Simple question, I have a 1999 F150 4x4 with the 4x4 **** on the dashboard. And I was just wondering if it is a good idea to turn off the overdrive before I engage 4x4. Please help this question is puzzling me????

 

Well, you shouldn't be going that fast to be in OD in the first place before switching to 4wd..

If you mean, "should I not go into OD while I'm in 4wd", that depends on why you need 4wd in the first place... If you can go fast enough to be in OD, do you really need to be in 4wd??

Can you run in 4wd in OD? Sure, the trans case does not care what gear the trans is in.. It's just going to spin as fast as you are going anyway.

Mitch

 

This puzzles me too. You shouldn't need to go that fast in 4wd. But it won't hurt anything. Why do you ask??

 

Well I was pulling my boat out of the water and it was slick so I put in 4x4 and it did not engage. So I put it back in 2wd and pulled it out no problem but wanted to be safe not sorry. I pull out of the park with the boat ramp and my spedometer says im going 55 which I was really going around 25 and my tacometer was at 2500 steady. And it was jerking into gear really bad. I believe it was stuck in 4wd low even though the dashboard light did not light up. so the reason asking the question is my dad always takes his truck out of overdrive before he engages 4x4 and says that it was the problem but i totally disagree.

 

OD engages at speeds as low as 35-40. You can switch to 4x4 up to 55mph. There is no reason to switch off OD, during switching to 4x4 or in 4x4.

 

Were your rear tires spinning when you put it into 4wd?? That would be a big NO NO!

You can shift into 4hi while moving, but the front wheels need to be going the same speed as the rear wheels when you do it..

OD switch has no effect on when you shift into 4hi.

You can only shift into 4lo by being in neutral AND your foot on the brake. Even if you put the switch in 4lo, it won't shift into it until those 2 things occur.

There is more to the story I suspect....

Mitch

 

I was stopped completely when it put it in 4x4 and when i put it in 4 lo my truck was in park and my foot was not on the brake. so.....???

 

So..., it shouldn't be in 4 lo then.

 

The GEM won't complete the shift into low without the N and under 3mph input signals.

Adrianspeeder

 

As long as you kept the switch in 4lo, once you did eventually stop, put your foot on the brake and even shifted past N, it would go into 4lo on you at that time... I know, it's happend to me one time..

One time, I turned the shift **** to 4lo instead of the fan control! I was still in the garage when I did this.. I put it in reverse, backed out of the driveway, but when I hit the brakes and stopped, and pulled the gear lever into D, it went passed N and I heard this "Clunk".. I didn't think anything about it at that moment.. But, as I pulled ahead, I wondered why it had shifted into 3rd by the time I got to the stop sign.. Looked at the dash and saw the 4lo light on and figured it out pretty fast.... Put it back into 2wd and all was fine.

So, it can go into 4lo anytime after you switch it there as long as you stop, brake and go into or past N...

Mitch

 

so i got my truck back from the Ford dealership and it was stuck in 4lo... the 4x4 motor went bad and would not let it come out of 4lo so 613 dollars later my truck is all fixed.