Hey, I'm new here. Got a 2004 black 4x4 SE back in May, and I'm approaching 9,000 miles. Love the car so far, and today we got our first snowfall in the Northern Virginia area so I decided to try it out. I was reading the manual about how you shift it into 4L for steep inclines, but I didn't read far enough to see that you have to put it in neutral. I was driving slow in a parking lot and tried to shift the gear like I would to go from 2WD to 4H, but pushing down on the stick instead. It seemed like it worked, but when I tried to get out of it, I got this horrible grinding noise, and like the dumbass I am, I tried several times to get it to shift only to hear that awful noise again. Then I put it into neutral and it shifted without any problems. So THEN I looked at the next page in the manual and found out that you're supposed to park the car and put it in neutral to shift to the low gear. I shifted it in neutral all the way down and all the way up a few times, with no problems, and then drove and shifted from 2WD to 4H and back while moving, and had no problems. So it seems like its working fine now - but my question is: do you think I did any damage to the gear shifters or drive trains, or do you think it will be ok? Should I even bother asking the dealer to look for damage when I go in for my next oil change? Thanks.

Nahhh...I wouldn't worry about, you'll be alright...now that you know how to shift...don't do it again...

P.S....Dumbass

Thanks, yeah I figured it wouldn't be a big deal because people do that with their clutches on stick-shifts all the time, but man it sounded horrible. Its shifting fine now so I don't think there is any problem. If anybody thinks they have caused damage by accidentally shifting in Drive, let me know - otherwise I'll assume it'll be ok.

Yeah my first 4x4 i did the same thing
I ground that transfer case 2 or 3 times before figurig it out. Dont sweat it. Next time read the instructions and all of them.

:-)

Ya See, I learned how to shift on the test drive model when the guy showing it to me didn't know how it was done... Lot's of grinding... If you can't find it... Grind it...
I've only ground mine once when I shifted to 4hi at 35Mph. Slight grind at that. Just never put the Transfer case in N. Allways shift through N to 4 Hi or 4 Lo. Stopped and in Neutral (Tranny).
Welcome to the X Club.

When you change out the fluids, just make sure you pick up all those little metal shards and pieces of the teeth, etc...floating around in there...



naw...it'll probably be fine.

OUCH!!! Damn that sucks, you should be Ok.