04 Grand Cherokee. I'm having a hard time getting it into 4wd. The shifter will go in easy enough but it won’t engage. I've stopped...put it in reverse..tried everything. Tried it in part time and full time. It will go in eventually but I can't imagine it should be this hard.

Any ideas before I bring it to the shop. (I'm sure I'll get the "It's working fine" speech from the dealer)

 

Which transfer case (SelecTrac, QuadraTrac, or QuadraDrive)?

Either way, to shift into 4WD/low range, the transmission should be in neutral and the vehicle moving very slowly (if you have SelecTrac).

 

The "selectrac" system is incredibly finicky. The biggest problem with getting them in and out of 4wd has to do with the tires. Different rolling circumferences of the front and rear tires cause the driveshafts to rotate at different speeds. The shift fork wont engage until everything lines up perfectly. This may have nothing to do with different "sized" tires. It is often caused by different levels of wear between front and rear. If you aren't rotating your tires at least every 7500 miles, the fronts will feather and wear excessively on the outer edges. Tire pressure is impotant, too.


Even when everything is as good as it can be, the 242 case is finicky.