If your 4WD is a basic model or quite old its transfer box will probably be non-synchro with square cut gears.
Depress the clutch to move from a gear to neutral.
Fully release the clutch while in neutral and depress it again to shift to another gear
I have a 4WD vehicle that runs normally in 2WD and sometimes I struggle to engage the 4WD and transfer box gear lever. What is the likely cause of that?
Short answer: The problem can be maladjusted or worn gear linkages…or poor technique. On the most sophisticated 4WD systems, 4WD and low range and diff locks can be engaged at the press of a button. On more basic designs a manual transfer gear-shift lever is used and the ease of engaging it depends on whether the transfer box has synchromesh or old-fashioned fixed gears.
