Sweet Relief!

[jonnyc]

Some background. About 5 years ago my SIII went into the garage to deal with a Crane ignition problem. At the time everything else was more or less OK. A little snag, and a lot of laziness, and the Rover stayed there until this past August. Running really well now, but the mild winter meant I never had any need to engage 4WD. I kept meaning to check it, but.....you know how that goes.
Went shooting today and we had more than the usual number of guys. I got stuck parking on the wet, gully-like edge. Went to back out and did nothing but dig muddy little ditches under my rear tires. I thought, "Crap, now I'll discover that the 4WD is locked/stuck/shot/broken/stuffed!" Stuck it in 4L and the little 88' fairly leaped out of the muck!
Jonny was a happy boy.
The End.

[o2batsea]

The greatest harm is letting it just sit. Seals dry out, gas goes bad, oil gets acid, rust creeps in, spiders roost. If for no other reason than to keep it limber, take it out and use it every few months.

[Revtor]

Great story Jonny, that's a Rover for ya!!!

[jonnyc]

02b, the sitting was not by plan or intention, I just never got to fixing what needed to be fixed. Now all appears to be well...until the next issue.

[SafeAirOne]

The 4-wheel drive engagement system on a series Rover transfer case is ultra-simple. I couldn't imagine it NOT working if the 2-wheel drive is working OK, regardless of how long it was sitting. Here's an animation of the transfer case shift process that I made when I had a minute of free time a few months ago. You'll see what I mean: