my 84 4wd hi/lo 5 spd wagon jerks (and stalls) when i take her out of of 4 lo and shift to 2wd. its happened twice now that she starts to jerk and sputter and eventually stall under normal load when i i drive in 2wd after driving in 4 lo. i just have to put up with the jerking for a a few minutes and eventually she drives rights again. has anybody had any problems like this? where should i look first?

Just to clarify, is the engine misfiring or the driveline binding?

it feels like the driveline is binding. it almost seems as if there is a misalignment in the transfer case that causes it to be in between 2wd and 4wd until it rights itself.

 

Just to clarify, is the engine misfiring or the driveline binding?

what kind of shape are the tires in? I've heard even a quarter inch difference between front & back can cause binding.

 

You could try driving backwards about 10-20 feet next time you change to see if switches any easier/better.

also make sure the steering wheel is straight.

 

an 84 with a 5spd? either a 5spd has been swapped in, or your ride is an 85? does your car have 4 square headlights or 2 rectangular? dumb question, but the 5spd caught my attention

One possibility is that if it is a 5-speed conversion that someone did not put a rear diff in with the right ratio, which could cause binding. If your engine has no timing belts, it is a converted car. I don't think any EA81's came with 5-speed 4wd stock.

yeah, Ea81 subarus never had 5spd 4wd trannys.

totally my mistake, its only a 4spd, must have been a little overzealous while i was typing. to reply to previous posts, the tires are in terrible shape, i haven't replaced them because i am going to lift it and put bigger tires and wheels on anyway so no sense wasting the dollars. I haven't tried driving it backwards after shifiting. Does that realign the gears in the transmission/transfer case?

you should have the same size tires all the way around. if not at least have the same size 2 tires, one on the back and one on the front, opposite sides, so the open diffs can make up the difference

 

dont use 4wd on dry pavement

just to be clear, the d/r 4spd tranny's or the 5spds for that matter, have no center diff. they're locked in 4wd mode... so if the front over-all rotation is faster or slower than the rear, it's going to bind up.