On a 2000 F150 the manual lever to switch to 4hi and 4lo is stuck...As in it will not even budge.

My cousin sprayed PB blaster underneath the truck and still couldn't get it to budge.

What is the trick? How much force is involved? And do I remove the black cover (from inside the cab) to get to where I need to spray?

Seems like a simple fix but definitely has me stumped....And even though this is a very common problem I can't find any YouTube tutorials...

 

did you try to move it to the left first ? I looked at one about a month ago and didn't buy it for that reason , curious what the fix is ?

 

you will need to remove it. Not hard to do. unhook the linkages just pops off and the think 2 bolts. trick to wiggle out and back up in the truck but it will come out. clean it up good an oil it. i broke mine just pulling on it and had to weld a new piece in.

 

Been having the same issue. Just bought a 99 two weeks ago. At first I was unable to shift it at all. After working with it I can now get into 2H, 4H and neutral but not 4L. Going to lube everything up my next off day when the weather is nice.

 

From inside the truck I removed the 4 phillips screws from the black plastic cover so I could see what I was looking at (because I have no clue what I am looking at from underneath).

Then there was a yellowish gel-like substance around the 4x4 lever so I snipped a hole into it so I could peer underneath to see what is actually going on. Then I sprayed down everything I could with PB blaster.

Bear in mind I have no idea if I should be pulling forward/backward with the stick all the way to the left or right (and I have been able to easily...well, by wacking left/right with my hand...get it to move left/right...just no forward/backward).

After I sprayed I did get it to go into 4h and light up on the dash, but just barely, and it worked. I reversed out of driveway and parked it back.

Got the light to come back off but....

Now all of a sudden when I put it in park it makes a grinding noise and there is no reverse or drive....So I shut it off in neutral...This is why I do not like to work on my own cars. No clue what I am doing...

 

Ok...Got it back to where it will go into all gears but it's now stuck in 4H..

 

Well - it goes through all the gears and the lights 4x4 and 4x4 Low come up on the dash but it takes a decent amount of force to budge the thing forward/backward.

Basically grab it with 2 hands and pull with my 220 pound body weight and jerk with my arm and it will cruise into the next gear (this force was used in the forward/backward motion....left/right was easy - just a good wack with palm)....

Here were my weapons (PB blaster, screw driver, snips, pipe, flashlight):



Screwdriver to get plastic cover off...use right size (small-medium or else will strip)


What 4x4 ****/diagram looks like...For me, it was moving left/right easy but not easy up/down...Sometimes tricky to know where you are at but helps when 4x4 starts to light up



When you snip off the yellow gel-like thing this is what you are looking at...Just hose it all down

Topped it off with some lucas grease

 

Well some bad news...It was very stiff but still functional, you just had to yank the crap out of it to get it to move.

I hosed it down with another bottle of PB blaster and was shifting through the gears (about 100 times) and it got a little better, but still hard as hell.

Well, next thing I know the one 10mm bolt that the bottom of the stick goes into broke. So the bolt is free but there is a nut (and a small fraction of the broken bolt) on the other side that seems really rusted on.

So I'm probably gonna just bite the bullet and take it to a shop who would have corrected the problem the first time for probably cheap.

 

So, this nut on the right is sitting on a tiny piece of the broken bolt....The 4x4 worked before so it should just be a matter of pulling off that nut and replacing bolt/nut?

Might take a stab at it again but my tool supply makes this job a lot more difficult. Little tiny wrenches that barely reach...

 

What wound up working for you? Did you order that new part posted in another thread?
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...ol+lever,16645

 

This part for $67 free 2 day delivery:
Mechanic put in for about $80 it is less than 1 hour job and will shift with your pinky after install.

 

Awesome, thanks. I'm guessing that's a new-ish part, because a lot of old threads here never mention it. Looks like the rockauto part is identical and only $48.