California
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 14,806
- Location
- An hour north of San Francisco
- Tractor
- Yanmar YM240 Yanmar YM186D
Musta been someotherbody.Not me. I only use 4wd for short distances as necessary.
A stiff 4wd shifter when trying to shift OUT of 4wd almost always means that there is "wind up" somewhere in the 4wd mechanism because the tires couldn't slip. An easy diagnosis is to use the loader to lift the front wheels. If it suddenly is easy to shift out of 4wd, it was because there was windup and now the tires can suddenly unwind. Often only a fraction of an inch. ..hopefully the torsional windup is only in the front driveshaft, not the tranny.
Probably the dirt let them slip just enough.
I'm familiar with windup, driveline tension, after owning a couple of old 50's Willys Wagons and then 70's Wagoneers. The way to unwind them, was to back up in a zig zag pattern while pulling lightly on the 4x4 shifter. That also works for the Yanmar.
But this one's shifter is stiff even after lifting the front with the loader. I've seen posts about breaking the internal parts of the 4x4 shifter and think about that every time I have to shift it.