High/Low changes

[rust]

Does anyone know if there's a "correct" way to shift between high and low range?

The biggest difficulties occur when I engage from low back into high. Tough to the point where I generally rip the gear knob off the stem. Sometimes I'll reverse and that seems to free up a bit of a gap. I've only ground the TC once but I generally don't feel that nice confident click I get from changing from high to low.

Is there a little trick anyone can share?

[101 Ron]

Big double shuffle and a long pause.
It takes practice.
I wouldn't recommend learning as the drive dogs for high and low in the transfercase tend to wear and cause the transfercase to jump out of gear.

[Bearman]

Does anyone know if there's a "correct" way to shift between high and low range?

The biggest difficulties occur when I engage from low back into high. Tough to the point where I generally rip the gear knob off the stem. Sometimes I'll reverse and that seems to free up a bit of a gap. I've only ground the TC once but I generally don't feel that nice confident click I get from changing from high to low.

Is there a little trick anyone can share?

You should have a sticker on the centre lower part of the windscreen that explains how to change transfer gears but just in case yours is missing. Only change when stationary, move the lever and then slowly release the clutch while holding pressure on the lever. Most of the perenties have had a mod to the input gear, it makes them harder to select gear but less prone to disengaging.

[DBT]

I find there's very little tactile feedback through the TC lever. Also the range of movement in the lever between high & low is tiny.

As Bearman says, following the correct procedure should work well, particularly changing while stationary and "maintaining effort" on TC lever when moving off.

[Judo]

The gears simply don't align properly, so you need to rotate either side of the transfer case.

1. Don't be completely stationary. Let the vehicle roll ever so slightly. As you push on the gear lever the gears will align and it will go straight in. (Slight rotation from wheels).

OR

2. With 1st gear selected, take out of low/high, start pushing gear lever to low/high and carefully take your foot off the clutch and it will go straight in. (Slight rotation from engine).

[AIF]

My PC works just like the Daihatsu push button. No noise the light on the dash goes on in diff lock and off when out. But I always reverse up a bit to make sure.

[DeeJay]

If you have driven on a relatively hard surface with diff lock engaged there will be transmission wind up which will cause the problem you have described.

[101RRS]

I thought we were talking about Hi/Lo range not CDLs.

I have attempted a few on the move Hi/Lo changes and sometimes I am lucky but mostly not - so I now stop. I move the lever to the position I want and keeping pressure on the lever with my hand I slowly move the vehicle and normally the tfr will slip into the range required. After a couple of metere I ensure the lever is home as it can soimetimes still drive but not be locked in.

Garry

[rovercare]

I thought we were talking about Hi/Lo range not CDLs.

I have attempted a few on the move Hi/Lo changes and sometimes I am lucky but mostly not - so I now stop. I move the lever to the position I want and keeping pressure on the lever with my hand I slowly move the vehicle and normally the tfr will slip into the range required. After a couple of metere I ensure the lever is home as it can soimetimes still drive but not be locked in.

Garry

I shift on the fly personally, low to high at any speed, usually top out in 4th low and flick to either 2nd or 3rd high

High to low just moving slightly will do it

But as Gary does is the best way if you are not confident shifting on the fly

[DeeJay]

I thought we were talking about Hi/Lo range not CDLs.

I have attempted a few on the move Hi/Lo changes and sometimes I am lucky but mostly not - so I now stop. I move the lever to the position I want and keeping pressure on the lever with my hand I slowly move the vehicle and normally the tfr will slip into the range required. After a couple of metere I ensure the lever is home as it can soimetimes still drive but not be locked in.

Garry



CDL should always accompany low range, at least that should be the case 99% of needing low ratio, and the problem described is mostly going from low ratio to high.

[101RRS]

CDL should always accompany low range Hmm no - I often use low range withbout the CDL - the criteria is quality of surface.

Cheers

Garry

[DeeJay]

Hmm no - I often use low range withbout the CDL - the criteria is quality of surface.

Cheers

Garry
Then you probably won't have problems shifting from low to high ratio :D

[rovercare]

Then you probably won't have problems shifting from low to high ratio :D

CDL engaged or not will not present problems with range shifting, 2 seperate machanisms

[101RRS]

Then you probably won't have problems shifting from low to high ratio :D

Hi DeeJay - its been a slow day for me so maybe I am a bit slow, so sorry I don't follow your point.

Basically I select the cdl when I think I need it, I select an appropriate range and sometimes the two coincide, sometimes not. In slow technical stuff certainly low range/cdl (though I did do Monkey Gum without knowing my cdl was not working) but higher speed hi range offroad the cdl is usually out as it chatters away above 70kph.

Cheers

Garry

[DeeJay]

Hi DeeJay - its been a slow day for me so maybe I am a bit slow, so sorry I don't follow your point.

Basically I select the cdl when I think I need it, I select an appropriate range and sometimes the two coincide, sometimes not. In slow technical stuff certainly low range/cdl (though I did do Monkey Gum without knowing my cdl was not working) but higher speed hi range offroad the cdl is usually out as it chatters away above 70kph.

Cheers

Garry


No probs,
For you- I will explain. This thread is about a forum member who is experiencing difficulty changing from low ratio to high. One explanation not forwarded was the possibility of transmission wind up causing it to be difficult to shift. The fact it was made easier by reversing made me think it was a possibility.
Why would this not be a reason?

[rar110]

I mostly use the button in high range. With a turbo I rarely need low range. :-)

I have experienced the high/low leaver on the LT85 freezing because of corrosion. WD40 fixed it. It may be worth a try.

[101RRS]

No probs,
For you- I will explain. This thread is about a forum member who is experiencing difficulty changing from low ratio to high. One explanation not forwarded was the possibility of transmission wind up causing it to be difficult to shift. The fact it was made easier by reversing made me think it was a possibility.
Why would this not be a reason?

OK - I had a look back through the posts and missed your initial post about transmission windup as the cdl was on. My post asking whether we were talking about CDLs or Hi/Lo range was not aimed at you but AIF said - as I indicated I missed your post until now.

I see where you are coming from. I am not so sure but only because I have never experienced having trouble changing between hi and lo because of windup but can see it may happen - I have had plenty of experience with the opposite in not being able to disengage the CDL because of the CDL.

Thanks for that clarification - I was concerned that I may have missed something which I had.

Cheers

Garry

[Bearman]

Most likely it is because of the input gear modification done to the majority of the perenties as they needed gearbox repairs. As i stated earlier, harder to engage but less prone to disengaging. This modification required replacing the engaging flanges of the input gear with full length teeth ones.

[rust]

Thanks for these answers.
Normally I change when stationary which could explain the smaller linkage gap and/or transmission windup because, as DeeJay noted, my TC issues are Low to High. I'll try reversing and see if that helps.

Which leads me to another question - Why do TC gears need to be so much stiffer and more difficult to operate than regular GB gears? Why didn't they just invent something like a mini TC clutch?

[DBT]

In the ... er ... "other brand" 4WD I owned of a similar vintage (92 if I recall), the TC was easier to shift (but ultimately less versatile, IMHO). This "Super Select" TC was a significant marketing point for said brand, back in the day.

This other design did have it's own limitations. Such as needing the wheels to do 1/4 turn to engage 4wd. Caused me issues when I accidently dropped the front wheels into a ditch one evening and was stuck in 2wd.

Later models of various brands moved to vacuum operated TCs in the mid-late 90s. Easier to operate yet again, at the cost of more complexity.