Thread: Transfer lever not holding

The linkage arrangement can wear ... if you "get out and get under" you can probably see the problem is less than full engagement in the "locked" position - which can usually be fixed in the field by pushing it into full engagement by hand

otherwise, the thing would be to fix it or have it fixed before the next time you need it

likely nothing serious to worry about

It could need to be adjusted.

I had the same issue on my Puma. It would jump out of Centre Diff Lock. And sometimes was difficult to take out of Centre Diff Lock. (got lots of funny looks when driving back & forward)

Got it adjusted on my 20,000km service. Hope this helps.

There's a little trick to engaging high or low range......
You put the gearbox in first....then with the clutch down...you engage low range....and keep holding the lever......then ease the the clutch out so it just starts to engage and take up the free play in the drive line and you should feel the low range lever move a little bit more and fully engage.....

This was how land rover showed us to select high or low range.....



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I had a similar problem (may not be the same) with my Defender Puma. It popped out of low/high a few times or would not stay in diff lock mode. Bumps on the track caused slight movement of the lever assembly and it would jump out. I felt the lever was not coming back far enough or going forward far enough when operated.

In my case, I adjusted the lever length by unlocking the red adjuster of the control rod on the right hand side( passenger side) of the box just forward the transfer case (engine side) and I think I lengthened the rod length so the lever slotted back further when pulled back in high range. 35,000km later and it has not jumped out since, even of rough rock crawling slogs. At the time I got the dealer to confirm/check my handywork and they said all good.

You get wind up in the box sometimes and going in reverse can help this if it refuses to come out of low to high, maybe refer to the handbook on transfer box operation if you still have one available.
With regard jumping out of high or low speak to land rover see if they recommend any fixes.
Regards Andy.


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Originally Posted by 4wheeler

I had a similar problem (may not be the same) with my Defender Puma. It popped out of low/high a few times or would not stay in diff lock mode. Bumps on the track caused slight movement of the lever assembly and it would jump out. I felt the lever was not coming back far enough or going forward far enough when operated.

In my case, I adjusted the lever length by unlocking the red adjuster of the control rod on the right hand side( passenger side) of the box just forward the transfer case (engine side) and I think I lengthened the rod length so the lever slotted back further when pulled back in high range. 35,000km later and it has not jumped out since, even of rough rock crawling slogs. At the time I got the dealer to confirm/check my handywork and they said all good.

I have had this problem ( diff lock popping out soon as you get a few track bumps ) since I got my defender 2 years ago ....took it in to landrover a few times now and each time they say it’s fix ed they say it’s fixed ....but the problem remains

Am tempted to try the above fix but would need a bit more guidance on how to approach it

Is this some addjustment that is made from underneath the car or attacked top down from the
Range selector stick ( which is also the diff lock engagement stick )

thoughts guidance welcome

Originally Posted by jasonedu

Hi everyone,

I am having trouble with the transfer lever. The centre diff lock light comes and goes as it pleases in both high and low range. In addition it often pops out the first time I engage low or high range.

It is definitely not just the light as I discovered the problem after really struggling up Mt Gibbo. One of the guys I was with commented that only one wheel was spinning whenever I stopped moving forward.

We found we could get around the problem by holding the lever firmly in place. My wife felt that whenever we needed traction the lever wanted move - not sure how much weight to put on that though (dont tell her :-)

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Puma 130

There is lots of info on AULRO on this...
Generally the basics are... treat it more like an old tractor, so holding hi/lo lever while moving slightly forward to engage dis-engage will allow gears to engage correctly.
Unlike (dare I say) a modern 4x4 a Defender does not have any shift solenoids that do the manual shifting of gears for you.

The diff lock linkage on the lt230 has 'plastic' bushes at the pivot point. If these are worn or missing as mine were when I had another t/case fitted the play will affect the selection.
In my case this caused partial engagement which would eventually jump out altogether.

Part# FRC4499

An absolute pita to fit insitu but certainly fixed the problem.

Nuts 13 & 12 in the diagram are used to adjust the rod length. Lengthening the rod can also help.

Also check the acoustic foam/rubber is not pushing the lever back out of position.

Paul.