The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Was in my L series today and poped it into 4WD during some rain through some residentual areas, hit the main road but could not get it out.... Drove for another 15k maybe and it started to feel weird, not sure how to describe it, kinds like rubbing tyres on the body. Anyway, pulled into a peterol station to take a look, wheels fine. Went to drive back out again, an dno way was I going anywhere. Was heaps worse when steering light. Parket it and climbed under (raining mind u). Drive staft was thight as a fish's...., gear box was elevated off the cross member by 1 cm.... Was getting scread by now. I can see the fly wheel for under the car too, not much but a little.

Decided to pull the gear lever all appart and find out how it all woks to see if the box was having issues due to position due to my recent fix it job w the lift blocks etc at the passenger side of the cross member. Had the tools and the console and passenger seat are still out from my dash removal so easy to get to. No luck..

Decided I was not going to get it out untill I got the tension off the Shafts to the rear diff. Started it again and drove backwards and forward and backward again, pop... it came out. Phew!!!!

Drove home as per usual.

So what happened? Has anyone else had this happen? What about seeing the Flywheel form underneath, whats there that could have lifted due to the pressure coming from the shafts pushing the gear box forward?

I will attemp to stick it in 4WD again tommorow and this time just back up if I can't get it out....lol

Smokey

Yep this is a common thing to happen.

I did this the first time I test drove my Brumby. The owner had a heart attack and thought I broke the car! Hey, so did I!

It happens because there is no centre diff. When the front and rear turn at different speeds the driveline binds up and causes an awful grinding/scrubbing kind of noise as you said. You should only really use 4WD when you are on a surface with minimal traction. However, saying that, some MY's and L's don't have a problem for some reason!

The way I was told to fix it was to put the car in reverse, and push down on the 4WD selector whilst doing so. You may end up getting a bit of speed before it clunks out. The other suggestion was to find some very tractionless surface (ie wet grass or gravel) and rip a bit of a burnout. Should pop out that way too.

See how you go, try and bind it up and release it again. So you know how to fix it if it happens again.

yeh same happened to me when test driving some L's. like xaymaca said the rear wheels cant turn at same rate as fronts when cornering so the diff f**ks up.
to get it out of 4wd: try reversing and going back n forth until it comes out - or find some gravel/sand - remember to keep the steering straight ahead.

If you ever have trouble getting the car out of 4wd mode, reverse and turn left for a 90 degree bend, then try taking the car out of 4wd. If that doesn't work, drive forward completing a 180 degree turn (opposite direction of what you did in reverse) and once driving straight try taking it out again. This in theory un-winds the gear wind-up you've created while driving on a traction "rich" surface in 4wd.

Same when you're in low 4wd... never attempt a U turn in low 4wd, always do a 3 point turn to avoid winding up the gears/drivetrain and possibly causing damage to the driveshafts, diffs or worse still the gearbox itself...

I'm sorry but i don't see the need for 4wd in the rain unless on a dirt road, you're only going to stress your drivetrain and most likely your engine/gearbox mounts and use more fuel in the process.

You should look into a liberty wagon hi/low AWD box.

Thanks for the tips guys. Now that I know It won't work driving in 4WD onroad I won't be doing it again. I wouldn't do it in the dry but though the wet would be ok, ie slipery enough to not cause any probs. I should have backed her up when I reached the main road and first realised It was stuck. Everything always makes sense in hindsight.

No apparent damage done, could have been far worse i guess if I didn't pull over. Was the last easy spot to pull over before the M4 too....

Smokey.