4x4 trouble!?!?!

[surfer1158]

So i took the exploder for an all day four wheeling trip and it handled like a beast. I was stunned at how well it did. anyways about 4 or 5 hours into four wheeling i noticed when i hit a big bump the 4x4 and low gear lights started to flicker. I knew that wasnt good and immediately slowed down to take it out. I hit the 4 low button and i heard it come out. then i hit the button to take it out of 4x4 and i only heard one click from the relay instead of the usual four or five, but the 4x4 light still went off. I said some foul words and accepted my loss. I tried hitting the 4x4 button again and this time i heard the relay click six or seven times and the 4x4 light come back on. then i hit the 4x4 button again and only heard that one or two clicks and it didnt come out of four. i tried a few more times. Then i turned the car off then on and tried again, and somehow it came out when i hit 4x4 but i still only heard 3 clicks. Anyways when i got back the next day my dad was driving it down a main street when he heard BAM! like the transmission just dropped and some grinding. He immediately pulled over and played around with the buttons and backed up and he said the grinding went away. Then today i reset the 4x4 computer and the 4x4 went in fine with a little bit of grinding. Then when i went to take it out of 4x4 i got the dreaded 2 clicks. So i tried backing up, drove it around the block, backed up again, started driving real slow again BAM! It sounded like the transmission dropped but immediately i noticed it was out of four. I stopped the car walked around and everything was still there. So too my long drawn out question, what the hell is going on?? I really want to go 4 wheelin again but cant afford expensive repairs. Whats going on???

 

[MrShorty]

Sounds a lot like what my BII did when I had mismatched tires on it (same size, but the front two were a different manufacturer than the rear two). The slight size difference between the two sets caused enough tension in the drivetrain to temporarily "seize" the t-case. In that case, I simply replaced the tires with a new set of four and it started working right again. It sounds to me like, be it tires, or terrain, or whatever, you're experiencing drivetrain windup.

 

[surfer1158]

hmmmm after doing a couple hours of searching and reading im coming to think it might be the shift motor not disengaging it out of 4 then that plastic stopper all of the sudden comes free, but im still wondering what would cause that boom??

 

[surfer1158]

bump: can anyone give me some more advice here before i pull the shift motor off??