I manually shifted T-case to 4hi and it slipped out after a week, fluke?

[lvin4jc]

Ok, that was a long title, wasn't sure how else to say it, lol.

My shift motor (probably) went out and I wanted to test 4x4 function so I removed the shift motor and just manually shifted it to 4HI. This seems very common according to what i've seen on this forum.

This is a trail rig so my inclination was to leave it shifted in and just use the hubs to switch between 2 and 4. Someone replaced my auto hubs with lockouts before I bought it and they work.

So I was driving around town with the T-case in 4HI and the hubs unlocked for a good week with no issues. Yesterday I came down an off-ramp off of the highway and I had to yield to traffic at the bottom. Once the road was clear I hit the gas and the engine just revved and I went nowhere. I was freaking out that my transmission had gone out but then I remembered the case. I jumped down there and shifted it to 2HI and the truck was good as new again.

I figured maybe the 4x4 broke in the T-case. I got home and shifted it back into 4HI and she moved forward and backward just fine, good as before.

So... Does that happen sometimes when shifted manually? Does that not happen to anyone else and it was a fluke, like it was 95% shifted in and somehow it worked for a week before it fell out? Other ideas?

Thanks.

 

[RangerX]

It doesn't like to stay in 4 hi because there isn't a detent to hold it, like there is for 2hi and 4lo.

 

[lvin4jc]

It doesn't like to stay in 4 hi because there isn't a detent to hold it, like there is for 2hi and 4lo.

Ok, that's helpful information. I will probably just cruise around in 2 until I go wheeling and then get into 4LO which is what I would want to wheel in anyway.

That's not a problem at all really until winter when some 4HI would be nice. Maybe i'll replace the shift motor by then or figure something else out. Thanks!

 

[RangerX]

Thats what I did for more than a couple years!
Also, there's a thread here somewhere on how to rebuild the shift motor.