Hello,

I have a W-reg Frontera 2.2 Sport, which has a 4x4 'shift-on-the-fly' (or
is it 'shift-on-the-move'??) button. The transfer-case stick has just
4H/4L on it. Now I know on the older Frontera the stick had 2H/4H/4L, and
that it was possible to change to 4x4 by engaging the free-wheeling hubs.
Engaging the hubs regularly was recommended to ensure they didn't dry out.
I did this by selecting 4H moving forward a bit then selecting 2H (while
still moving). This engaged the hubs but the car was in two-wheel drive.

My question is this: with shift-on-the-fly are the hubs always engaged? If
so then there is no need to worry about them drying out I guess, but if
they are not then how do I engage the hubs without being in four-wheel
drive? Does the shift-on-the-fly button actually engage the hubs and the
whole 4x4 drive mechanism or, if the hubs are always engaged, it just
completes the 4x4 drive train?

The owners manual says very little about any of this. There is no
Haynes manual it seems for the later Frontera's, so I haven't been able to
find out about this myself.

Thanks,

John.