Mile High wrote:
I've towed our old 97 TJ Wrangler for a couple of years, but am now towing a 13 JKU Wrangler. Both were automatics, but I am having a hard time getting the transfer case back into gear on this JK before I disconnect the tow bar. The best I have been able to do is work it hard to get it into 4-Low. I don't recall ever having trouble with our TJ.
Anyone have better luck, ideas on what I may be doing wrong?
Mile High,
We've owned and towed, 9 different Jeeps over a 35 year period. Most of them modified in many ways. Sometimes, the T/C becomes a bit "bound up" while the Jeep is being towed. Not a big deal, no damage is ever incurred. But, due to the fact that, the linkage between the T/C and the body, is a two-part mechanism. That allows for flex and, that means less than positive shifts, in any direction, in any gear.
But, as time goes on, and you utilize that transfer case more and more, especially if you do any off roading, that shifting mechanism frees up considerably. And so do the internal gear shifting components. So, what I'm saying is, it will get considerably better, the more you shift that transfer case.
As for what gear you achieve while disconnecting, heck, if you get it more easily into say, 4L or 4H, then back away from the coach in that gear. It's no big deal at all. You will incurre no damage what so ever, even if you're on pavement. You won't be driving it in 4L on the pavement for 10 miles. All you're doing at this point is, allowing for the gears/mechanisms/components to "un-bind".
At that point, maybe a few feet of backing up, (if you have a few feet), you should easily be able to shift that T/C into 2H and proceed with your plans.
We have a 2015 JKUR and, the Wife does all the inside prep and I do all the outside, tow bar, cables etc. When it comes time for disconnect, after some tow miles, she hops in and, normally pops it right into 2H but, on occasion, it fights her a bit. When that happens, and it will only go into 4L or 4H, so what, she drives away in that gear 'till it relaxes all it's fits and, she then shifts it to 2H, normally within a few feet or so.
We use our Jeep for off roading quite often. That transfer case gets shifted, into and out of, 4L and 4H, several times per run. I use all those gears, THEY'RE FREE, WHY NOT???? And by doing so, things have loosened up by quite a bit. When we first got that '15, it was very sticky in the T/C shifting. Now, it's like a stick transmission, goes in and out without issue.
Scott
