My truck is stuck in low 4WD

I put my husband's 2003 Ford Ranger in low 4wd when driving home from work
in the snow. I did not exceed 35mph. Now the truck is stuck in low 4WD
and will not come out. I've tried everything that the manual said to do.
Please advise, needless to say hubby is not happy!

Juliekristine wrote:
> I put my husband's 2003 Ford Ranger in low 4wd when driving home from work
> in the snow. I did not exceed 35mph. Now the truck is stuck in low 4WD
> and will not come out. I've tried everything that the manual said to do.
> Please advise, needless to say hubby is not happy!
>


35mph is low is pretty darn fast for the gearing. Is is push button or
floor shift 4wd?

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-----------------
www.thesnoman.com

Try reversing a good few meters, chances are the diff has wound up and
that tension is preventing the vehicle from getting out of 4 low.

Regards
Stephen

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:06:46 GMT, TheSnoMan > wrote:

>Juliekristine wrote:
>> I put my husband's 2003 Ford Ranger in low 4wd when driving home from work
>> in the snow. I did not exceed 35mph. Now the truck is stuck in low 4WD
>

Yep, back it up for about 30 feet and then try releasing it.

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Coasty
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"fanie" > wrote in message
...
> Try reversing a good few meters, chances are the diff has wound up and
> that tension is preventing the vehicle from getting out of 4 low.
>
> Regards
> Stephen
>
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:06:46 GMT, TheSnoMan > wrote:
>
>>Juliekristine wrote:
>>> I put my husband's 2003 Ford Ranger in low 4wd when driving home from
>>> work
>>> in the snow. I did not exceed 35mph. Now the truck is stuck in low 4WD
>>

Push button

I recommend spinning the tires in reverse to try and unwind the
drivetrain.

On most snowy roads, you need 4 high, 4 low is for crawl speed, usually
for off road.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view!
Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/in...?id=2120343242
(More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

Juliekristine wrote:
>
> Push button

If that doesn't work, you can try putting the vehicle up in the air such
that all 4 wheels are free. You probably haven't hurt anything yet.

As for driving in snow, low range is usually not a good idea unless the
snow is deep enough to really drag down the vehicle, or you need to pull
something heavy or climb a hill.

If your vehicle can run in 2 wheel or 4 wheel mode, it is usually not a
good idea to put it in 4 wheel mode unless the roads are slippery enough
to allow a bit of tire slip. This can vary, but your owners manual will
tell you if the vehicle has the type of transfer case and differentials
where it is safe to run in switched 4 wheel mode for very long except on
very slippery surfaces.


fanie proclaimed:

> Try reversing a good few meters, chances are the diff has wound up and
> that tension is preventing the vehicle from getting out of 4 low.
>
> Regards
> Stephen
>
> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:06:46 GMT, TheSnoMan > wrote:
>
>
>>Juliekristine wrote:
>>
>>>I put my husband's 2003 Ford Ranger in low 4wd when driving home from work
>>>in the snow. I did not exceed 35mph. Now the truck is stuck in low 4WD
>>

Lon wrote:
> If that doesn't work, you can try putting the vehicle up in the air such
> that all 4 wheels are free. You probably haven't hurt anything yet.
>
> As for driving in snow, low range is usually not a good idea unless the
> snow is deep enough to really drag down the vehicle, or you need to pull
> something heavy or climb a hill.
>
> If your vehicle can run in 2 wheel or 4 wheel mode, it is usually not a
> good idea to put it in 4 wheel mode unless the roads are slippery enough
> to allow a bit of tire slip. This can vary, but your owners manual will
> tell you if the vehicle has the type of transfer case and differentials
> where it is safe to run in switched 4 wheel mode for very long except on
> very slippery surfaces.
>
>
> fanie proclaimed:
>
>> Try reversing a good few meters, chances are the diff has wound up and
>> that tension is preventing the vehicle from getting out of 4 low.
>> Regards
>> Stephen
>>
>> On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 10:06:46 GMT, TheSnoMan > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Juliekristine wrote:
>>>
>>>> I put my husband's 2003 Ford Ranger in low 4wd when driving home
>>>> from work
>>>> in the snow. I did not exceed 35mph. Now the truck is stuck in low
>>>> 4WD
>>>
>>>


Generally you want to stay below about 25mph or less in 4lo for any
longer period of travel. Not sure if it is a bad servo or possible
damage at this stage. Generally you need to be moving a bit to come out
of it sometimes and get in some grass or gravel and slowly go back and
forth a few times about 10 feet or so while trying to disengage it.

--

-----------------
www.thesnoman.com

"Juliekristine" > wrote in message
lkaboutautos.com...
> Push button
>

I don't mean to insult your intelligence or anything but are you sure you
had it in Neutral while disengaging 4 Low?

My next thought would be that the servo motor is stuck. I'm not familiar
with the newer ones but on the older ones (like '93) the servo motor is held
on by a few screws and can be removed and the transfer case has an indicator
on the shifting shaft that tells if it's in 2H, 4H etc. It would be
not-to-difficult to turn it by hand while in Neutral (with pliers etc) if
it's the servo motor that's stuck. If it is very difficult to turn then I
would stop right there.

We had to reverse a good 50 feet but it worked, thank you very much!