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whats the proper way to ingage 4wd in a l series dual range 4wd

Firstly, make sure the car is on loose surface (sand, snow, gravel, etc...), then depending on the model (early or late) push the 4WD lever forward, one click (or press the button in the centre of the gear knob) whilst either stopped or doing under 30km/h.. hey presto, you're in 4WD

When selecting low range (pushing the 4WD level forward again - second click)then you're in low range. Please ensure the car is not moving.

There are lots of other ways (but more risky) that you select 4WD but that is the general way to select it.

Manual or Automatic ?
In the Brumby you should slow down ( if not stopped ) And dis-engage clutch whilst pulling up the lever. Note: There should be a sticker somewhere near the lever telling you what to do - or hand book in glove compartment. ( if hasn't been lost ) ...

Slow down or stop? I thought one of the main selling points of this 4WD system back in the day was that you didn't have to stop...into 4WD at up to 30mph the promo's said!

Warranty has expired on these models Silverbullet , you are better off listening to Paul and Bantum these days

You guys know it was called 'shift on the fly' (at least in the US) for a reason right?

You do not have to use the clutch and according to my old '78 wagon's sticker you can put it in 4wd below 80 Km per hour... (But in those days you had to point the wheels straight!). So, no you do not have to stop nor be under 30 Km an hour... Of course 4wd lo is another matter...

its manual an its a 1989 l series touring wagon with a mpfi motor

Since they are getting on the older side id make sure your at a stop or slowly moving (in which case why not just stop?? ) then clutch in and pop it in to 4wd. Why put unneccesary wear on it when it could be avoided?

RSR 555 wrote:Firstly, make sure the car is on loose surface (sand, snow, gravel, etc...), then depending on the model (early or late) push the 4WD lever forward, one click (or press the button in the centre of the gear knob) whilst either stopped or doing under 30km/h.. hey presto, you're in 4WD

For Noobs maybe...

sublime wrote:You guys know it was called 'shift on the fly' (at least in the US) for a reason right?

You do not have to use the clutch and according to my old '78 wagon's sticker you can put it in 4wd below 80 Km per hour... (But in those days you had to point the wheels straight!). So, no you do not have to stop nor be under 30 Km an hour... Of course 4wd lo is another matter...

Yeah at any speed in a straight line without a load on the drivetrain and you can select HIGH 4wd. I do it all the time and with the rain around here I've been (naughtily) using 4wd in the wet for acceleration and traction purposes.

Davidov wrote:Why put unneccesary wear on it when it could be avoided?

Because if there was any issues with wear on it you wouldn't be able to engage 4wd. Slotting it in 4wd on the fly is no issue if you've got the same diff ratios front and rear and you've got the same sized tyres on all round.

I also find it easier to disengage 4wd on the fly too - more wheel rotations to the time I'm pushing on the 4wd lever to make the action easier too (in general), again must be in a straight line unless trying to work out which way to be turning to undo the bind in the system that can be there.

My 5c.

Cheers

Bennie

an how much kilometers can these l series with ea82 mpfi do ?

l series mad wrote:an how much kilometers can these l series with ea82 mpfi do ?

Well Bennie's has over 500,000km I think but it is EJ now and has been for a few years. Usually a good few hundred km with most stuff stock if looked after. My old $300 L-Series seemed more reliable than my current Forester. lol I regret selling it! That only had a low 230,000km with everything original and ran like a dream for the most part Mind you it was the awesome EA82 carby..
I used to change mine on the fly like Bennie does, never seemed to be an issue. Even used it a few times in the wet onroad, although I probably shouldn't off. But on a hill with the stock skinny 13" wheels it had almost no traction..

STOP to shift ? From 2WD to 4WD and back again on a few L series 5 speeds ~ 100 kph with clutch, also used to do without on non tar. The old L EA82's will do as many as they can but as they age, like most cars, their owners, or next owner tends not to service them as if they are new and want to keep their $1000 car just that, so unfortunately not a lot get beyond mid 300,000kms. It is usually cheaper oil, extended service intervals, recycled oil filter and ageing cooling system that lets them down.

sublime wrote:You guys know it was called 'shift on the fly' (at least in the US) for a reason right?

You do not have to use the clutch and according to my old '78 wagon's sticker you can put it in 4wd below 80 Km per hour... (But in those days you had to point the wheels straight!). So, no you do not have to stop nor be under 30 Km an hour... Of course 4wd lo is another matter...

Yeah that was what I was thinking ...
In the Brumby you can go pretty much straight into 4wd Hi in any gear.
However to go into 4wd low, you have slow down to almost a 'crawl' to engage. ...

l series mad wrote:an how much kilometers can these l series with ea82 mpfi do ?

Very hard to answer but if well maintained then I'd say an average of around 400,000kms.

As for 'Shifting on the Fly' I wouldn't recommend it if you are new to Subarus. I do it from time to time myself but I'm very gentle on the change. Like I said on my first response, there is many ways to shift into 4WD but my reply was playing it safe.

taza wrote:Well Bennie's has over 500,000km I think but it is EJ now and has been for a few years.

470k km on the clock, but there's 10k "missing" when the speedo cable wasn't connected and in the last 20k km that I've been running on the big tyres it's missing 18% of the distance travelled in that time. So it's probably really really close! Can't wait!

taza wrote:Usually a good few hundred km with most stuff stock if looked after.

I've heard of a one owner L series going for 450k km without even a head gasket change (Beigewagon on ORS). The L will go the distance asked of it if you don't abuse it and you look after it!

Bantum wrote:Yeah that was what I was thinking ...
In the Brumby you can go pretty much straight into 4wd Hi in any gear.
However to go into 4wd low, you have slow down to almost a 'crawl' to engage. ...

You don't *have to* slow down for low range - just need to know what driving gear you need to engage to match your speed to the low range which is where it all gets technical. And that has to be under 70km/h which is pretty much the top speed in low range...

Cheers

Bennie

well i bought the car today it has every thing except for the origanal l series white star rims does anyone know where i can get some in perth ? oh the car i got 1989 l series touring wagon 5 speed manual mpfi motor 251000 on the clock has 4wd a/c p/s p/w p/m only for $2200 im happy

My carby "L" has done about 320k (plus a few kms with a broken speedo cable) and has only recently started to "age". It has had repairs and oil changes etc but never a major overhaul.

250k is barely run in

does anyone know where an how much will it cost to get head line done ? cause its all loose an come undone inside the car

i have a 91 l series I'm in and out all the time. backing a trailer up my drive to save the clutch, even when i hit a dirt road at 70 ill shift into 4x4 by just butting the clutch in for some rally action.. never had any problems..

do the head liner your self easy as, just pull the old one out and it will have a cardboard backing just pull the old crap off and apply some contact adhesive and some new cloth and away you goo..