Advanced shift rail bore?

[ponch68]

Here's my origianl post where all the responses gave me confidence that it was a shift rail bore issue:

" '97 XLT, auto, 4x4 with the common whirring under no load and grinding in reverse. After reviewing this site, it sounds as if I have the common shift rail bore issue. I'm a fairly good garage mechanic, but have never dealt with a transfer case. This is my first 4x4".

Now, I had a situation where I needed to drive the car. It was fine as long as I kept the RPM above 1500. Then the explorer started bucking, I heard a loud noise and then no more drive or reverse. I still get the whirring noise intermixed with some grinding. My question now is; is this still just a transfer case problem or has my driving caused some transmission problems as well? I was plannning on pulling the transfer case and having it rebuilt. I appreciate your thoughts!

 

[KPT]

Its probably still just the transfer case. The shift collar is not making contact with anything now. Did you try low?

 

[ponch68]

I didn't want to try anything else for fear of damaging or further damging the transmission. Thanks for the help.

 

[gijoecam]

Ditto... And to answer the next logical question, yours will only interchange directly with another one from a '97. The '97 was a transitional year. It has a speed sensor on the rear half of the case that's missing from the 98-01 t-cases, and a CV front output that is missing in the 95-96 cases. The only direct plug-n-play unit would be from another '97 4x4.

Good luck!