they are trully locked. In other words, you could put it in 4x4, but you'd still be spinning wheels. I'd say you're pretty much only interested in the 4 wheel hi since you live in Canadia, but you may be a hardcore wheeler. Hey, prove me wrong, I'd like that

[Driftwood]

http://www.ifsja.org/tech/tcase/hitolo.shtml Is the link that describes how to shift in to 4 lo without coasting at 2 mph. It seems to work VERY well. I will never shift to 4Lo again during a slow coast.

[christine]

Thanks for all the answers. I really am interested in 4 wheel high (sorry BB)so I take it that I will only be dealing with the little box on the dash and not that lever under the seat (though I printed out about the shifting to 4wLo if required). I appreciate the help as the drivers manual for this jeep is long gone.

Christine

[will e]

THanks for the link Driftwood. Does that work for my NP 208 command trac?

[Dan G]

Thanks for the link Driftwood, but I think there's a typo.

In step 3 he says "do no, do not do not, put the transmission in park" and then he follows it with "With the transmission in park and foot on the brake..."

I think it SHOULD read "With the transmission in GEAR and foot on the brake..."

What do you guys think??

[Ernzo]

I really dig the post on how to shift without having to coast at 2 mph, but when I first read it, I noticed something. HEre is the quote.
". Cut the Engine OFF - absolutly do not, do not do not, put the transmission in park or this will mess up the entire procedure. With the transmission still in park and foot on the brake cut the engine off. And no your key shouldn't turn past the ACC position, and if it does then

This say 'do not, do not, do not put in PARK. Then, in the next sentence it sayd ..'with the transmision still in PARK..."

Perhaps some clarity, or perhaps an editor?

I am not sure what this all means..

[Dive 30]

You want the tranny in Gear. That way it holds tension against T-Case to make the shift (essentially making a trans brake). For some reason the viscous coupling needs to have tension to make the shift (one of our T-case gurus know why?). You can either have the tension of the vehicle rolling 2-3 mph and the tranny in N to make the shift or the stopped method as discussed earlier.

will e: I don't think so. Your 208 is a conventional T-case and you need to be in N and at less than 5mph to shift from 2wd to 4wd and 4wd to 4lo. The lack of the viscous coupling in the 208s is what makes it so attractive to those of us with the 229s.