trouble grabbin gears

Does anyone have a little difficulty putting their '87 cherokee in 4wd? I go to hit the 4wd and as I try to move the lever from normal 2wd through 4 high to N and to 4 Low there is a great deal of resistance from the get go. Sometimes it goes through as smooth as budda' on toast. Other times its like I'm gonna bend some linkage if I were to fourse it. I don't go that far of course, I simply try to drive a frw feet in 2wd and then stop and try it again. I have read the manual jthat states to roll at 3-5mph to go from 2 to 4 high then stop and put the trans in N and then move the transfer case lever through N to 4high. Whats the hold up, I have recently bought the jeep and I changed all the fluids including the transfer case. So I know it has fresh topped off fluids. Any advice or experience would be a nice hepl. Thanks Fellow Jeepers.

You can shift from 2Hi to 4Hi while moving up to 55mph.

Shifting from 4Hi to 4 Lo is where you want to be coasting 3-5mph, put the trans in neutral, and move the 4wd shifter from 4hi past neutral to 4lo.

The trick is to be moving while you're shifting the transfer case.

That makes sense to move or roll while going into 4w lo to alow the gears to find their places and engage smoothly. I guess I should know that but sometimes it still isn't as smooth as I'd want it to be even when moving so I was messing with the process. But I'll stick to the right way from now on.

I believe you should also be completely engaged in 4wd High before attempting to shift to low, trying to go straight from 2wd to 4 Low at a low speed is not recommended.

It can sometimes take a bit of moving to actually fully engage 4wd high, these are shift on the fly t-cases, and so moving slowly or not at all can make it hard to engage.