Have an 89 F350, put it in low to help move a trailer, now it won't come out of low. The lever moves, it feels like it's shifting when moving the lever but it's stays in low.

 

I shifted into low to help back a trailer after a longish drive with a heavy trailer. After settling in the trailer I went to leave and after shifting the transfer case to 4hi and it feeling like it shifted I found I was still on low.

I tried some backing, some shifting while coasting, etc. no go still in low.

Crawled underneath, the shift lever on the transfer case seems fine, it's turning. It was pretty hot but nothing extreme and I saw some drips so I checked the fluid. It was low enough that I could not feel the level in the full hole. So I drained what was in there. Got out probably 2 quarts, it had a burnt smell and was brown.

Filled with fresh fluid and tried again to shift it, still stuck in low.

It's a 1356 transfer case and as far as I can tell is stock.

 

Can you verify the lever at the transfercase is actually still moving?

 

Yes and when I move the lever it feels like normal. I feel the detents and such.

 

Here is a link from fullsizebronco.com that shows a decent DIY for a transfer case rebuild. Hopefully your problem is a simple fix.

 

How to rebuild isn't the issue this is my only wheels right now, if I can't get it into high TONIGHT, I'm F'd.

 

Played with it some more.

The front driveline is not connected so it is coming out of 4WD. However as I spin the front driveline it has a spot where it gets almost stuck. Gets tight and hard to turn, I can turn the driveline through it but it's hard.

If I was to remove the PTO cover can I see the shift forks and maybe pry them with a screwdriver?

 

I don't know if that is feasible. If I am not mistaken there are two forks in the TC that you have to deal with. The 4WD fork and the range fork. You should be able to easily shift it out of 4WD that way, but the range gear will be harder to get to.

 

Going out on a limb but did you put the transmission in neutral when shifting from Hi to LOW?

 

Actually no, I find the best method is to put it in gear(AT) hold the brake, put it in park, then shift the transfer case. Loading it in gear tends to line up the gears, holding the brake keeps them there, and park takes the load off without letting it spin. A C6 in neutral still has enough internal drag to spin the output shaft if there is no load, so if the transfer case doesn't shift fast enough if the tranny is in neutral it sometimes grinds.

 

It's a 1356 right? You said that as your turn the shaft it gets tight at some point, then loose again?

I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say that's the oil pump, and that it broke free and broke the range fork.

 

From all I've been told and looked up etc I'm pretty sure your right. Thus I have already replaced it with another. I do need to fix this one though, the replacement is a stop gap. So I'll know probably tomorrow when I take it apart what went wrong.

FWIW it's a VERY easy TC to replace, I sure didn't mind that.

 

Its almost as easy to rebuild...............