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HELP!!! Transfer case stuck in 4 Lo


jco77on

jco77on

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Long story short, I've been trying to troubleshoot my 4 wheel drive system not working so I pulled the transfer case motor off.

Put the truck in neutral with the e brake on, turned the transfer case selector with pliers into 4HI. Seemed to work. Backed up, pulled forward.

Put the truck in neutral, ebrake on, turned the transfer case to 4Lo. Backed up, drove a few feet and it's definitely in 4Lo.

Truck in neutral, ebrake on......it won't shift back into 2HI. The selector moves a little bit, but it's like it's hitting a stop.
 


RangerSVT

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Make sure the truck's in neutral...

SVT
 
adsm08

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Also, roll it forward a few feet. Sometimes things bind and rolling it in the opposite direction will unbind them.
 
jco77on

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Yes, it's definitely in neutral....

Tried letting it roll back a little ways.

Just to be clear, you only turn it counterclockwise following the direction of the arrows on the case right? 2HI--4Hi--4Lo---and back to 2Hi, right?
 
jco77on

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Just reread that. I'll try pushing it forward and going at it again
 
adsm08

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jco77on said:
Just to be clear, you only turn it counterclockwise following the direction of the arrows on the case right? 2HI--4Hi--4Lo---and back to 2Hi, right?
Click to expand...
No no no no, that is somewhere between 50 and 100% wrong. The shift back to 2wd is done counter-clockwise. Turn the knob to the left.

The mechanism inside is a cam plate, it is a round cylinder with a spiral path cut in it, with stops at each end, and a square peg in the spiral. As the cam turns it pushes a shift fork back and forth via the peg. It will only turn so far in either direction.
 
jco77on

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SCORE! Thanks so much. Ant *that* is why I don't try to force things when I'm not sure, haha. The three arrows all pointing in one direction made me think it must only turn one direction.

Okay, so now I know that my 4x4 switch is good as I can hear a click at the computer when I push a button.

The computer self test says it's good.

I know my transfer case and hubs are working.

So it must be the shift motor. I disassembled and cleaned and replaced the broken stop... But that's the only thing it could be.
 
4x4junkie

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jco77on said:
Okay, so now I know that my 4x4 switch is good as I can hear a click at the computer when I push a button.

The computer self test says it's good.

I know my transfer case and hubs are working.

So it must be the shift motor. I disassembled and cleaned and replaced the broken stop... But that's the only thing it could be.
Click to expand...
Try turning the motor (sensor) cover just a little tiny bit in each direction and see if maybe it begins to work. I know that any misalignment of the sensor seems to cause the system to go into unresponsiveness (and is part of why those stop bushings can cause so many issues).

Worst case, you're out some minutes of your time.
 
jco77on

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Thanks for the idea, tried that, no dice. Tried a new shift motor. Still no dice.
 
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