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4x4 Disengaging

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Offline WildWind94

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  • 1990 Suzuki Jimny
4x4 Disengaging
« on: January 17, 2019, 02:15:21 PM »
If this has been talked about in a different post sorry but I'm relatively new here and haven't seen it. I've been having an issue with my 1990 Suzuki jimny(samurai) where after locking the hubs and putting it into 4wd-h it sometimes has a pretty bad vibration and will after a short time driving even at low speeds will pop back into 2wd with a loud bang. It doesn't always do this however and I'm not using it to drive on the road, just being used for getting through the snow. Never owned a 4x4 vehicle before this with manually locking hubs so not sure if its something I'm doing wrong or something mechanical I need to look into fixing. I'm pretty new mechanically so I'm usually learning how to do something for the first time after I have to do it on this. Any help would be appreciated!

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Offline motofabio

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  • 87 Samurai JX TinTop
Re: 4x4 Disengaging
« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2019, 09:26:50 PM »
This was happening to me with one extra bonus... mine would do the clunk, and then would be stuck in 2WD. I would have to pull the shifter out, re-align the forks, then reassemble it - only to have it happen again next time I shifted to 4H. It didn't happen to me if I was in 4L, but 4L is too slow for the street. Anyway, when I checked the fluid level it was bone dry! I filled it up and tested it... it stayed in 4H like it should have. Hopefully yours is as simple as that!

In case you're wondering on the fluid to use, I used Mobil 1 Synthetic Gear Lubricant LS 75W-90. It's available at any auto parts store for a little over $10. You'll only need one bottle since the TC only takes 0.85 qt and the bottle is 1 qt.

To fill it, there are two large bolts on the transfer case, one at the very bottom to drain it and one about half way up to fill it. It's a bit unsophisticated, but to fill it you remove the higher bolt and simply fill it from there with a tube until it pours out from the hole. If you're doing all that, I think you should drain it first and fill it with all fresh oil. That will also give you the opportunity to check the fluid that you've drained out for pieces of metal (gear teeth). If you see that, then a rebuild or swap is in your future. Thankfully, you can get a whole freshly rebuilt TC for about $300 and the swap process is a few hours for a rookie like me.

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Offline motofabio

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  • 87 Samurai JX TinTop
Re: 4x4 Disengaging
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2019, 09:33:33 PM »
Oh! I failed to mention that my shifter sheet was in good condition. You should probably start by checking that. So then in that case, I would...

1. Drain it and replace the drain plug.
2. Remove the shifter and check the sheet. Replace if necessary.
3. Remove the fill plug.
4. Fill it from the top (way easier) until it drips from the fill hole.
5. Replace fill plug.
6. Reassemble the shifter.