On the second day after delivery, I accidentally got on the freeway with Lo gear after playing around with the off-road settings. Had to learn to do the above-mentioned maneuver of switching from Lo to Hi while driving. In case some poor soul on this forum does the same; hold down on the trigger button to get the gear into Neutral. At speed < 39 MPH switch from Lo to Hi, the vehicle will not let you switch into Hi if your speed is > 39 MPH.

 

I only have small trailer but that start heavy loads in low range and then shift to high seemed normal enough. What doesn’t seem normal is the conflict with the book and how to shift to high once moving. I still have to ask dealer but are we really expected to shift to neutral while rolling and then select high range on a modern vehicle or did they get the write up in the manual wrong?

 

Freemey:

No, you have it right. You must be in neutral to shift the transfer case -- stopped at zero MPH INTO LOW and below 39 MPH INTO HIGH. If you try it otherwise, you will be warned to shift to neutral, first. I was off-road yesterday and again executed this maneuver without difficulty. This is also the procedure for shifting the transfer case on the LR4.

The only additional thing I have noted is that the Defender transfer case likes to be on relatively flat ground during the shift, with an unloaded drive train. I had the vehicle stopped at 20 degrees, axially clockwise from inside the vehicle, and 25 degrees nose up, with the drive train loaded by the wheels and brakes -- and the transfer case clunked a bit when shifting. But, it worked -- and no harm done, I think.

Best to shift into LOW before it is needed.