Can't shift to 4wl
 

Hi,
I'm the new owner of a 1993 F250. This is my first truck, first stick, so needless to say I'm not very experienced in the ways of driving them. I can't shift to 4wl. I leave the truck in neutral, press the clutch, and I can pull back on the stick just fine into 4wh and the 4wd light comes on. Then I push down and pull back, putting it in neutral. But I can't pull it back any further, either just straight back, down and back, or up and back. Not sure if I'm just doing it wrong, but I can't get the truck into 4wl. Any suggestions?

have you read the owners manual?

do you have locking hubs?

the answer to both questions, respectively:
1)No, the previous owner did not have the owners manual when he sold me the truck
2) I don't know, how do I find out?

its got locking hubs if its a 4x4 but, i think he meant are they auto lock or manual lock hubs. manual lock hubs have knobs on them. i'll go look in my owners manual real quick.

ok this is what my owners manual says for lever shift transfer case with manual lock hubs(from 4h to 4l)-
first you gotta lock the hubs by turning them to the lock position. stop vehicle anddepress clutch. push lever down while pulling it, should be done with one continuous motion with no pausing in the neutral position. pausing in the neutral position can cause gear clash and difficult shifting. if while shifting between 4h and 4l, the transfer case gets stuck in the neutral position or is difficult to shift into either 4h or 4l, it may be necessary to let the vehicle roll slightly and/or turn the engine off(particularly on vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions)

auto hubs just dont require locking the hubs. but once its in 4h the 4x4 light will come on and when in low range the low light will come on.

I took a look and on the front wheels where the locking hub would be it has a big silver shiny thing that says automatic. Now, as I said I'm not to familiar with trucks, but my inclination is that it has automatic locking hubs. I'll go back out and try the one smooth motion thing.

Nothing doing. I try pulling it through the neutral position and it just cold stops. Feels like I'm trying to pulling it through steel (which is probably what I'm trying to do)

The hub locks have nothing to do with the t-case shift lever. You don't have to hold the clutch in, but it may help if you perform the shift while the truck is rolling slowly (like too slow for the speedo to register).

Crawl under the truck & look at the t-case shifter. There are 2 possible types. On this one, just push the knob down & slightly L to get into N. For all other movements, just push/pull the lever fore/aft and let the spring work.

https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/...er88bw1345.jpg

For this type, push straight down to go to N, but be gentle - it's known to break, and they're not available except in junkyards.

https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/...ifter-8796.jpg . https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/...56manshift.jpg