Tried this in the superduty forum, but maybe its more appropriate here.

Got stuck in the driveway on Sunday. Transfer case wouldn't engage into 4x4, and I couldn't go any further. Its an 01-f250 cc w/7.3. Hubs were manually locked for the weekend. I was going up the driveway to the point where I have to shift into 4-hi. Turned the switch on dash and nothing happened. No 4x4 light, and only the rear wheels were spinning. Backed down to a flat spot. Set parking brake with truck in drive and switch on 4-hi. Got out of the truck, grabbed a piece of wood, slid under the truck (in the snow and crap) and gently banged the motor on the transfer case. I also unplugged the connector thinking their might be crud in there, but it was clean. Sprayed a little wd in there anyway. That didn't work. Got back under and banged the motor some more and also grabbed the front driveshaft and rotated it back and forth as much as I could both ways. I am only talking about maybe 10 degrees of rotation, and then it would stop. While doing that, I felt driveshaft tug one way. ccw I think, looking at the front of the truck. I could still rotate the front driveshaft, but now if I let it go, it would twist ccw on its own until it stopped. This seemed promising so I slid out from under the truck and sure enough it was in 4x4 as indicated by the light on the dash, and by the fact that I could now make it up the driveway.

For the rest of the day I kept turning the switch to 4-hi and every time 4x4 lit up on the dash, and I could here the transfer case engage.

This is the second time this has happened to me. Last time I got it to go into 4x4 by banging on the transfercase motor.

Sorry bout that, a bit long. Just wanted to describe it all. So what do you think? I guess its either the switch or the motor or the wiring? How should I trouble shoot this?

Thanks,
Shawn

Merry Christmas

 

A little help please?

What could be the cause of the transfer case not engaging?

Thanks (I think)

-Shawn

 

Well, take the shift motor out, ground it against the transfercase housing, have someone inside to see if it works by siwtch your siwtch to and from 4x4. Otherwise, get a test and see if any power is coming down to the motor. There might be a fuse in there, not quote me though. If the motor works, see if you can engage it with the motor out. Were you driving it on a pavment with the 4x4 or or something like that?

 

There we go, thank you. Now why didn't I think of that.

1st time was snow/ice covered pavement. 2nd time was snow covered dirt road.

The fun part of the problem is that its been working fine lately. Spent 10 days in VT using 4x4 just about every day and it worked every time. So it goes. But basically its the switch on the dash, the switch motor or the wiring, right?

Thanks,
-Shawn

 

Probably, I have switch on the fly, i hate it, i would rather have a shifter on the floor.

 

Ditto, but we bought off the lot, so we didn't have a choice. Well, hate is a strong word. But, I would rather have the manual set up.

Thanks for the help.

-Shawn