I know the first responses will be to SEARCH and READ THE MANUAL..lol...and I have and I haven't found a direct answer...

When you have finished using 4wd and you are back in 2Hi and you stop and reverse the vehicle are you supposed to feel or hear anything? Can you tell that it disengages?...

New to 4-wheeling, so bear with me...

Thanks...

Usually you can hear a mild clicking noise.

...and if you can't no worries. You are still doing it right. Sometimes I don't hear anything, sometimes I hear a distinct click.

good, because everytime I have done it so far I have not heard anything...

i pretty much always hear a small click within the first three feet of reverse... but you really have to listen for it, or have a window open to hear it..

Thanks for the input guys...

I keep a finger on the 4wd shifter. You can feel the click. Sometime I rest my right knee against it and can feel it.

There are times when I also hear the "clicking" noise around 3 to 4 feet of reversing, but most of the time there is no click...It would have been a nice feature if the 4x4's came with a "hubs-locked", "hubs-unlocked" indicator on the gauge display next to the 4x4 indicator...

I don't need any sort of confirmation that they've unlocked or not. If for some reason they don't unlock, it's harmless, I'll drive on...

Brent

I just get out and unlock them.

Also, the 4wd indicator light will go off once the hubs are disengaged.

The indicator light has nothing to do with the hubs, the light is transfer case position.

Wrong...The 4WD Indicator light goes off after a couple of seconds when shifting back to 2WD...and, like mentioned above, the Light has nothing to do with the Hubs being Un-locked...

The click of the hubs unlocking is something that I never noticed until I was specifically listening for it.... now that I know what it sounds like I hear it every time... seems like the driver side always releases a split second before the passenger side dows.

To add to this topic. When you shift from 4hi to 2hi, why must you unlock the hubs? I thought once the lever has been moved the 4wd is not longer in use..

Now do i need to do this immediatley? THe manual is soo vague.

Ie. if i am on a snow covered road and then turn onto a wet road, there is no longer use for the 4wd so a go back to 2hi can i wait until i reach my destination to to roll the truck backwards?

I really do not understand the principal behind this setup. it does not seem very easy to use(says my wife) If you need to be rude thats fine but please use laymans terms.
THanks
Jay

You can leave them locked as long as you wish. Convenience should be the deciding factor as to when to unlock them.

Hey Ian, How are your hubs holding up?

some say that if you leave the hubs locked while in 2h you might feel a little more dead weight in the front end, affecting gas mileage and acceleraition. now i have tested this and personally cannot say i noticed anything.
but another thing is that while your hubs are locked, your axles are still spinning even if you're in 2h. some could say this is unnecesary wear and tear since you could just unlock the hubs and let the front wheels spin freely.

although the last reason has some logic to it, it really depends on your driving conditions. if you think you might need to shift back into 4hi and don't want to slam your brakes to hit the 25mph shift limit (upon which time it will probably just makes things worse/be too late), leave them locked until you get home.

Wear and tear, p'shaw! The current Pathfinder has been running the same front diff and CV axles with fixed hub flanges (always-locked) since 96, and every FWD/AWD vehicle has CVs too. They're all always in motion and survive just fine for years.

Brent

So from what i now understand, it is really up to preference, conveinence and weather.

Thank you for all the insightful help

Happy Holidays
Jay

They are doing quite well. I have to snug the bolts every now and then, but never more than 1/8 of a turn. No wear at all around the bolts.

Ian,
I got some class 12.9 socket head cap screws from McMaster-Carr. They have a nylon patch on them and are considered self locking. I replaced one side to see if it did better that without. I have never had to snug them down, but the side without the patch keeps coming loose.