Car won't move towing in 4L

I was towing a small trailer with a decent load of broken down furniture, and to clear a small incline i put my 3rd gen in 4Low, but when i let off the clutch in 1st gear the car wouldn't move, and something was rattling.
Once i put it back in 2H the car moved no problem without any noises out of the ordinary, and following that 4high also worked no problem, any ideas?

sounds like your low gear mesh is broken but never heard of this happen before so it is not very likely...

or more likely the actuator if you have a 05 or newer push button transfer case. But then there would be blinking 4wd light on the dash I guess.

what model year is your car?

it's a 2000 jimny, with the non-vvt m13a, it's had its share of transmission issues (the shifter stiffening bar, if i can call it that, was welded badly from factory and detached, but we welded it back a lot stronger), had the clutch replaced not even 10k kms ago, i don't know what that could be

Not the same model, but my Gen 4 has jumped out of 4L a couple of times, there is another thread on here.

Turns out, I am not the only one and everyone says you have to give the lever a good shove backwards to make sure it is correctly engaged.

If your Gen 3 is lever operated perhaps it’s the same thing?

Just to be certain, you can’t change in to 4L whist on the move, you have to be at a stop, should be in neutral and possible push the clutch in.

When I had a Gen 3 with push buttons, sometimes it wouldn’t engage 4L and sometimes it wouldn’t come out, but you always got flashing lights on the dash.

Have a look at the BigJimny wiki ages for your model there are plenty of tests and diagnostics on there.

Robin

Body lifted?
Something bent?
Stupid aluminium transfer Mount cracked?
Rubber Mounts broken?
Rubber around gear shifter broken or shifter bent?

Try lifting the transfer from underside by hand, you will soon see if any of the above is in play.

it is lever operated, and i made sure to yank it hard to engage the low gears.
the body isn't lifted, and when i changed the engine oil last month nothing seemed out of place or bent so i don't know.
i'll check the transfer case and the mounts when i can, but the car drives no problem otherwise so at least there's that ahah