I just picked up a 1990 F150 4x4 with 5.8/auto. The engine has about 65k on it and rest has about 130k. Paid $800 and it runs decent but needs love. Question is the previous owner told me the engine had to be turned off to select the 4 low. That didn't make sense to me but it won't shift to 4 low while running? My 99 Excursion didn't do this but it was select on the dash not manual on the floor. Thanks for any input.

 

This truck has a floor shift? No, you don't need to turn the engine off to shift into 4-low. You do need to make sure the front and rear driveshafts are both stopped and there's no load on the driveline. So come to a complete stop and then shift the trans into neutral before shifting in or out of 4-low.

 

Put the transmission in nuetral, then push down on the transfer case **** and pull back on the lever at the same time..

 

Thank you I will try it tomorrow

 

complete stop with your foot off the brakes- and it should shift just fine :-)