Are you sure it is engaging? You need to be rolling when you engage 4wheel drive on these tractors. Just hold gentle pressure up on the lever while driving/rolling and eventually the 3 toothed pawls will line up and engage. The pawls look like a pie cut 6 ways with every other piece removed The 3 trianglar teeth are flat faced and must be aligned to engage. One is connected/driven by the gearbox, and the other is driven by the front end, and when rolling they turn the same way, but at a slightly different speed so you must be moving for them to come into alignment. The lever will move a little bit to take up the slack and bring the teeth faces together, but when the teeth align, it will pull the rest of the way into 4X4 position. IF it does this, and you are not getting pull from the front wheels, then Chris's suggestion would be my next stop. As suggested, do this over a tarp or on a clean garage floor, as sometimes the ballbearings try to run away when the tube is removed/lowered...