I have a 2002 f250 with a 4 speed auto. The problem is that the transfer case won't shift in to 4 low, but it shifts in to 4 hi with no problems. BTW it is electric shift. I have done the proper shift procedures, put it in neutral step on break ect. Any advice and tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance

 

I have had the ESOF system be finicky going in and out of low range already. Seems to be worse when it is not used very often. What has worked for me in the past is letting the vehicle roll a little in neutral and then shift into 4 low. You have to screw around with it a little. Would not hurt to manually lock the hubs too and see if that makes a difference.(maybe one hub is not locking in) One of the reasons that when I got my new 04' I got the manual 4X4. Though the ESOF is darn handy when it works.

 

Id take the motor off the tcase and see is dirt is packed in the motor. Id then clean and regrease the motor shaft and gear with some waterproof grease. Id also manually turn the shaft that moves the shift fork for high and low range and make sure it turns freely. If after that it still doesnt work and you have the truck in N and with brake applied and it still wont go into low, the motor might be weak and needs replacing

 

When the esof works its beautiful, only readon i removed my esof hubs was because everyone i knew with a SD with the esof was having problems and i was so sick of fixing their trucks i just removed mine, installed a plug into the knuckle and removed all the vacuum lines back to the pump and capped it just so i would never have an issue. It does suck that i have to het out and lock in my WARN hubs but it was worth it i suppose. If i ever can afford a brand new truck it will have the manual tcase though...

 

Thank you all for your advice. Dkf I did what you suggested and it worked, thank you, you're a rock star. So what do I do to fix the problem?

 

Which did you do? Manually lock the hubs then try to switch to 4x4 LOW? Or let the truck drift a little while shifting into 4x4 LOW?

 

I manually locked the hubs in.

 

There is probably a vacuum leak somewhere in the system or a component failure then.

A vacuum pulse is what locks the hubs when the switch is turned to 4X4. If the hubs are not locked the tcase will not want to shift into 4X4, especially 4X4 LOW. Having the hubs locked allows everything to mesh properly. You can feel it on a truck with a manual transfer case easier than with the ESOF, that the gears don't want to mesh when the hubs are unlocked.

 

It seems to me that the Esof system is too prone to failure. I think I will do what super duty scaler said he did and be done with it. Is there any adverse problems with using manual hubs?other than the convenience of not having to turn the hubs in.