Stuck in 4WD

[4to8m8]

Evening Gents,
83 S3, 109 - Currently stuck in 4WD. Yellow plunger just flops around. I'm currently out of the US on business and plan to have my mech take a look at it upon my return. My question is am I doing any damage driving it around stuck in 4WD on grippy urban surfaces at around 45MPH? Second question - Any idea what my mech is going to find?
Recent repairs: Brakes completely rebuilt (drums,master cylinder, wheel cylinders,ss lines,shoes) New distributor(electronic), New coil, carb rebuilt, new check straps, head resurfaced, valves adjusted.
R/
4to8m8

[lumpydog]

Yes, it’s bad to drive around on solid surfaces in 4 wheel drive. You’ll experience wind/bind up because the wheels on the front/rear are trying to travel at the same speed, but are covering different distances. When you turn, the wheels on the rear need to rotate slower that the front wheels... Your truck will try to compensate by hopping or scrubbing tires on the pavement to even out the difference in rotation/speed. Not good for the tires or transmission.

If you have front wheel locking hubs, unlocking them provides a temporary solution. This essentially defeats the drive to the front wheels and gets you back in rear wheel only.

Your yellow knobbed 4x4 selector should have a very visible spring that runs the exterior length of its selector shaft - from the point it exits the transmission tunnel, right up to the yellow knob. The point of this spring is to “Pop” up the yellow selector shaft when you put the truck out of 4x4.

To put your truck out of 4x4, with the clutch depressed, pull the red (low/high) selector all the way back and then move it all the way forward. The yellow knob will pop back up as the red knob is pulled back. If it doesn’t release, put the truck in neutral (leave the red low/high shifter in the middle position) and try rolling the truck back and forward a few feet and turn the steering steering wheel left to right as you do. This will get any gear wind/bind worked out of the drivetrain and make it easier to release the yellow lever.

Report back what you find.

[JSBriggs]

As lumpydog stated, shift into low, then back into high, it should disengage 4wd.

-Jeff

[4to8m8]

Understand all and thank you so much!! Will try and remedy this myself armed with this knowledge. I'll report back with results.
Again, big THANK YOU!

[4to8m8]

Thank you Jeff! Appreciate your time. Will report back with results.

[lumpydog]

Understand all and thank you so much!! Will try and remedy this myself armed with this knowledge. I'll report back with results.
Again, big THANK YOU!

Good stuff - to answer your question about damage, not likely. These trucks are pretty forgiving. They are also very communicative. If they are not happy, you will hear it/feel it. Still - avoid 4x4 and dry surfaces if you want to avoid unwanted work!