Tough to get out of 4wd? what gives.

[anthonyz]

Alright, 4xd enguages just fine...driving/stopped no problem I get in there just fine... I can switch from 4-fwd stopped not running fine, no problem as well. But once it is enguaged and I want to get out of 4wd it seems to need to be forced to get back into fwd/ I have to really give it some love here. Any tips on making it easier? Again, once enguaged/at a stop, in 4wd to get back into FWD its rough...
Thanks in advance,Anthony

[Neu]

make sure all your tires match, tread wear, tire psi's, etc. Any difference can make it a pain. I have one different brand tire, different tread wear and it's a pain to get out of 4wd.

Buying new tires soon though.

[rer233]

anthony, on our cars, the center diff locks when put into 4wd. therefore, the only time 4wd should be engaged is when the car is on soft/ loose ground. also, if the front and rear tires are different heights, getting out of 4wd can be difficult. there's also a chance you could have different gear ratios in the trans and rear diff (only if one of the two has been swapped out with an improper ratio unit.) anyway, if you get one side of the car on soft ground (grass, etc) with the wheels straght ahead, it should come right out. good luck and welcome to the forums!

[takza]

DON'T force it if you can avoid it. You can ALWAYS loosen the driveline tension by turning the wheels one way or the other till it frees up....you might have to guess which way though. When I had a set of identical tires...I could drive a mile on pavement STRAIGHT and still get out of 4WD.

[Petros]

make sure the steering is strait ahead and you rolled at least 3 or 4 feet, that will take the turning stress off the drive line. And as noted, you must have all 4 tires same size, same air pressure, and preferably same brand (not always an issue but some brands can have different rolling dia.). If all else fails you can jack up one rear wheel and it will relive the drive line stress.

You should verify the front and rear diff have same ratio, easiest way is to jack one side of the car up so both wheels are off the ground, engine off, trans in neutral, in 4wd, mark the wheels with chalk and turn them 10 revs, both should turn same number of turns. This is usually not the problem, but I has happened before.

[xirdneh]

Put it in reverse and back up (medium to rapid speed)in a straight line
push in clutch and push 4wd lever forward
this has never failed to work for me
works on my aunts toyota truck too.

if you do not know your car well do what Petros suggested to check for mis-matched differentials
it happend to me once (my second tercel)

[simon84]

I have similar difficulty going from 4wd to fwd. Sometimes it's smooth but often it is very hard to shift. I found that the clutch seemed to make no difference/
I find that often I can get out of 4wd easier when the revs are closer to 3000. often I will push up the revs and when I would normally shift up a gear, I just ease up on the gas a bit and then try to make the shift. I think that may take some tension out of the system. It's kind of like doing a clutch-less speed shift on a manual transmission. Once I am out of 4wd, then I shift up. Usually seems to work.
I think some experimentation will show you what works.
Let us know if you come up with a technique.

[toughtercel]

Put it in reverse and back up (medium to rapid speed)in a straight line
push in clutch and push 4wd lever forward
this has never failed to work for me
works on my aunts toyota truck too.

if you do not know your car well do what Petros suggested to check for mis-matched differentials
it happend to me once (my second tercel)

Same here , put into reverse and give a slight jerk back ward for few feet , it work alot too.