Thread: Disengaging 4WD in a Series 3.

to engage 4wd hi push the yellow knob down.

to disegnage grab the red low range lever and yank it back while the vehicle is only just moving.. the yellow knob should pop up. push the red lever forwards and your back in 2wd

low 4 is just pulling the red lever back 2 "notches" and disengaging is just pushing it forwards


usually 1 of 3 things has happened if the yellow knob doesnt pop up.

1. its out of adjustment, theres a nut under the yellow knob that pushes down on a spring inside the cab. Wind that down. Dont wind the yellow knob down you'll put the rod through the top of the knob. Ive also seen them without the spring in which case 4 hi will not disengage as the weight of the linkage is enough to make it fall back into the 4 hi position

2. too much mud and crud in the linkages on the front of the foot of the tcase, clean it up...

3. internal siezure of the mechanism. sublte use of the knock ometer with very light oil in the tcase can work and if it does great, if not its time to strip the foot off.

Try this.. to determine which you have pull up gently on the yellow knob while you pull back on the red lever. have someone underneath watch for the movement of the linkages.


that is of course unless you have a stage 1 or conversion that gives you full time 4wd in which case, yes your ment to have 4wd all the time....

How do you know you are in 4wd?
On bitumen is the steering difficult, slow accellerating & poor top speed also squealing tyres( & alarming tyre wear) ?
If not then then the problem will be you cant get 4wd.
Otherwise what Blknight says, plus one other thing is the return spring may have wound itself down thru the hole it sits on, so get a suitable washer

On bitumen is the steering difficult, slow accellerating & poor top speed

This description sounds like a Series in perfect condition lol

I meant really slow

Similar thing happened to me when I did the rebuilt on my series 3. Had been off the road for a while so front output selector shafts had seized. Just take the front housing cover off, get some penetrating oil in there and try working them free. I think I still have a s3 workshop manual somewhere so let me know and i can scan the relevant pages and send them to you. Once you see the diagrams of how it all works it will make sense.