2000 F150 5.4 Supercab 4x4 -- (manual 4wd) When shifting from 2H to 4H, N, and 4L the transfer case is VERY tight and really tough to get into gear. So tight the previous owner has stripped the splines inside the shift **** and the first time I tried to shift the truck I almost punched myself in the face when whole **** came flying back at me! Any ideas? Linkage needing to be lubed or something internal? It doesn't make any noise once engaged. Just tough gettting it there....

Thanks!!

 

normally it helps to have the transmission in neutral, or the truck rolling slightly to get the gears to align.. Is it "tight" or are the gear teeth contacting each other and not in alignment for engaging ?

 

It's just "tight" all around. It doesn't feel like the teeth are not matching up. Mostly stiff I guess. Like its never been used. No grinding or any other noises. Oh and the transmission is in Neutral too. Maybe it just needs to be utilized more?

 

well thats certainly not a common problme. I am not familiar with the setup, but i would crawl under the truck and see any linkage and pins as you say and soak them good with PB blaster, etc.. and then exercise it quite a bit and see how that does.. If no help, i think your right- internal problem.

 

spray it down with some penetrating fluid an see if it loosens up, if not take the shifter assembly off the truck and get it to free up, ive seen this problem many times, on these trucks, and i wouldn't keep pulling on it either, or you will just end up with a broken shifter, and nothing worse than having to crawl under the truck to put it in 4x4 after your stuck.