Just got a Jeep

Okay, maybe here's a stupid question, but I haven't gotten my owner's manual sent to me yet. I haven't gotten a chance to try the 4wd yet. The last 4x4s I drove were in the 90s and they had auto hubs. You had to stop to put them in 4wd and then when you took it out you had to back up a certain distance to disengage the hubs. How's a 2003 Wrangler work? I read a friend's manual on a Liberty and it says you can go into 4hi anywhere up to 55mph but it didn't say anything special about taking it out.

Fire away at the newbie.

I did'nt get an owners manual with mine either when I picked it up, so I went to the nearest parking lot to see if the 4WD worked. After figuring out how to put it in 4hi, I put it in 4L, and let the clutch out.

After getting over the whiplash, I tried turning, and it started bucking and rearing like a stubborn mule. So, I figured the 4WD worked.

I then put it in 2WD and took off for home(1500 mi. away) -immediately hitting the roughest concrete stretch of highway on the face of the earth! 60 mph bucking and rearing again, slightly under control, and I thought: WHAT have I done?!!

Oh well, It's been my DD ever since, and I feel deprived (and depraved) when I drive something else.

Welcome to the Club.

Oh, you don't have to get out to put it in 4W...Just put the clutch in, and slip it in. Don't force it, and don't be moving more that 1-2 mph for 4L.

So what ended up being the reason it was bucking after you took it out of 4wd? Did you have to back up and unlock the hubs or do they do it by themselves when you take it out?

Brian, it was bucking and banging up and down because of the short wheel-base on one of those rough concrete bypasses around a busy city. I was not used to the rough ride, and found myself bouncing up and down and if I had'nt had a seat belt on, would have pierced the top with my head (or so it felt).
I'm still not exactly sure how the front engages, but the 4WD lever connects the front and rear driveshafts together rigidly with the transfer case(which is why you cannot use 4WD on hard surfaces), and a vacumm motor joins the two-piece right-front axle together. I'm not sure what the left front axle is doing all the time.

I played with it a little in my driveway today after work. Thanks for all the input guys. I'm thinking Tuesday I might go out in the NJ pines a little and try it out a little more. I'm heading out on a geocaching trip next week on the pine roads and wanted to figure out how it all worked here instead of there.