1956 Landrover

From memory Ithink it is push the lever with the spring on it DOWN,

BILLS

I think you pull the yellow lever back.If you push the red lever down you get high 4.Then pulling back the yellow lever releases high 4 and selects low 4.As I said,I think.

Push the lever with the spring loaded button down to get 4wd.(yellow knob)

To get low range pull the other lever (red knob) back towards the driver.

You can engage 4wd on the move but you must stop to engage low range.

When you go back from low range to high range the spring loaded yellow knob will pop up and you are back in 2wd.

Deisel Drinker, only one of these posts is even close !
4WD is selected by pulling back the RED lever after stopping. This automatically selects 4WD and low range. To get 4WD high range you push down on the yellow spring loaded knob. To get it out of 4WD high you must select low range and the yellow knob will pop back up.

Trust the Poms to make it complex but that is how it is done.

Ken

By the way......when you drive thru Keith in S.A. check out the 1956 landrover up a 4 metre pole. It's set up as a dedication monument to the early pioneering days. Rus.

Hi Diesel (or is it 'Mr Drinker'),

As Ken says, only one of the posts above is close to correct and, unfortunately, his isn't the one - it's Garrycol's

Lets be clear about what levers we have first, in case the original yellow and red knobs aren't there anymore.

The first lever to the right of the main gear lever should be a short straight vertical one with a light spring around the stem. It should have had a Yellow knob originally. It's not really a lever, just a rod that can be pushed vertically down to engage the front axle (4WD) at any time and any speed. Once pushed down, 4WD remains engaged until it pops back up again. See below about this.

The second lever to the right of the main gear lever (closest to your left leg) is the High-Neutral-Low range lever. It originally has a Red knob and moves front to back. Fully forward is high range, mid-way back is neutral (used if using a PTO winch, for example) and fully back is low range.

Assuming we are starting from 2WD, high range:
* To engage the front axle (4WD), push down the Yellow knob any time, any speed - now in 4WD high range.
* To engage 4WD low range, push down the Yellow knob then (while stopped and clutch in) pull the Red lever fully back. If it hasn't been used for a long time, it may be very stiff and you may need to release the clutch in the neutral position and try again)

To return from 4WD-Lo to 2WD-Hi: Stop, clutch in and push Red lever fully forward - Yellow knob should pop-up automatically, disengaging the front axle.

To return from 4WD-Lo to 4WD-HI: Same as above, But you must remember to again push the Yellow knob down to again engage the front axle. (This is a famous trap for young players in the sand - you get through a difficult bit in low range, shift back the high range, forget the re-engage the front axle then immediately start to bog-down in 1st Hi!)

"4WD is selected by pulling back the RED lever after stopping. This automatically selects 4WD and low range." - this is definitely incorrect, Ken. It certainly selects
low range but does not automatically engage 4WD. Doing this without manually pushing down the Yellow knob engages 2WD low range. This is one of very few vehicles in which you can do this (not counting the use of free-wheeling hubs), and it can be quite handy for slow manoeuvring (trailer backing) on hard surfaces.

Ian

pulling the lever with the red knob all the way back definitely engages 4wd low range you cannot engage low range 2wd at all

I have no idea but I find it fascinating the process is so diffucult it has generated discussion as to what is the correct method

Hi Guys,

I'm having difficulty speaking at the moment as my mouth is full of Humble Pie! Sorry people - I got it unequivocally and categorically WRONG! My apologies in particular to Ken, whose information I so adamantly contradicted. I should learn to check my facts before relying on vague recollections, shouldn't I?

Yes, I now recognise that pulling the transfer (red) lever back to the low range position DOES automatically engage the front axle (4WD) as well. And 2WD-lo is not available (unless you have freewheeling hubs and leave them unlocked).

I THINK most of the rest of what I said is correct, especially the bit about it being easy to forget to re-engage 4WD after changing from low back to high range. However, should more errors be noted, you have my apologies for these as well.

Ian

Ian,

Apology accepted. Must say I was getting a bit excited though reading down through the posts but could take a deep breath and relax by the end !
I was never sure why the Poms made the high & low range selection so messy, 2 controls for where other 4WD's had 1. There used to be a modification you could do [which added a 3rd control] to let you get out of 4WD high without stopping and selecting low to let the yellow knob pop up. Funny we used to think this was an enhancement rather than looking back now and seeing it as another unnessary addition that increased the chance of failure.

As a dyed in the wool Landy man for over 30 yrs I certainly have many memories of going quickly for the red lever as the mighty 2.25 litre Landy engine struggled to maintain forward motion. The thing about modern 4WDs [ and sad to say I have a Nissan now] is you learn little about the skills required to get places with modern vehicles having heaps of power, exceptional wheel travel, great turning circle and either autos or full synchro gearboxes. It is pretty much a case of point and shoot.
Ah the mighty Landy though. With no synchro on 1st or 2nd, 48 ft turning circle, 80 odd hp on a good day, no power brakes or steering, 4" wheel travel, minimal braking capacity [specially going backwards] and an excellent chance that any rough gear change in low range would snap an axle, a good chance the transfer case will jump out of gear at the steepest part of the track, it took a bit of skill to get places. Particularly when the tracks were so much worse than they are today.
Character building stuff as they say but can't say I'd want to go back.

Ken